I like to offer meat and fruits at the same meal. If it is a healthy, adult tegu, then I feed every other day. A young, growing animal, or an ill animal will need to be fed daily and the protein will be beneficial.

The Vit D is a debated subject. There is no research that indicates how much D is absorbed by tegus in the diet and how much D is actually present in the supplement. No one knows how much is too much and how much is too little. I give calcium with D3 except in the summer when my tegus have access to natural sunlight. When I use Calcium with D, I prefer to mix it with ground turkey so that I can measure the amount of calcium used and mix it with the proper amount of meat.

I don't think there's any exact method or exact answer. You just have to gather research and make an informed decision. Everyone is just trying to do what's best for their animals.

The funny thing is, I live in FL and my Vit D is low in my blood work. My dr prescribed something like 6,000 IU for a couple of weeks and then 2,000 IU every day after that, and I'm still on the low end of the spectrum. When you figure that regular vitamins have 400-800 IU as the RDA, there appears to be a wider margin for Vit D than we may think. Of course, people are not reptiles, but some of the Vit D precursor mechanisms in the skin are the same and the oral supplements are the same. I don't think Vit D is something to be feared, but to be used in moderation. If someone is using cod liver oil in their tegu's diet, it already contains Vit D and A, so more Vit D supplementation may be too much.

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