Finally settled in

[Sinsation]

Well we brought Emily the Arg. B&W Tegu home a couple weeks ago. At first I had alot of trouble finding what she likes to eat. The previous owners told us to feed her table scraps I didnt really think it was appropriate after reading what she needs in her diet. So far tho I can get her to eat red grapes , f/t mice, worms, and turkey. She doesnt like veggies or man other fruits Ill just keep trying tho.
Here are some pics from today we brought her outside. She is very gentle too.




So if anyone has some tips for better feeding I would really appriciate it

[mr~python]

try different insects. shes too big for crickets so try roaches.

[Sinsation]

Yeh I tried crickets and she wouldnt touch them. Roaches if there was a suggestion I was hoping to avoid it would of been that one! Thanks I will try it and put away the fear!

[BP's Rock]

Very pretty Argentine - I've kept 3 Argentines, and 2 Colombians from hell - The Argentines make a great large lizard pet

Lose the table scraps, and push the prekilled rodents - their feeding response aint that of a BP - Taking to the fruit in and of itself "grapes" is a good thing - You can always mix in the fruit and veggies with the turkey mix, along with the insects - I've found once they get bigger, the insects aint worth the chase to them, so as long as they are eating turkey - mash a little variety in there - The family Teiidae have been by far the favorite lizards I have kept - And Argentine B&W's are great to work with - Good Luck

[Sinsation]

Thanks!

I did cut the table scraps out. I was considering making a meatloaf type thing with the turkey with the veggies (fresh shredded) added in. She likes the meat cooked Im just concerned I would cook the nutrients out of the veggies doing it that way.

[BP's Rock]

I've always fed the turkey raw - They have a harder time digesting the toughened protein in cooked meats - And you would most likely lose some of the nutritional value from the veggies that way too. Better too feed them fresh.


I've also found that, with my Tegu's anyway - that if I mashed in too much different variety into the turkey, they would walk away from it - I would do turkey/fruit one feeding - turkey/veggies another feeding, turkey/insects another time.

My Argentines were up in the 4' range, and would not chase insects anymore so they got it in the turkey - I've never fed roaches as I personally can't stand them and didn't want them around the house.

[Sinsation]

Thanks for all the suggestions Ill get right to work on it and see how she does
Ive been feeding her once a day. Usually in the mornings is that enuough for her? She never paces her enclosures and doesnt beeline the food when its time, in fact she's every casual with everything but live food, which is why I do f/t.

[BP's Rock]

I've always fed the babies daily as much as they wanted to eat in one sitting - yours appears to be bigger and larger than a baby, but pictures can be deceiving - my older larger one's were fed about every 3 days - Alot of Tegus will eat whether they are hungry or not and can become obese, so you have to watch out in that perspective.


The largest Argentine I had was 52 ", and weighed around 10.5 lbs - he was an eating machine, so I had to watch how much I fed him - I always fed pre-killed as well - live feeding makes them too aggressive and crazy lol - I also fed outside of the enclosure exclusively with the Tegu's...

[Sinsation]

They told me she was a yearling but a friend at the petstore said she sounded older.

She measures about 36 inches. No clue on her weight, my scale weighs snakes not wiggely tail whippin lizards lol. If I had to guess id say around 3 pounds tho.

[ballpnoob]

When I used to live in Argentina, Tegus (lagarto overo) would smell BBQs and approach without fear. They would pretty much eat anything they were thrown.