Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I got my new B/W Tegu about 1.5 months ago, he is a small baby. I feed Super worms 1st day, Turkey/Cod Liver Oil/Beef Liver 2nd day, then 2 pinky's 3rd day and repeat that process. Was going extremely well and he sheds about every week- 2 weeks and poops about every 1-2 days.

NOW, heres where the problem started, about 2 weeks ago i noticed the little turd eating the reptile bark in the cage, not just one piece, but before I could get to him he downed 3 considerably big chucks. I know hes not hungry because he gets full every day and its fresh oven baked reptile forest bark.

So the last week or so he hasn't even pooped and his stomach is swollen huge, I stopped feeding him yesterday and don't plan on feeding him again till he poops. I tried warm water soaks, massaging his stomach and such but no luck.

The basking spot is 110, cool side 80 and humidity is around 60-70% and I spray daily. using 160w SB Mega Ray bulb with inferred heat light.

I figured it would finally pass but I don't think bark with dissolve much in him. Hes still wanting food super bad.

Any positive advice or solutions would be great.

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>>I figured it would finally pass but I don't think bark with dissolve much in him. Hes still wanting food super bad.
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>>Any positive advice or solutions would be great.

The best advice I can offer to to seek out a vet. Impactions are not a fun thing and if he is still taking food but not passing, you will have serious problems. Sometimes a warm water flush can released objects to large to pass, but this can only be determined by a vet.
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Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
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Impactions are very serious and I have two on-line friends who lost their tegus do to impaction this year.

In the wild, tegus eat plant matter which adds fiber to their diet. This has been argues as to whether they prefer plant matter or if they are just being opportunistic. Plant fiber is quite different than rodent hair and serves to clean out the gut and keep things active. I choose to feed my tegus fruit along with their meat and I'll add plain Metamucil (about 1/4 teaspoon) to ground turkey to add fiber to the diet.

Since the diet of young tegus in captivity are usually low in calcium, it is also important to supplement with calcium and to move the feeder rodents up in size to ones that contain a bony skeleton as soon as possible. Calcium serves to keep muscles active, another important part of gut motility.