Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey all, i dont know if anyone else's tegus are like this, but my blue seems to have an insatiable appetite. he's getting pretty big now, havent measured him exactly, but as you can see from the pic of him smelling my shoes, he's big. anyways i usually feed him a nice full cup of fruit and a mouse, i get the feeling though that he'd eat anohter mouse if i offered one to him (small/weanling size (right above hopper)). my question is where do we draw the line? i certainly dont want to starve my buddy or for him to go hungry, but at the same time i dont want him to grow to an unhealthy obese size either. i've gotten pretty good at judging if he needs more food or not by how much his belly is expanded, but should they always be appear stretched and taught or does that mean i've fed him too much?

thanks,
chris and diego

oh and Diego sniffed around and stuck his head in my shoes for about 15 minuntes, was pretty entertaining and made for a good pic.

this is what i think on overfeeding . . .
as long as the tegu is still actively growing then you cant overfeed them. Taz would eat HUGE amounts in one sitting. it amazed me at how much he could eat. but when they are growing more food more heat they get. the more they will grow. how much you feed also depends on how active he is and how much time he gets out of the cage. if i let Taz out of his cage pretty much all day. the next day he will eat TONS. though if i dont get him out one day, and feed him the day after that he doesnt seem to eat near as much. Tegus and monitors in general are going to be THICK. thats how they are. but if you notice that your tegu is having somewhat of a hard time getting around. then its time to cut back on the feeding. (btw, i feed Taz every other day, sometimes 2 days between feedings) im going to guess your tegu is like 30". now when Taz was 30" he was eating, around 3-5 adult mice EVERYDAY! so depending on how big your cup of fruit is. sounds like you need to up the amount he gets. and the size of the mouse. try an adult large mouse and see how he handles it. Taz is 3yrs old 4½ft plus and 15-20lbs (havnt weighed him in about a year)

I've been giving my Tegu 4 pieces of Kiwi cut into half-inch square pieces, then 5, inch-long crickets that just, explode when he bites them their so fat. Thats enough right? Because I've been judging how much to feed him based on half the size of his belly, he has beefed up a bit and is VERY active (Enough that he jumps out of his cage).

like i said above. if they are still actively growing, then feed them until they stop eating. you will be amazed at how much they eat EVERYDAY and how fast your tegu will grow. be sure to dust your crickets, superworms and such with calcium

y'know, everyone here seems to follow the "more is better" mandate when it comes to feeding baby tegus. just because you can get someting to eat "x" amount doesn't mean that "x" amount isn't too much. i know that with snakes, this "powerfeeding" can lead to health problems down the road and a shorter life. whether or not this is applicable to tegus still remains to be seen. i think that there's still a lot we don't know about the ins and outs of these critters and their biology. i, personally, don't let my tegus gorge to the extent that some may, but i do let them eat quite a bit (they by no means go hungry and are in no way lethargic). i dunno. just something to think about. i know that they've actually done tests on mice where eating about a third as much food as what was considered normal lead to them living several months more than other mice (for a mouse, thos months mean a lot!). it has something to do with the amount of free radicals floating around causing cellular damage (aging). i read about it about a year ago in a National Geographic. i'm sure you could dig it up if you're really interested. not that i feed my tegus 1/3 portions, heck, i don't even know that this study would apply to cold blooded animals, i just thought it was interesting... that's all. can you have too much of a good thing??? i dunno, maybe, maybe not.

yeah, thats a good point BUKINARA, i think it may be in an animal's nature to eat whatever food is presented to it since it never knows when its next meal is going to come. it seems to be a question of survival. i dont know if there's really an answer to this question or not, much less exactly how much one should feed their tegu. MATTHEW, after reading your post i offered D 4 mice today for the first time ever. to my surpsrise he took them all down (4 small adults). Makes me wonder, have I been underfeeding the poor guy the whole time? I was surprised how much interest he showed in eating them, even when it came to the fourth which he immediately lunged at and even bit the bowl first by mistake, it wasnt like he just happened to find the mouse, he actually seemed to actively "hunt" it. i by no means thought i was underfeeding him though, I mean I've always offered him food until his belly is nice, fat, and swollen. I guess I'll offer more food now on occasion.

thanks,
chris