Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just bought a new red tegu and everytime he eats crickets he throws them up. I breed my own crickets for my monitors and beardeds, so I thought that he may need them from a different source. I tried six different stores and had the same results. So my next thought was that he may be allergic to the supplements, I use miner all, so I tried herptevite and no supplements at all, and he still throws them up, he has no problem with lobster roaches, superworms, or any other feeders. He is a year old, and about 28" total length, I have all of the temps and humidity down. Could it be possible that he just doesnt like crickets? and if so why does he still eat them when offered? I am going to wait two weeks before trying crickets again, to see if anything changes.
thanks
tony butler

wow that's weird...

But IMO, at that age and size you should be moving him on to whole rodents and ground turkey as the protein staples of his diet anyway.

I'll second the other poster about rodents and turkey. Definitely at 28" your tegu could be eating more substantial food. They need lots of nourishment when they are growing.

Regarding ground turkey, search this forum for the SDZ Diet recipe using turkey, bone meal, and Centrum.

Additionally, red tegus need fruit in their diet. More so than the other tegu types. A good amount of fruit will help prevent shedding problems.

Get him on some hearty meals and watch him grow!

Bill

I know that they need fruit and whole foods, But I personally dont agree with feeding animals prepared diets such as the san diego zoo diet, not that it is bad or anything, it is just a monitor thing. I feed him a ton of fruits and his diet breaks down to the following, mondays he gets just fruit, tuesday fruit and mice, same for wednesday and thursday, friday he gets superworms or other insects, and saturday he gets fruits and veggies, sunday is a no feed day. I thank you for your concern about my tegu, but this is not my first tegu or lizard with high humidity and a diet consisting of meat and plants. And as for the whole prey , mice rats, etc feeding too many meats is hard on the liver of tegus,or any other lizard, even though they eat alot they have relatively small stomaches, and it is good to give them breaks with "lighter" sources of protiens, it is easier on their stomaches, but this is in my own experience and others may have other opinions,
thanks
tony butler

welll.....you make good points and based on studies of what they actually eat in the wild, that might be the way that tegus should eat .

But for now...most sucessful breeders and keepers feed mostly high protein meat based diets...so i do too!

Of course, iguanas grow really quickly on a high animal protein diet, and by now we've all finally realized what it does to them long-term .

the fact of the matter is, no one has done enough hard research on tegu diets to offer any conclusive evidence on what they should be fed...its a shame.

I agree totaly, and as you said, It is a shame, but I dont breed tegus and am not interested in it, for large lots of lizards the sdz diet is a great way to keep your animals healthy and keep your money in your pocket, I just prefer to feed my monitors whole foods, and I took the same approach with my arg black and white, and am doing the same with my red(adding tons of fruit). Also I feel personaly that feeding whole prey helps with preventing obeseity but I do not have any proof to support it but that is my opinion, anyways back to the point what do you think the possibility of my tegu being allergic to crickets? Not asking for advice, just opinions, i just thought that is would be an interesting conversation.
thanks
tony butler