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What can be used as tegu food?
- Insects. Hornworms (captive only; wild hornworms are toxic!) Do not offer wild-caught insects, as these may carry pesticide residues which may poison your tegu!
- Meat. Refer to ReptiFile’s list of preferred live and frozen prey distributors for high-quality reptile food you can trust.
- Fruits & Vegetables. ...
- Commercial Diets. ...
- Dog/Cat Food. ...
What do Argentine black and white tegus eat?
In the wild, black and white tegus commonly eat insects, fruits, seeds, and the eggs of other animals. Since they can grow to be very large (up to five feet long), some wild Argentine tegus have even been known to eat small birds! Argentine black and white tegu pets are usually given a diet of mostly insects when they’re very young.
What can I Feed my tegu?
A balanced and varied diet is key One food that you should feed to your tegu for the entirety of its life is a raw turkey and chicken mix. You will be able to shape the raw meat into meatballs and then place them separately into the freezer.
What is the lifespan of a black and white tegu?
ARGENTINE BLACK & WHITE TEGU Caresheet Common Name:Argentine black & white tegu(also applies to: Argentine red tegus & blue tegus) Scientific Name:Salvator merianae(red: Salvator rufescens) Origin:Argentina, South America Size: 3' - 4.5' Lifespan:15 - 20 years You will find many ways on the internet, on "how to" take care of this animal.
Can you train a tegu to drink from a dish?
Simple housebreaking: Although just about any Argentine tegu can be housetrained, red tegus are especially well-known for this. Using a clicker and positive reinforcement training, you can teach your pet reptile to drink from a specific water dish like a dog or cat.
What should I feed my TEGU?
Young tegus can be fed a staple of crickets or dubia roaches with other bug varieties occasionally mixed in. When they are large enough, pinkies can be offered occasionally as well. Adults can be fed rodents, chicks, fish, cooked eggs and large insect items such as dubia roaches and earth worms.
What do black and white Tegus eat?
Diet. Tegus have an omnivorous diet and consume fruits, eggs, insects, and small animals including reptiles and rodents. They are efficient egg predators that will consume the eggs of ground-nesting birds and reptiles. They may also consume pet food that has been left outdoors.
What can I not feed my TEGU?
For safety's sake, always offer whole prey slightly smaller than their skull. Like other pet reptiles, tegus are prone to obesity, which usually happens when they are fed too often or receive too many rodents, fatty meats, fruit, or human food.
What meat should I feed my TEGU?
MeatBeef heart supplemented with calcium.Chicks (chicken and quail)Ground chicken/turkey mixed with calcium powder.Eggs, with shell (raw or boiled)Fish (human-grade, whole)Crayfish/crawdads.Shrimp.Frogs (human-grade)More items...
Can tegu eat scrambled eggs?
diets, such as only scrambled eggs or leftover vegetable scraps. While these options will keep your tegu fed, they likely don't provide the valuable variety of nutrients which can lead to your Tegu living a happy and healthy life.
Can tegu eat carrots?
Other good vegetables include asparagus, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrot, green beans, snap peas, tomato, yellow squash and cucumber. Check out the nutritional analysis of vegetables. Fruit: Most of the vegetative matter that tegu's consume in the wild is fruit.
Can tegu eat banana?
Sweet fruits, such as grapes, bananas and cantaloupe, are another staple food. Occasionally my tegus even eat bread. Baby tegus eat insects, pinky rodents and ground meat (but be sure to add calcium). Occasionally I give them a boiled egg or canned cat food.
How do you make a tegu happy?
With so many frequent feedings, you can have training sessions with your pet tegu more often than you would otherwise be able to with reptiles that only eat once a week. If you're interested in training your tegu in this way, it's as simple of giving him or her a small amount of their favorite food.
Do tegus need heat at night?
Argentine Tegus are cold-blooded animals and require supplemental heat for proper digestion. They prefer 75-85 F during the day. Nighttime temperatures can be 5-10 cooler. If a reptile is cold, it cannot properly digest its food and is more likely to become ill.
