Can you give tegus soup?

[Fallen_Leaves16]

This is probably a rather odd question best suited to some other reptile-focused forum, but I still wanted to ask around here. If, theoretically, one were to take tegu-safe ingredients (e.g. raw turkey, various vegetables, fruits, eggs, etc), chop or mash them, and boil them into soup, would a tegu enjoy or at the very least eat it?
Also, what would be the best way to go about feeding a tegu whole mice when it has never had any before? My female red tegu was never properly socialized or fed a good diet for the majority of her life so far, and she does not recognize mice, chicks, and other whole prey items as food; whenever I offer those foods to her, she licks it a little and at the most bites it before promptly spitting it out. I'm pretty sure it's because she doesn't like the fur, but I'm not certain. Any advice?

 

[beantickler]

I've had a few tegus. I have always started them out with pinky mice. No fur and bite sized... id give that a try. Also doesn't hurt to warm them up a bit. Put the frozen mice in a bag and then into warm water. Another helpful hint is try and disguise the pinkys. Put your tegus favorite foods around them. Mine loved berries and certain fruits.

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

I've had a few tegus. I have always started them out with pinky mice. No fur and bite sized... id give that a try. Also doesn't hurt to warm them up a bit. Put the frozen mice in a bag and then into warm water. Another helpful hint is try and disguise the pinkys. Put your tegus favorite foods around them. Mine loved berries and certain fruits.

Thanks for the advice! My red is actually eating pinkies relatively well; I should've specified that she doesn't like anything larger than small hoppers. I'll try disguising the mice next time I feed her; hopefully she'll eat them.

 

[jjohnwm]

"This is probably a rather odd question best suited to some other reptile-focused forum..."

Actually, it's a pretty odd question for just about anywhere...

The soup idea just sounds like a good way to take excellent Tegu food and remove some or much of its nutritional quality, as well as making it less attractive to the lizard. What is the point?

I had a large Black-and-White Tegu for many years back in the day; he was an eating machine and it was an ongoing concern to prevent him from becoming too fat. On the rare occasions that I offered a new food that he wasn't immediately enamoured with, I found that beating up a freshly-cracked egg and dipping the new stuff in it, or drizzling the egg over top of the food, always elicited an instant response. Crushed snails (shells included) were another spicer-upper that always got his interest.

Adult mice seemed to turn him off due to their fur, as you suspect with yours. If I happened to find myself coming into possession of a surplus of mice that couldn't all be used up with my snakes, I would simply skin them and his hesitation disappeared. For awhile I actually used the skins to wrap around commercially-available foods (very few available back then) for my snakes, but that was just too much trouble. Much easier to just fortify thawed mice with capsules of vitamin powder slipped under the skin.

Tegus are cool; a Red Tegu was one of my Grail Animals for a long time. Never happened for me.

 

[Fallen_Leaves16]

Rather late for an update, but I tried the "egg wash" trick and she took a couple mice without complaint! Thanks for the advice.
I figured varying the texture of the foods I offered my tegu might've been a relatively good idea, but on further consideration, you're probably right in saying that offering liquefied food is a bad idea.

On a side note, how do you skin a mouse without it practically falling apart? All my attempts ended in a bloody, misshapen clump of organs that got everywhere, and the fur was a tattered mess. I'm probably not going to try it again, but it'd be nice to know for future reference.

 

[jjohnwm]

Rather late for an update, but I tried the "egg wash" trick and she took a couple mice without complaint! Thanks for the advice.
I figured varying the texture of the foods I offered my tegu might've been a relatively good idea, but on further consideration, you're probably right in saying that offering liquefied food is a bad idea.

On a side note, how do you skin a mouse without it practically falling apart? All my attempts ended in a bloody, misshapen clump of organs that got everywhere, and the fur was a tattered mess. I'm probably not going to try it again, but it'd be nice to know for future reference.

Skinning a mouse is almost exactly the same as skinning a gerbil, except up around the ears where you have to treat it more like a hooded rat...

