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What can I feed my tegu daily that is a good staple. I have read here that the canned cat and dog foods are not a good idea. What else can I feed her daily that is good for her?

Do you have a Blue or B/W? If B/W, Colombian or Argie? Basically, either way, whole rodents, chicks and insects are the best staple. I have also had very good results with raw ground turkey (fortified with 1/2 tablespoon of Herptivite and Rep-Cal each). Squishy usually gets a split between rats (2-3x per week) and the fortified turkey (2-3x per week) with some fruit offered 1-2x per week as well. If you have a Blue or Colombian, the fruit is not as essential, but I would offer it anyway. If you have a Red, fruit is even more important then for B/W's. Billy

>>What can I feed my tegu daily that is a good staple. I have read here that the canned cat and dog foods are not a good idea. What else can I feed her daily that is good for her?

Forgot to add that the supplements are 1/2 tablespoon of each per pound of turkey.

>>Do you have a Blue or B/W? If B/W, Colombian or Argie? Basically, either way, whole rodents, chicks and insects are the best staple. I have also had very good results with raw ground turkey (fortified with 1/2 tablespoon of Herptivite and Rep-Cal each). Squishy usually gets a split between rats (2-3x per week) and the fortified turkey (2-3x per week) with some fruit offered 1-2x per week as well. If you have a Blue or Colombian, the fruit is not as essential, but I would offer it anyway. If you have a Red, fruit is even more important then for B/W's. Billy
>>
>>>>What can I feed my tegu daily that is a good staple. I have read here that the canned cat and dog foods are not a good idea. What else can I feed her daily that is good for her?

The amount of supplaments you add to turkey is 90 grams of bone meal to 10 lbs of turkey meat, and 1 cetruim mutli vit. . To chang this amount of bone meal will cause problems in your tegu if you use this as your staple food. Also Repcal and mineral all are not the same as useing bone meal . This is what zoos and most other keepers are doing when it comes to turkey . This is the same as feeding rodents to your lizards. Personally I dont feed turkey meat. I stick to rodents , fruit , and kingmealworms .Thanks Russ

Thank you russ1066 for your reply. Your tegu is beautiful. How old and long is it? Did you raise it from a baby? ....Sharon

He is 2 1/2 years old-4' 21/2" long - 203/8" snt to vent -16.9 lbs.Thanks Russ

Hey Russ! Please keep in mind that the turkey is not the sole source of animal protein. Also keep in mind that I am using proven vitamin and calcium supplements that have been formulated for use with lizards, so even though it's not the exact same as the SDZ diet it has served me and my Tegu (and monitors) well as a good source of animal protein that is readily acceptable. I guess I'll call it BTD from now on so there is no confusion between what I do and the SDZ diet.

>>The amount of supplaments you add to turkey is 90 grams of bone meal to 10 lbs of turkey meat, and 1 cetruim mutli vit. . To chang this amount of bone meal will cause problems in your tegu if you use this as your staple food. Also Repcal and mineral all are not the same as useing bone meal . This is what zoos and most other keepers are doing when it comes to turkey . This is the same as feeding rodents to your lizards. Personally I dont feed turkey meat. I stick to rodents , fruit , and kingmealworms .Thanks Russ
>>

Which other supplaments are you using? Russ

Just RepCal and Herptivite.

>>Which other supplaments are you using? Russ
>>

now , what I have been told buy my vet as well as Stella St. pierre, If your trying to use this as a subtatut(spelling) for rodents bone meal is what you should use. Reptical Does not have the same amounts of calcium that bone meal has.How Long Have you been feeding your formuls to your tegu Etc.?I know That Sterlla Has Stated to me that People That have changed the Sdzoo formula have had lots of heath problems with there tegus.Did you talk to a vet About this? Is THis Safe?What are Your formuls( the amounts of retical and herpitive per Lb. of turkey ) . Thanks Russ

Russ, I don't doubt for a second what you were told is incorrect, but understand that my Tegu gets the turkey mixture in conjunction with rodents and fruit and NOT as a substitute. He's been eating it since I got him back in June when he was a sassy little 14" baby. He is now over 3 feet long and the picture of health. He also gets a few hours of natural, unfiltered sunlight every weekend in addition to his UV bulb in his enclosure. What were the specific problems people were having after changing the SDZ diet formula? I would be interested to find out that as well as the attending husbandry methods used on the animals that had the problems. As per the manufacturer's direction, I use 1/2 tablespoon of each per pound of turkey. I then mix it all up really good, make little meatballs out of it and freeze. I have not talked to a vet about this, but I have raised 1 Colombian and several monitors of different species on a similar (but probably inferior) diet with no health problems. Billy

>>now , what I have been told buy my vet as well as Stella St. pierre, If your trying to use this as a subtatut(spelling) for rodents bone meal is what you should use. Reptical Does not have the same amounts of calcium that bone meal has.How Long Have you been feeding your formuls to your tegu Etc.?I know That Sterlla Has Stated to me that People That have changed the Sdzoo formula have had lots of heath problems with there tegus.Did you talk to a vet About this? Is THis Safe?What are Your formuls( the amounts of retical and herpitive per Lb. of turkey ) . Thanks Russ
>>

I am using reptical and reptivite on my tegus foods. I have used these products for years with other reps as well as tegus. I have been told that as your rep gets older you don't need to use the calcium every day, just the vitamins. As they get older, I was told only a couple times per week. I heard this from a breeder at our local reptile show. Do you agree with this? Should I use the reptical more?

yes as they get older you dont need to dust as much. I still dust the king meal worms 1-2 times a week .Take sare russ

Sorry about the spelling errs. If you feed plenty of rodents you dont have to worry about the calcium. They will get plenty from the rodents> Russ

BillyBoy, Thank you for your reply to my post. Zil is a female Black and White Argentine tegu. She has a hearty appetite! Should I cut back on her fruit? How often should she get any fruit?

I would say offer her fruit every day with her animal matter if she'll eat it. I would think a 50/50 diet of animal protein and fruit would be OK, but I think most people here probably do more like 70/30 or 80/20 (animal protein/fruit) for their Argies. I know Squishy is not a big fan of fruit, but LOVES his turkey and rats, so his ratio is probably around 90/10. Billy

>>BillyBoy, Thank you for your reply to my post. Zil is a female Black and White Argentine tegu. She has a hearty appetite! Should I cut back on her fruit? How often should she get any fruit?