Alf Journal

[John7429]

I haven't determined if my "new" tegu is a Chaco or regular B&W so I'll make the thread in the general discussion.

His name is Alf. He was adopted into our family 8/31/15. I am told he's a yearling. Originally sourced from TegusOnly.

He was in shed when we picked him up. He's almost done now and was interested in exploring today so we let him roam around and get some grub.

Here are some pics and a short video to start things off:

 

[Walter1]

The best tegu is the one you like! For looks, the high contrast For looks, the high contrast and whitish head are attractive. Of course, the best one is the one you like!

 

[travistodd91]

That's a beautiful tegu ! I love to see ones from tegus only doing well and looking beautiful! That monster is a yearlong !!?!? I hope mine reaches that size she's 26" and 5 months but being as she is a girl I'm not sure she will my boy from underground is growing like a little weed already as well i can't wait until he makes me some little baby tegus

 

[John7429]

That's a beautiful tegu ! I love to see ones from tegus only doing well and looking beautiful! That monster is a yearlong !!?!? I hope mine reaches that size she's 26" and 5 months but being as she is a girl I'm not sure she will my boy from underground is growing like a little weed already as well i can't wait until he makes me some little baby tegus

Unfortunately, I cannot confirm the age... I'm just stating what was relayed over to me... I do think he's a bit older than a year...


Here are some pics of his enclosure. Its outside under a covered patio. We get spoiled with our fair weather in California. He wanted to jump on his basking platform about an hour early today. I have a Digital Aquatics HerpKeeper controlling the parameters of the enclosure. The basking light (UVA/B mercury vapor) goes on from noon to 4pm. The fan kicks in if the cool side gets to 85deg and the fogger turns on if the humidity drops below 50%. I spray all the substrate down every day so it rarely drops below 85%. Its about 110deg under the basking light but varies depending if the vent fan is on or not...(you can see in the last pic that its about 82deg with the basking light off). I also have a ceramic heat emitter in the middle of the enclosure that turns on if the ambient temp drops to 65deg. I'm using coconut coir and topsoil for substrate right now - so far, so good.

Inside footprint is 6'x4'. I plan to expand the home in the next 6mo to make it at least 8' or 10' long.

I let him out to roam around after 5pm. I'm still trying to get him used to his harness/lead. Not exactly like walking a dog... lol

(ignore the crap on top of the enclosure - I didn't think of clearing that stuff off before taking the pics...)

Plexiglass front doors:

With doors open:

My handsome boy!

Please feel free to comment! all troll behavior will be ignored.

Thanks
John

 

[travistodd91]

That cage kicks ass I like the idea of the doors being wood on hinges my doors Are plexi glass on track and sometimes they get stuck

 

[John7429]

That cage kicks ass I like the idea of the doors being wood on hinges my doors Are plexi glass on track and sometimes they get stuck View attachment 9711

I wish I could take credit for the enclosure but I can't... It came with the Tegu when I rehomed him. =)

I just added the HerpKeeper, different light sockets/configuration, and fogger.

 

[John7429]

I run DA's ReefKeeper on most of my nine aquariums... They automate and monitor most of the key parameters so it makes life much easier. Having as many animals as I do is a lot of work. lol

I'll take all the help I can get with controllers and such.

 

[travistodd91]

Hahah that's funny because my brother built mine for boas years ago

That cage kicks ass I like the idea of the doors being wood on hinges my doors Are plexi glass on track and sometimes they get stuck View attachment 9711

 

[John7429]

Alf went missing last week. We've posted signs all over our neighborhood and nothing's come up. We suspect he may have been stolen... All four door latches were secured. Quite depressed over this....

 

[travistodd91]

That is bullshit I hope he is just on an adventure get a raccoon cage trap and set it with his favorite food so it can work while your not there and if someone stole him I hope he bites out there jugular ! I seriously sleep with all my reptiles in my room there's more cage than carpet for this very reason and even though here in Florida I could shoot someone for doing that Im still scared I wouldn't be here too

 

[Walter1]

John-i'm sorry. I hope you get him back.

 

[John7429]

So... a bit of an update.

I spoke to Rodney from Tegus Only (because that is where Alf was originally purchased) and he assured me he had some nice "Grade A" specimen available that could serve as a replacement for Alf.

I gladly accepted the offer and we made arrangements to ship an animal to me. Upon arrival, I found him missing two toes and expressed my disappointment to Rodney. He asked for pictures, which I immediately furnished. He acknowledged his mistake and we discussed a couple courses of action. We came to the agreement that he would ship me a replacement tegu if I returned the "damaged" one back to him on his dime. He promised pictures of a replacement animal several times but has not sent me any. Last Friday, I shipped the tegu back as agreed. During all this, he has posted several "new" ads on kingsnake stating he has "plenty in stock".

He has the damaged tegu back. He has all my money. I have no pictures of a replacement animal or an eta. He has not replied to my texts all afternoon today.

I'm starting to get a little worried. I've wasted a couple weeks now dealing with this. I could have easily purchased a new baby tegu when my wife and I were at the NARBC event a couple weekends ago. I was hoping to get another nice tegu and, at the same time, help the feral population in Florida but... this is not how I imaged things to go....

 

[Walter1]

I understand the stress but don't sweat it. Rod's ethical he's also a one man operation and probably out trapping. Fair for you to want resolution soon. Rodney'll come through. I know him well

 

[John7429]

I understand the stress but don't sweat it. Rod's ethical he's also a one man operation and probably out trapping. Fair for you to want resolution soon. Rodney'll come through. I know him well

Yeah. I have no hard feelings towards Rodney.

We have agreed to a refund to just settle things and move on...