Can a tegu eat bacon?
No, you can't.
Do tegus like to climb?
Outside of captivity, Argentine Tegus are found in the tropical areas of eastern and central South America. They are able to climb but prefer to stay closer to the ground (i.e. terrestrial) and may also be found swimming in freshwater.
How much UVB does a tegu need?
12-14 hoursBoth Argentine and Colombian tegus require 12-14 hours of daily exposure UVB for their health. In captivity, this should be supplemented by opportunities to bask in “real” sunlight as often as weather permits. The best way to provide UVB for your tegu is by using a fluorescent UVB bulb designed for high output.
Are Black and White tegu good pets?
Black and White Tegus can be quite docile and friendly. They take a while to warm up to their owner, but as long as they feel comfortable around you, they will be friendly. After a while, they will start to come to you when you stick your hand in their enclosure.
How do you take care of a black and white tegu?
Tegus require about 75 to 90-percent humidity, and these substrates are the best at retaining moisture in order to provide humidity. Mist the substrate as needed to maintain the recommended humidity level in their enclosure, but also be careful that you aren't keeping your tegu on an overly saturated substrate.
Can tegu eat banana?
Sweet fruits, such as grapes, bananas and cantaloupe, are another staple food. Occasionally my tegus even eat bread. Baby tegus eat insects, pinky rodents and ground meat (but be sure to add calcium). Occasionally I give them a boiled egg or canned cat food.
Can you have a Argentine Black and White Tegu as a pet?
Argentine black and white tegus are big and need large and secure enclosures. Juvenile tegus can be kept in a large glass aquarium with a locking lid, but adults will need a larger specialty terrarium or a custom-built cage. For adult Argentine tegus, plan on at least a 6-foot by 3-foot by 2-foot enclosure.
These tegus are more gentle than other breeds
Lianne McLeod, DVM, is a small animal and exotic pet expert with over a decade of experience writing about veterinary care. After caring for animals in her veterinarian practice, Lianne went on to study biology and research water quality and chronic disease at the University of Saskatchewan.
Behavior and Temperament of Argentine Black and White Tegus
Female tegus are slightly smaller than their male counterparts, but both sexes have a fairly distinctive pattern of white and black dots and stripes all over their bodies.
Housing Argentine Black and White Tegus
Argentine black and white tegus are big and need large and secure enclosures. Juvenile tegus can be kept in a large glass aquarium with a locking lid, but adults will need a larger specialty terrarium or a custom-built cage.
Lighting and Heating
Argentine black and white tegus are diurnal (active during the day), so they need exposure to full-spectrum UVA, and UVB lighting like the sun provides. They also need a source of heat.
Food and Water
Juvenile Argentine tegus can be fed a diet largely composed of gut-loaded crickets dusted with a calcium/vitamin supplement, along with some other feeder insects for variety, such as readily available mealworms and waxworms.
Choosing Your Argentine Black and White Tegu
These hardy lizards can become tame pets if handled correctly. But when you're deciding on one, there are a few things to watch out for. This is definitely a pet you want to acquire from a reputable breeder.
Common Health Problems
Calcium and phosphorous deficiencies are common in tegus, and like other reptiles, they're susceptible to parasitic infections, which are usually only detected during a fecal exam. 4
What can be used as tegu food?
In the wild, tegus enjoy an extremely varied diet dependent on what is seasonally and regionally available.
Supplements
Whole food items are ideal because they’re more than just muscle (protein) and fat like human-grade cuts of meat. Whole prey comes with muscles, bones, organs, hair, nails, etc. — and all of the vitamins, minerals, and amino acids that a tegu needs. These foods don’t need to be dredged in calcium or multivitamin powders.
Live vs frozen prey
When feeding whole prey, you have a choice to offer the prey live or frozen-thawed (F/T). This poses an ethical dilemma for some, and in some parts of the world, live prey isn’t even an option. But if you have the choice, you must consider the issue from a perspective that places the tegu’s welfare as priority — not your human code of ethics.
