I would stick with what they would eat in the wild and stay away from human food. Below are two posts from Stella St.Pierre that outlines what a Tegu should be fed and calcium supplements. St.Pierre’s have had more experience then most all of us here.
Reprint from Stella St.Pierre:
Recommended Foods : Insects , Mice , Fruit
1)Insects - Crickets , King Meal Worms All insects should be dusted with a good quality calcium mineral supplement intended for use on reptiles such as Miner All manufactured by Sticky Tongue Farms .Hatchling tegus kept indoors should receive a calcium that contains Vitamin D3 such as Miner All I (indoor formula) . Baby tegus kept outdoors will receive enough D3 through natural sunlight so extra supplementation will not be needed .Captive born hatchling tegus are capable of growing at incredibly rapid rates . They need a lot of calcium to properly develop their skeletal structure and feeding insects which have been supplemented is the easiest way I know of to insure they receive all the minerals they need to keep up with their rapid growth rates. All insects should be fed well prior to feeding them to your tegu . I have had good results feeding our insects either chicken mash or game bird feed along with fresh vegetable such as carrots .
2) Mice - -Should be equal to or smaller than half the size of the tegus head . If you are feeding baby tegus pink mice they will need to be supplemented with calcium . Pink mice contain almost no calcium unless they have been taken directly
from their mother and have a belly full of milk . Once your tegu is able to feed on hopper size mice supplementation with calcium is no longer necessary as the skeletal system in these mice is a lot more developed and contains a lot more calcium .
3) Fruit - 2-4 servings of fruit per week while they are actively feeding (serving size = to the size mouse they are currently feeding on) Most well fed merianae will not readily feed on fruit until after their first winter as they will receive
enough vitamins from the crickets they are being fed . You should however attempt to introduce soft sweet fruits as soon as
possible. Kiwi , passion fruit, mango, star fruit , strawberries , grapes , peaches and plums are just some of the fruits relished by these tegus . I have found that red/purple colored fruits are the easiest to get them to first feed on (red/ purple
grapes & strawberries) as they really seem to notice color. Other Foods
1) Eggs - Although tegus in the wild do feed on eggs they really should not be fed eggs in captivity . In the wild eggs contain a baby chick at some stage of development , eggs purchased at our local markets do not and are an incomplete
diet. Tegus in captivity which are fed eggs quickly become addicted to them and then tend to refuse healthy foods which can cause them to develop deficiencies which may effect their health or even cause death . Eggs also contain a lot of
bacteria that can be transmitted to your animal and make them very ill .
2) Lean ground meats such as turkey - Lean meats are an incomplete diet as they do not contain enough calcium and minerals to ensure proper development or sustain a tegus life . If you are going to feed any lean ground meat use
ground turkey and mix it according to the San Diego Zoo diet or your animal will eventually have a nutritional problem (the younger the animal the worse it will be) Ground turkey mixed according to this recipe is OK because the minerals it contains is in proportion to that of a mouse. San Diego Zoo diet = for every 10lbs of raw ground turkey add 90 grams of bone meal and 2 crushed Centrum Vitamins
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