Okay, couldn't resist...haven't had my coffee yet. You were probably trying to skin a frozen/thawed mouse; that's a messy exercise in frustration. But with a freshly-killed and still-warm mouse, the skin comes off fairly easily, making a few preliminary cuts up around mouth and head and then peeling the skin back almost like taking off a hideous little latex glove inside-out. Snip off ears, feet and eventually the tail as you get to them. Use a slim box-cutter razor-type knife.

Then, if you really want to waste some irretrievable time, wrap that little bundle of joy around a small chunk of snake "sausage" commercial food...if that stuff is still available...and then offer it up to a kingsnake or baby boa. If, by that time, you haven't realized how low you've sunk, well...

If I did this today, I'm sure I'd be hearing the theme from "Rick and Morty" playing in my head.

Pickle Rick!!!

 

[Joshuakahan]

"This is probably a rather odd question best suited to some other reptile-focused forum..."

Actually, it's a pretty odd question for just about anywhere...

The soup idea just sounds like a good way to take excellent Tegu food and remove some or much of its nutritional quality, as well as making it less attractive to the lizard. What is the point?

I had a large Black-and-White Tegu for many years back in the day; he was an eating machine and it was an ongoing concern to prevent him from becoming too fat. On the rare occasions that I offered a new food that he wasn't immediately enamoured with, I found that beating up a freshly-cracked egg and dipping the new stuff in it, or drizzling the egg over top of the food, always elicited an instant response. Crushed snails (shells included) were another spicer-upper that always got his interest.

Adult mice seemed to turn him off due to their fur, as you suspect with yours. If I happened to find myself coming into possession of a surplus of mice that couldn't all be used up with my snakes, I would simply skin them and his hesitation disappeared. For awhile I actually used the skins to wrap around commercially-available foods (very few available back then) for my snakes, but that was just too much trouble. Much easier to just fortify thawed mice with capsules of vitamin powder slipped under the skin.

Tegus are cool; a Red Tegu was one of my Grail Animals for a long time. Never happened for me.

Tegus are absolutely amazing, I’ve had many types. Believe it or not, Columbians are one of my favorites over Argentines. I’ve had Chilean dwarfs and Peruvian monitor tegus as well. I think a blue would be my grail tegu. I have a black jeweled lacerta now that is crazy cool. Like a tegu without the tegu difficulty lol

 

[Joshuakahan]

This is probably a rather odd question best suited to some other reptile-focused forum, but I still wanted to ask around here. If, theoretically, one were to take tegu-safe ingredients (e.g. raw turkey, various vegetables, fruits, eggs, etc), chop or mash them, and boil them into soup, would a tegu enjoy or at the very least eat it?
Also, what would be the best way to go about feeding a tegu whole mice when it has never had any before? My female red tegu was never properly socialized or fed a good diet for the majority of her life so far, and she does not recognize mice, chicks, and other whole prey items as food; whenever I offer those foods to her, she licks it a little and at the most bites it before promptly spitting it out. I'm pretty sure it's because she doesn't like the fur, but I'm not certain. Any advice?

If the ingredients are tegu friendly, I don’t think the form matters much, but it might get messy

 

[jason222]

Tegus are opportunistic feeders, and they have been known to consume a variety of different food items, including raw meat, fruits, and vegetables. It's possible that your tegu may enjoy a soup made from tegu-safe ingredients, but it's important to keep in mind that tegus have a high protein requirement and a diet that is too low in protein may not provide the necessary nutrients for their growth and health.

Feeding a tegu whole mice can be a bit more challenging if they are not accustomed to eating them. One way to introduce whole prey items, such as mice, is to first offer them in small, bite-sized pieces and gradually increase the size over time. This will allow your tegu to become more accustomed to the texture and taste of the food.

Another approach is to try to offer the whole prey item with a scent that your tegu is already familiar with and enjoys. For example, you can try rubbing the prey item with a food item that your tegu already recognizes as food, such as chicken or turkey, to encourage them to try it.

It's also important to keep in mind that introducing new foods can take time and patience. It's a good idea to be consistent and offer the food item regularly, even if your tegu does not eat it immediately.