Argentine B/W Tegu feeding

[JayBP]

I've been doing some research on Argentine Black and White Tegus, but I haven't been able to find anything that says how much of certain things they need such as insects, veggies, fruits, rodents, etc. Can anyone tell me what their feed schedule for their Tegu is and how much it would cost weekly(or monthly) to feed one?

[GVReptiles]

Well I don't think they eat vegetables or fruit (Someone please correct me if I'm wrong).

[jere000]

if you want one that eats fruit get a red tegu they are mainly the only ones to eat fruit the others rarely eat fruit where as red tegus eat mainly fruit correct me if im wrong

[jere000]

and heres a good site for more info on tegus
http://thetegu.com/

[snakewrangler]

Argentines are technically omnivorous. I have a pair, and while I have seen them eat fruit and vegetables, I can tell that those foods are NOT their favorites. The bulk of my tegu's diet is whole rodents. I also feed them ground turkey mixed with multivitamin powder on occasion.

My tegus are adults, so their diets are regulated to prevent obesity. They eat one scheduled meal per week, usually on a Wednesday. I do this because I typically feed snakes on the weekends, and when I have leftover rodents, the tegus are hungry enough to ensure that they don't go to waste.

My smaller tegu will typically get 3-4 whole adult mice. My larger tegu will get 1-2 weaned or small whole rats. These guys will become huge fatties if you let them.

HTH

[wolfy-hound]

Funny, my tegus love fruit. I feed it very often. I found that my ARg B&W and the reds all liked tart apples, rather than sweet ones. They also LOVE grapes(but like them cut in half.. why no, they are not spoiled!).
I feed babies just about all they will eat, by offering cut up apples, grapes and other fruit, then later on offering ground turkey or F/T pinks. I also offer them insects, crickets, or roaches.
Adults eat chopped fruit, sometimes with egg wash. Then a few times a week(2-3 x) they get either ground turkey or more commonly whole prey of mice, rats, chicks, etc. They do not tend to pay attention to insects as adults, or at least mine rarely do, unless it's a BIG roach, then they LOVE them.
They CAN be expensive to feed, since a adult male Arg B&W or red can easily eat 10 mice in one meal. When I feed ground turkey, it's often 1/3 to 1/2 a POUND per adult tegu. The fruit can be seasonal, and apples are fairly cheap. Eggs are fairly cheap too.
I find them a lot more upkeep and feeding than ball pythons of course, but they are very personable.
Females stay smaller than males typically, and you need to prevent them from getting obese. My tegus usually have the big outdoor cage, so they exercise a lot of calories off that way. If they are in a smaller inside cage, without a lot of moving around, then you'd have to regulate the diet much more strictly.
Hope this helped.