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Thread: Tegu only wants egg

  1. #1

    Default Tegu only wants egg

    my tegu when i first got him ate dusted crickets and anything else you put in front of him. One day i tryed some hard boiled egg and he loved it. Someone told me they also like raw egg so i gave him some raw egg that i had mixed calcium into and he really loved it....


    now if i put him in with crickets, mealworms, melon, strawberry, pinkies, superworms, he doesnt even look at it. just wanders around his feeding tub.

    I got my tegu in mid may and his head wasnt green anymore (not sure what age that goes away)

    ANYWAYS im just wondering if this is healthy to keep letting him eat egg over and over or should i wait untill he decides something else is good enough

    first picture for size


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    second for race? and sex if possible



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    HERE IS A BETTER PICTURE, If someone could tell me the traits of the columbian i am going to meet with the breeder.


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    Last edited by lmilne; 07-18-2010 at 10:22 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    1,210

    Default

    Your tegu needs lots of variation in his diet for good health. They are omnivores, and in nature get their nutrition from small rodents and birds, eggs from ground nesting birds, fruit ripening on the ground, berries from low growing bushes, vegetable matter, carrion as well as large insects and grubs. From your description, your tegu has probably graduated beyond the size where he gets much reward from catching little insects and worms. This is probably why he's showing such strong preference for the easy-to-consume egg. Too much egg will be fattening, and he's missing the important vitamins that he used to get from the fruit.

    I would start introducing small mice -- fresh killed or completely thawed frozen -- and I'll bet he wolfs them right down. Remove the egg completely from his diet while you introduce the new meat and also a variety of fruit. If he goes for a week without eating ANYTHING (not likely), my suggestion would be to take a hard boiled egg, chop it fine including the shell (great source of calcium) and mix or smush it all over the fruit and mouse, so the other food tastes like egg. I'd only use a teaspoon or two of egg. Gradually wean him off of it except as maybe a treat once a week.

    Other good things to feed him are baby quail or when he's big enough, day old chickens. Feeding whole animals provide lots of good nutrients not available from ground meat. Some people also have had luck with fish (not from the pet store -- these usually have awful parasites) but I find these too stinky too clean up after. It is safe to feed the tegu prey items that are big enough for him to swallow, i.e., no wider than the widest point of his jaws.

    It's also important to use vitamin powder and calcium supplement, especially if he has been a picky eater.

  3. #3

    Default

    i knew that eating only egg would make him get fat and lazy and isnt healthy, I've fed him thawd pinkies before but now he wont eat them, it has been a week and i have tryed a few different kinds of food but he wont take it. I dunno if he is as big as you might think either. i'd say hes maybe a foot long (including tail) i've tryed to dip a pinkie in egg and feed it and all he does is lick all the egg off and leave the mouse. I want to try ground turkey but i dunno the proper way to prepare the turkey for him. Im going to try some pinkies again today and maybe some more crickets.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Posts
    1,210

    Default

    HernandosPapa sometimes asks the butcher at the meat counter for just one tablespoon of lean ground turkey. The butcher just wraps it up and hands it to him, no charge, if he'll go away. We smush the room-temperature turkey onto his pitted cherries, big grapes cut in half, blackberries and present it in a bowl. We rarely do this because Hernando often just picks the fruit out and leaves most of the turkey. But every tegu is different.

    You mentioned using raw egg. I would strongly advise against this. Raw egg white has substances that block absorption of important nutrients. Also, the egg supply in the US is contaminated with salmonella.

    What kind of tegu do you have? It sounds small for an Argentine Black & White.

    I'll bet he'll go for the pinkie if he doesn't have egg as an alternative. Please let us know how he responds.

  5. #5

    Default

    i put him in his feeding box with 3 dusted crickets, a pinkie mouse, and i got a raw turkey from the grocery store and just shaved off some pieces and then let them warm up to room temp and put in there as well... he kind of looked at the turkey but then just wandered around. i left him in the feeder for probably 15 minutes and he ate nothing. like i said its been 6 Days since he ate last (which was egg and calcium powder) and i dont want to feed him egg again until he eats something else. Im pretty sure hes a argentine but i'll get some pictures because im not 100%

  6. #6

    Default

    reposted picutres on first post
    Last edited by lmilne; 07-18-2010 at 10:20 PM.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    3,310

    Default

    You have a beautiful Colombian Tegu. Looks to be a Gold Colombian from the pics.

    I went through this with my Colombians. It seems like they get addicted to the egg. Keep offering other foods, when he is hungry enough he will eat it. Just don't give in ....
    1.0.0 Argentine Tegu
    0.1. Colombian Tegus
    1.0.0 Genetic Stripe Reticulated Python
    1.0.0 Albino/Lav Reticulated Python
    1.0.0 Normal Dwarf Reticulated Python
    0.1.0 Dwarf Platinum Reticulated Python
    0.1.0 Dwarf Tiger Reticulated Python
    0.1.0 Normal Burmese Python

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Pennsylvania
    Posts
    3,310

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    Welcome Aboard, lmilne .....
    1.0.0 Argentine Tegu
    0.1. Colombian Tegus
    1.0.0 Genetic Stripe Reticulated Python
    1.0.0 Albino/Lav Reticulated Python
    1.0.0 Normal Dwarf Reticulated Python
    0.1.0 Dwarf Platinum Reticulated Python
    0.1.0 Dwarf Tiger Reticulated Python
    0.1.0 Normal Burmese Python

  9. #9

    Default

    well, kind of frustrated to find out he is columbian due to the breeder i bought from said he was argentine and also charged me 250$ (cdn) so kinda pissed. Well worth the money he is awesome and loves to be handled already. Just wondered what did you used to get yours off of the "egg addiction"

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Finger Lakes, NY
    Posts
    1,362

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    i had an Argen that would only eat mice/rats it took 2 weeks of offering other foods, but when he was Starving he ate everything i put in front of him. Now he is big beautiful and eat many different things, but still loves rat days the most.

    I'm really sorry about the guy ripping you off on the price, but it seems to be happening more & more these days.
    & i would recommend putting him in the feeding box/tote (whatever you use/call it) for 1 hour or until he/she eats all of he food or poos
    1.2.0 Argen Black & White
    1.1.0 Red Tegu
    0.0.1 Blue Tegu
    1.0.0 All American Tegu
    0.1.0 Hypo Red Tail Boa
    1.0.0 Lazik Tiger BP
    1.0.0 Normal Paradox BP
    1.0.0 Cuban Tree Frog
    2.3.0 America Toads
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    1.1.0 Children
    Rats & Roaches (Dubia)

    RIP-
    0.0.1 RedxB/W Tegu (Stevie Wonder)
    1.0.0 Croc Gecko (Waylan Jones I)

    & More to come

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