Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I havent gotten my tegu yet but doing as much research as I can before hand. I was wondering if there is a big difference from feeding live mice to frozen? Will it make a big difference in a tegu or is the nutrient value the same?

Thanks
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Go Big Or Go Home

I'm not an expert but I got all my advice from them. I give my B&W frozen feeders because they become less agressive when eating pre-killed food, as opposed to keeping the predator mind in full force.

I heard that live prey can be have more nutrients, because of that I roll the mice in calcium dust or some multivitamins. Every few days I also use some Gerber fruit baby food mixed with both dusts, and inject it into the mouse so he gets some healthy fruit too. If you try that, make sure it's Tegu safe fruit.

Good luck with your new Tegu!

Both frozen thawed (prekilled) and live have a decent nutritional value. You should not use vitamin and calcium suppliments on rodents. Do use it on insects, ground turkey, etc., but not on rodents. Rodents have bones, liver, heart, that supply what the tegu needs. You can overdo it with the suppliments.

As far as Prekilled vs Live causing aggression read my post Here for my full opinion and the reasoning behind it.

I hope that helps,

Rick
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The Tegu Community - theTegu.com

Thanks to the both of you for your responses. I will probably do live cause I like the excitement of my lizards hunting. I just hate the fact that I have to keep a good supply of mice which I am not looking forward to especially the smell. I breed roaches now and keep silkworms so that will be a good variety for my tegu.
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Go Big Or Go Home

Keep 1 male and 2 or 3 females in a small aquarium. (2.5 to 5 gallon is fine, but some use 10 gallons)

Feed and water everyday. Use pine shavings and change the bedding (wash the tank, bowl and waterbottle) every three days. Your oder will be nil.

A tip: Place the food dish in the middle of the tank. Mice use the corners of the tank for bodily waste.

Hope that helps. I have 15 breeding tanks in the reptile room. Each has 1 male and 3 females and I have no oder on day one, on day two you can only smell the mice is you put your face in the tanks, on day three you can start to smell the mice if you put your face near the mice shelves, which is why day three is changing day.

Rick
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The Tegu Community - theTegu.com

Maybe a little clarification...yes rodents have bones/liver/heart, but powdering rodents until they are what is considered adult size should be done in my opinion.

A small mouse (pinkie/fuzzie/hopper) does not have the nutritional value like an adult mouse does as it is still developing and powdering it helps make up for this.

Also, powdering rodents until they are "of size" coincides with the Tegus size. I do not powder rodents for my adult Tegus because they eat adult mice or small/medium rats. Make sense?
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