If you see hind leg shaking in your baby tegu there is something wrong with your diet . This is the first visible sign of calcium defficieny in baby tegus .
At first signs of hing leg shaking you can easily correct this yourself by following the diet listed below . If left unchecked and diet is not changed your tegu will progressivly get worse .... full body shakes ... hind leg paralysis or broken limbs ... and eventually death . If you are seeing them drag their rear legs you need to make an appoinment with your vet ASAP.
Preventing Calcium Defficiencies in Baby Tegus
Baby tegus need a lot of calcium to facilitate their rapid growth rate (if they are hibernating they don't need anything =) but access to clean water to drink) .
The easiest way to ensure that they get enough calcium is to feed hatchlings crickets wich have been dusted with a good quality calcium supplement made especially for reptiles . If the baby tegus are to be raised indoors this calcium needs to contain the right amount of Vitamin D3 . You can feed baby tegu other foods however the more other type foods you feed them the harder it will be for you to balance their diet . In 14 years of testing diets for baby tegus results of feeding crickets alone beat all other food combinations (it's hard to screw it up if you follow the easy steps below) . Crickets also hapen to be a very inexpensive way to raise a hatchling tegu .Yes they will eat a lot of them but they can also be bought directly from a cricket breeder for less than $20 a thousand including shipping .If you purchase half grown crickets you can easily keep them alive for another 2-3 weeks if you set them up in a nice container and feed them .
Before feeding the crickets to your tegu place them in a container and feed them well for at least one half hour . Do not feed your tegus crickets directly out of the shipping container or pet store as they need to be gut loaded .
1)Place either game bird feed or cricket feed in a shallow container in your cricket bin .
I use game bird feed as I use a lot of it and it can be purchased cheaply in 50lb bags or by the pound at most feed stores. Cricket feed can be ordered from some of the larger cricket companies listed on the main kingsnake.com page.
2)In order for the crickets to feed on this they will also need access to water .
Water can be provided in a shallow bowl covered with a piece of plastic canvas (available at local craft centers such as JoAnn's Fabrics , Miacheal's , Walmart etc. for less than $1 ) . This plastic canvas can be easily cut to fit the bowl with shears and will keep your crickets from drowning . Small saucers made to go under potted plants make great water bowls and can be purchased in Home Depots garden center for less than $1 .
3) Add a couple of small pieces of veggies / fruit such as carrots or slices of orange to your cricket containers . This is a simple way to add extra vitamins to your crickets . Keep the pieces small and change them frequently to prevent them from molding .
Choosing a good quality calcium supplement
I've tried just about every calcium on the market and tested them extensivly on hatchling tegus . The best calcium I have found for baby tegus is Miner All I (indoor formula with added d3 ) . This is WAY better than any other calcium I have tested .
Yes most pet stores do not carry it and it will take some extra effort of your part to locate it but YES IT IS WORTH IT .
It is usually appears to be a little more expensive than most other calciums since you usually have to pay for shipping but this stuff is very finely milled and it sticks to crickets very well so you will actually be using about 1/2 to 2/3 less calcium at every feeding since most of it will not be going to waste . (No I do not get paid by this company and no I do not own any stock in this company either and yes I do use it ) In the long run because you will have almost no waste this calcium usually ends up costing you a lot less than most of the calciums you will find at your local pet store . If your pet store doesn't carry it you can always ask them to order it for you too =)
Crickets are high in phosphorus and if fed unsupplemented your tegus will develop a calcium defficiency since calcium needs other mineral such as phosphorus to be in balance in order for your animals to absorb it correctly , same goes for Vitamin D3 (some calciums have way to much artficial D3 and this could cause a problem also ) . If you think all calcium supplements are the same look at the back of the bottle and compare them ... they are all a little bit different.
If you are using the Miner Al I you will only need a little tiny bit . Place your cickets in a cup and a small pinch (less than 1/8 tsp- basically like lightly salting your food -this stuff really does stick that well and you really only need a little tiny bit because of that ) of the Miner Al , put your hand over the cup and give it a little shake to distribute the calcium . Place these crickets in a bowl in your tegus enclosure (some will climb out but don't worry about it - you are trying to train your tegu to eat out of this bowl ) . Let your tegu eat as many of these crickets as he wants to .... you can not over feed a baby tegu on insects . It's better to feed a little bit a time and do it several times per day .
Once your tegu begins to grow you can start to feed it hopper size mice . Hopper size mice are a complete meal and do not need any calcium supplements added to them . Do not feed your tegu anything that is larger than 1/2 the size of it's head . If by chance your temperatures in your room/cage happen to drop below what is needed for the tegu to digest its meal due to power failure etc your tegu will be able to regurgitate a small meal without having a problem . If fed something larger there is a chance it could choke should it have to regurgitate . Once your tegu is eating hopper size mice feed these to him every other day , increase the size of the mice as he grows . Continue feeding the dusted crickets every day (as many as he will eat ) untill he gets so large he no longer wants to eat them (usually when they are inthe 26" - 30" size )
If your tegu is eating crickets that have been well fed and dusted it will not need to eat any fruit as the crickets will contain enough vitamins for even a red tegu . Once your tegu is no longer eating crickets you should start to offer fruit if your tegu is an Argentine Black and White or an Argentine Red Tegu . Blue tegus will do great on 100% rodent diet and do not need anything else added to their diet .
Stella St.Pierre
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Stella St.Pierre
www.bluetegu.com
