Posted by:
laurarfl
at Mon Dec 31 07:28:06 2007 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by laurarfl ]
I'd hold off on the egg, as they are a bit controversial for tegus. Too much is said to cause vitamin deficiency, and if it is cooked, it is a dry food at a time when she is not going poo anyway.
If you've only had her for two weeks, it's hard to say what has been going on before you got her. Was she fed regularly and what was she fed? What kind of substrate was she on, and was she fed outside of her cage? If it were my tegu, I would keep feeding her every other day and I would offer her a little more fruit until she has regular poos. Citrus is in season now, but it's too acidic. Tomatoes are also acidic. Try pear or apple(mine doesn't like the peel), grapes, blueberries, melon. These fruits have fiber and are juicy as well. She may be a bit dehydrated, or she may be a bit stopped up.
Then give her one mouse coated with mineral oil. You don't want the oil to be dripping off the mouse, but you want it to be oily. Offer it to her first while she's hungry. If she refuses, you may have to brain it or expose some blood so it's more appealing and covers up the oiliness. Another method is to mix a teaspoon of mineral oil with a tablespoon of can cat food. I don't advocate feeding cat food to tegus, but it has its purposes in a pinch. Mineral oil can be found in the pharmacy section or the baby section of the store. It's baby oil without any perfumes or additives, so it's safe to ingest. It's a great laxative! Don't use baby oil, make sure it is plain mineral oil.
Keep up with the warm water soaks and make sure she has plenty of clean water in her enclosure. Let her walk around a bit so she has exercise to get things moving along, too. You should feed her outside of her cage to avoid food aggression and more importantly, to keep her from accidentally eating her substrate. In a worst case scenario, she may have accidentally eaten something and is impacted. If this is the case, she will start vomiting, may refuse to eat, and must be taken to the vet immediately. Some animals have also been known to have hair impaction from eating an improper diet.
Basking temps can go up to 92, she needs a UV light, and I'm surprised that she isn't sleeping right now.
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