Feeding my blue tongue

[Snoozie09]

Hi,
My bluey is now 8 months old. Is he still a juvenile or now an adult?
Also, he eats snails, vegies, mince meat, what else can I feed him and how much to feed?
Thanks for any help

 

[Sock Puppet]

I give mine a mix including (but not limited to) some mushies, brocolli, bok choy, a little bit of banana occasionally. They like grapes & LOVE blueberries (they sift through & eat all the blueberries before eating anything else). Chopped apple is also a fave. I also give them a thawed fuzzy mouse each every now & then, they are mad for them. Thier behaviour eating mice is competely different to eating fruit & veg or tinned dog food, it turns on their hunting instinct & they get aggressive (I have to separate or feed at opposite ends of enclosure) & very excited. Mine don't like carrots or beans, they always leave them in the bowl for some reason.

 

[jewfish1]

Snoozie09: I have 3 blueys and they are 10 months old. They are juveniles. They grow pretty quickly and get to breeding age from 3-5 years.

Its important at that age to get heaps of UV from the sun or give them a vitamin D3 suppement and to give them a calcium supplement powder over their food and also reptile multi-vitamin powder dusted over their food, Otherwise can lead to deformaties and growth problems. A vet recently told me this.

With food, I mix in steamed veges in low fat dog food and they love it. I let them eat as much as they want, feed them seperately and only 2 times a week. Also give them fruit in small pieces that they can crush without choking..

The vet told me to avoid giving them brocholi, cauliflour, mushrooms, carrots and corn on a regular basis. Raw meat should be avoided as it can give theim intestinal worms.

They also love snails, cockroaches, beetles and mealworms.

Hope this helps

 

[Jasspa]

Try to feed the corn sparingly though, it is incredibly high in phosphorus - not something you need in a growing bluey.

 

[jewfish1]

Jasspa: My vet told me that corn and carrots converts to sugars which is not good for young blueys.

Also, cauliflour has no nutritional benefit to them and brocholi can cause thyroid probleims for them just as it does for humans.

 

[Tirilia]

My 2yr old Bluey is in Great shape.

His favorites are green grapes (cut in half), blueberries, strawberry + banana (sparingly), for greens Bok Choy and thawed baby peas. Watching him with a peice of mango is hillarious.. just slice a peice off a centimeter or two thick and score it then turn it inside out and rest it on your blueys plate.. they can smell it from across their enclosure and sneak up on it.. position themselves above it looking down, inclining their head back and fourth and then wrestle the cubes off it and lick it dry, keeps them entertained for Ages lol. They can have a bit of mushroom every now and then, they like the liquid out of it I think.

Here is a Great page to use as a guide http://www.bluetongueskinks.net/textk.txt

Oh and I only feed my bluey defrosted pinky mice, dont trust the furry ones. Never raw meat, wayy too dangerous. Oh and pet food makes their excrement stink more than normal

 

[Jasspa]

Jasspa: My vet told me that corn and carrots converts to sugars which is not good for young blueys.

Also, cauliflour has no nutritional benefit to them and brocholi can cause thyroid probleims for them just as it does for humans.

Oops sorry Jewfish, I misread that! I didn't see in your first message that your vet said avoid those food, I thought the vet was telling you to feed them regularly. I didn't see the word avoid.
My mistake.

 

[jewfish1]

No worries JASSPA.

TIRILIA: Just wondering how long your 2 year old bluey is?

As said earlier, mine are only 10 months old and are 30-40 cm in length.

I think the larger one might be a male but not going to have them sexed yet and till they are older.

I'd imagine that mine could be double their length in the next year?

They do grow very quickly.

Jewfish1

 

[GeckoJosh]

Are these Eastern Blueys?
If so they average 45cm as adults, so it sounds like the one that is 40cm is almost fully grown

 

[jewfish1]

GECKOMAN123: Yes they are eastern blue tongues. They were only born in February this year.

I understood from my research on the net that they could grown as much as 60cm?

 

[Helikaon]

certainly can but it is not the most common thing in the world, most of mine average 40-45 cm

 

[GeckoJosh]

Yeah iv seen some big ones but like helikon said its not common
45cm average not limit

 

[jewfish1]

I did see one of those larger eastern blueys in the wild on my friend fathers farm near Liverpool NSW at Leppington and it was a giant compared to my little whipper snappers.

It was about the 60cm mark and its head was about 7-8cm wide and had a very wide body.

I found it under a piece of corrugated iron with a baby bluey by its side and a red bellied black snake close by. It was trully a giant. Never seen a bluey like it.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Yeah im yet to see a large captive one
Iv seen some monsters as well, mostly road kill though :x
I saw a 60cm one recently for about 30 secs, it was jet black all over, not sure if it was a natural hypo or just a giant Cunninghams

 

[Sock Puppet]

Give them a varied diet & remember that if you're collecting snails, stay away from gardens that have been baited.

 

[mouse_has_faith]

If you don't have many snails in your garden, you can go out and collect them from other people's gardens after it's rained- just keep them a few days before feeding to your bluey to be extra sure they haven't been baited.

 

[Helikaon]

Yeah im yet to see a large captive one
Iv seen some monsters as well, mostly road kill though :x
I saw a 60cm one recently for about 30 secs, it was jet black all over, not sure if it was a natural hypo or just a giant Cunninghams

sounds like a land mullet

 

[Snoozie09]

Thanks for all your help. I gave him blueberries yesterday and he loved them. I would never have thought that he would. Can I just confirm that he only needs to be fed twice a week? Also, how do I know if he is being over/under fed?
Thanks again guys.

 

[mouse_has_faith]

Though bluetongues don't have to eat daily, twice a week doesn't seem like that much (unless of course these two meals are huge). Just leave some food out for him daily, and let him decide how much or how little he wants to eat.
How much your bluetongue eats depends on the time of year, temperature, etc. After a while, you'll get a intuitive understanding of his eating habits and will know what's appropriate.