On the Subject of Water
The best water to use for your tegu is tap water (assuming that the water in your area is safe for humans), spring water, or filtered water. Not distilled or softened. Here’s why.
Physical Description
One of the best monitor lizards found predominantly in South America, the Black and White Tegu is a warm-blooded reptile which is popularly chosen as a domesticated pet due to their high intelligence and an excellent adaptation.
Types
No subspecies are falling under the Argentine Tegus. However, they are directly related to the other Tegus of the world, such as the Colombian Tegu. The Black and White Tegus fall under this Scientific Classification:
Life Span
Black and White Tegus are known to live for an average of 15 years but can live longer if they are healthy enough, receives sufficient nutrition and live in an ideal habitat, far from predation in the wilderness.
Sleeping Habits
Argentine Tegus are known to be diurnal animals, taking their daily activities predominantly done in a daytime setting more than making things done in the night. Their body strictly follows the 12-hour light cycle period, allowing them to sustain better body conditions, compared with the other lizards active at night.
Development and Reproduction
As mentioned, Argentine Tegus grow fast and manage to live for longer years, compared with the other reptiles. Their Sexual Maturity ripens up as soon as they reach their 3 rd year of existence. Upon reaching this moment, they are already considered as adults, capable of reproducing, either sexual or asexual.
Behavior
The best asset of the Argentine Tegus when it comes to their behavior is their intelligence. They share similarities with domesticated cats, especially on how they should be treated if considered as a pet in different homes.
Health Conditions
Argentine Tegus are also susceptible to different health conditions that can be acquired while both living in captivity or the wild. These illnesses develop during the times that the owners or the tegus themselves neglect the importance of their Immune System in fighting diseases.
Diet
Argentine tegus for sale have very large appetites and baby tegus for sale can eat up to 5 tubs of crickets a week as well as mice, fruits and other inverts. It’s no secret that they cost a fortune to feed as babies and juveniles. Adults are less hungry and only require feeding every other day.
Housing
The first thing to consider when looking at buying a tegu is whether or not you will have the space to house one of these lizards for the rest of its life.
What we feed our baby and adult Argentine Tegus
When we feed our tegus, we make a tegu meatball. Primarily using ground turkey, we blend some greens in with the meatballs and feed them twice weekly. Be sure to also sprinkle some vitamins in your meatball mixture if you are making them!
Argentine Tegu Water
Always provide your baby, juvenile or adult tegu fresh clean water. City water will need to either be treated with a chlorine removing liquid, OR
Argentine Tegu Care Guide
Argentine Tegus are quickly becoming some of the most popular pet reptiles for sale in the USA. Explore our full Argentine Tegu care guide, and learn the best tips on how to care for a baby or adult Argentine Tegu. Our care guide will explain many variables concerning habitat, feeding, diet and care of the Argentine Tegu Lizard.
Argentine Tegu Habitat
Hatchling or baby Argentine tegus for sale average about 6 to 10 inches long. We recommend using a 35 to 40-gallon aquarium or tank or reptile enclosure. Usually they measure 3×2′ may be used for at least the first year of life. When properly fed and cared for, your baby Tegu will grow quickly and require a larger habitat at some point.
Argentine Tegu Substrate
Baby or Adult Argentine Tegu Substrate can be a combination of soil, potting mix and cypress mulch. We recommend cypress mulch as our favorite tegu susbtrate to use as it holds humidity and is clean and hides odor. Also, it is readily available and fairly inexpensive when compared to some other types of tegu substrates for sale.
Substrate and humidity
To maintain the humidity, each morning when possible, try to mist or spray down the substrate. If this is done as needed, it will help maintain the recommended humidity level in Argentine tegu habitat. Also, be careful that you aren’t keeping your tegu on an overly saturated wet substrate.
Tegu Substrate depth
Using a substrate depth of about 4 or 5 inches is suitable for Argentine tegu hatchlings. Juvenile and adults will require 8 inches or deeper for adult tegus. Adults tend to dig, burrow and hide at times so they require deep substrate for sure.
