Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Can Chicken Gizzards and livers dusted with calcium and vitamins provide proper nutrition for Arg B&W Tegus?

Thanks, Nate White

Possibly im not sure, what are you feeding your tegu

Just look back over the past 2 weeks of posts, feeding has been discussed several times. The best option is whole food items Dusted crickets, mice live or f/t and fruit. There is nothing better for your Tegu I am only echoing what one of the, if not the largest breeders the St. Pierres.

I feed my tegus rat pups mainly but I also use ground turkey or beef, fruits and veggies.I was just asking about the chicken gizzards and stuff because I saw them in the store and sparked curiosity.How often do you feed yours? mine is on a daily feeding schedule but a guy at a reptile store said it can make them fat so he feeds is everyother day.

Thanks, Nate White

I feed Lucky daily, he always has 5 seedless green grapes waiting for him when he wakes up, for dinner I alternate dusted crickets and mice and 5 more grapes for desert. I should also mention he has free roam of a spare room all the time and most of the house when I’m home. Maybe he gets more exercise then the ones at the pet store. I assume when he gets closer to full grown he will stop eating crickets. I will only feed him mice every other day and probably offer him fruit every day as long as he doesn’t get fat. Lucky has eaten green beans and potatoes off my plate when I set on the floor and eat in front of the TV.

I feed my 17" arg black and white tegu 20lg crickets daily, 1 fuzzy mouse weekly, and a piece of a banana every 5 days.

It is probably important to consider if your gizzards and livers are cooked or not, because if you are cooking them to get rid of disease, cooking denatures important proteins found it raw meat. I also know raw lean-muscle meat (dunno about gizzards or livers exactly) is pretty high in phosphorus, which means you'd have to dust it like you said, to keep a good Calcium phosphorus balance.

Personally, I wouldn't feed anything as a staple food but pinkies, all the while feeding a variety of whatever I can get my hands on. We have a juvenile Argentine B&W who eats pinkies, fuzzies, crickets, mealworms, superworms, yogurt, tomatoes, Wellness cat food (the "expensive" brand), earthworms, mango, small bits of raw chicken and beef, small portions of unfertile hard-boiled eggs, and a bunch of other stuff!
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Melissa and Corny