Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i may be getting a red tegu soon and i may start breeding my own food for him. but whick is better to breed mice or rats. when he is full grown i am pretty sure he will be able to take down a good sized rat(he will be about 4.5 feet long). what are pros and cons of each.

also if i get mice how may could i fit in a 40 gallon long tank(4 feet long 13" wide)
also the same question for rats

Smaller rodents are better for Tegus. Even though they will take a large rat, two adult mice are easier to digest. You should pre-kill them first (break their necks) to avoid injury to your Tegu. I breed my own Super Mice (20-25 Pinkies per litter/per female) which alows you also to freeze extra. With Super mice you can keep the male with three females and he will not kill/eat his offspring. After 5 to 6 litters females are retired; young breeders are raised in their own groups to cycle colony every third generation. This way you don't breed yourself out of production. You may want to go to a Swap or Show and buy used Rodent Lab boxes to house your breeding groups of 1.3. Clean up easy with papertowel & Clorox wipes, use less Pine litter, but you need to clean 2x weekly. This way you can build your own rack from wood or plastic shelving (just cut down legs between levels to accomadate height). I use Harlan Rodent Lab block and twice weekly give VitaHamster to ensure healthy mice.

More food for thought: although I do breed rats, my adult Argentine Reds get thawed frozen rats once in a while. Preference is do to the face that freezing kills parasites and their eggs, and the fact that rats do dont react well to hearing live rats being eaten/killed. The rat is an intelligent animal that will respond to this with behavioural changes.