First Time Teju Companion

[Alliocha]

Hey there guys and gals,

first off, greetings from Germany! A wonderful site you have here..
My name is Alliocha and I am from Germany, living in a city called Essen. i am turning 30 soon and I am a big reptile enthusiast since being a kid. When I was 15 I got my first reptiles, smaller ones like Skinks and Geckos. My dream always has been to share live with bigger ones though. So a few years back I came across that wonderful animal which is called Tegu, Teju in german.

So, the dream is coming true. In two days my new flatmate is moving in. A 2 years argentinan Tegu as you can see on my pic. I am so happy about his soon arrival.
Now I have a few questions. Over here in Germany you can't get any good informations, so i found this nice page besides some books where I already read a lot.
I got Travis from a guy that had to look for a new caring home for him since he's working for 10 to 12 hours a day and can't get him the attention that Travis needs anymore.

So now I have a few questions. Sorry for the longer post or if its in the wrong category. I just wanted to say "hi" first.
Yesterday I visited him for the first time, he was quite nervous when his former owner took him out of his enclosure. I think that it was because we were a few more people standing around him.
So, when he let him walk at the living room I recoginzed him walking into my direction. When he did so I just stood calm and waited for what he was going to do. Soon he came across my hand. He smelled on it and I thought it was just out of curiosity. But then suddenly he bit me. It was not that hard and I think he just tried whether he could enjoy my hand. I thought about why he did so the whole day cause it didn't seem to be out of aggression or fear. Later the evening I came across the fact that my soap is fruit scented and thought this made a lot of sense. Dou you also think that was the reason?

So, now when he is moving in, I know that he needs a few days to get used to his surroundings. After those days have passed I wonder how to begin in building a strong relationship because I read opposite things. Some say take him out of his enclosure and hold him until he gets calm when he's messing, some say never do anything he doesn't like at first. So what made the biggest success for you people?

Also for the feeding, shall I never ever feed him inside his enclosure or is it ok for the first time. For this thing I also read different things.

There are already plenty points I am wanting to transcript to make him feel safe and trust me. But for other things I don't know what really is the truth. It's just that I don't want to do anything wrong. If there is anything to do that he doesn't like at the moment, I just want to do it for the greater cause of making him happy with me in the future.

I don't want to expect too much of you, but could you probably write something up like a trainings plan for a three feet Tegu that is quite strong and not so tame yet? I mean just like how to start handling him the right way in the beginning and how to go on after this. I think I know the most important things like not grabbing him from above and scent free hands, but any tips would be so much appreciated!

Thank you so much!

 

[Josh]

Hello and Welcome to TeguTalk!
Travis looks great! I bet you're excited to get him set up in your home!
It sounds like he may have bit you because you smelled like fruit. If he wasn't exhibiting any other aggressive behavior, I'd say you don't have to worry about it too much. He will get used to you and your scent once he's living with you.
Definitely give him time to settle in. That could take days, it could take a week or two. I would let at least a 7-10 days pass before you start working with him. The biggest thing at first is to make sure his enclosure is properly set up and he is behaving normally. You'll want to make sure he's eating, drinking, and defecating properly. I would also recommend a visit to the vet to check on general health and for parasites, etc.
We have lots of threads on handling and taming - just search the forum a bit. The biggest thing at first will be getting him used to you. Put an old shirt of yours in his enclosure so he can get used to your scent.
Be sure to keep us updated on his progress and share lots of pics!!

 

[Alliocha]

Yeah, I am totally excited and more than happy!

Thanks so much for this long answer. I really appreciate it a lot! You're some nice folks over here! In Germany people just go on dissing each other at such sites. Totally missing the focus and cause.

Ok, sounds legit! Just one more question.. The veterinarian is duty for me. But: Shall I do it after he has been at his new home for a few days already or do it straight away?

Thanks again!

And yeah, of course I will share pics and experiences!

 

[Josh]

Probably better to do it ASAP so you can begin any treatment (if necessary). They can also get a benchmark of his weight and length for your records.

 

[Alliocha]

Ok, I'll do this. I don't think there is any problem with his health since his former owner has been very good with him. But since it doesn't have to be his fault and to have surety I'll do this!

Thanks again Josh!

 

[marydd]

Welcome! So happy you got a great looking tegu! As far as the conflicting taming strategies.... I would say start of slow. Let him get used to you naturally. If that does not work in a few months maybe start to get more hand on. Take your time. The shirt in the enclosure with my scent on it was the best advice I got! It helped me in about a week. Keep us updated!

 

[Alliocha]

Thanks a lot, Mary!

Yeah, the shirt trick is what I will do right before he is moving inside his enclosure. Do you think I should put more shirts at different positions? Like there where he is basking and inside his cupped log where he is going to sleep?

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

Just the 1 shirt should be enough. Also in the picture it looks like his digging substrate is sand? if so it needs to have soil from outside or topsoil purchased from a hardware store mixed with the sand (needs more soil than sand 75% soil 25% sand works well). The ability for the soil to hold humidity is very important, I will attach a link that you should check out, in these setups poop cleaning is a thing of the past! Just make sure your cage is sealed up tight to hold that moisture and bugs in!
http://www.tegutalk.com/threads/bioactive-substrate.11819/

 

[Alliocha]

Yeah , you're totally right. I have built his enclosure today and sealed it. Tomorrow I' m gonna buy some top soil and mix it with sand. It was just his former owner who had him on sand only.
When I met Travis today (I already picked him up and now hes waiting in some reptile shop for the enclosures seal to dry) he already seemed to recognize me and wanted to come to me when his former owner picked him up
Thanks again for all of the tips. Anything you can give me as a hint is very much appreciated

 

[Alliocha]

One question though.. Travis seems a bit small for almost two years and only around 37 inches. The enclosures technique is yet to check with measuring temperature and stuff but I guess it could be something about his former owners feeding habits.. He gave him fruits and vegetables every day, eggs and stuff on occasion, and 3 poults at the weekend. Do you think this is enough? He's not thin and is very active, just like a healthy Tegu should behave. His shedding is perfect as well. It's just his size. Do you think it is normal like some grow faster, some slower or should I change something? I also think about switching to mice rather than poults. Nevertheless he will have his first visit at a reptilian pro vet very soon..

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

If he looks to have a good amount of fat at the base of his tail and his hips then he's a healthy weight, which is good but I'm no expert to comment on if he could be in good health at that size and age. I'm guessing you mean young chickens when you say poults? Those are fine to keep in his diet, I give to mine as well, I also use rats (or mice if he's too small for rats, or if you'd rather give multiple full sized mice at a time when he's bigger), quail, guinea pigs (my tegu's are big), also any whole wild caught fish you can get on occasion, and keep the fruits in the diet for sure. I don't feed vegetables, some people do, but I feel like if they don't eat it willingly by itself they don't eat it in the wild, why trick them into eating it. I just use melon like cantaloupe or honeydew and papaya as well (in Germany I don't know if fresh tropical fruits like papaya and mango are available) the melon is a good stomach filler for when your tegu has grown up and needs to keep unhealthy weight off of his belly and legs (the tail fat with their hips covered in a thin lair of fat is good to have but any more, excluding male neck jowls, and it's not exactly healthy). I hope you don't mind long response I just want to share my experience so far with my tegu's that I've had 4 years now. When your tegu is as young and small as yours he probably won't get overweight if he eats too many mice at this stage, he needs the meat and bones and such to grow big. So my feeding is shifted based on age, size, and weight, if a tegu is small (like yours) or very young which they will be small also I feed about 75% of the diet to as many insects as he can eat with a few mice, small chickens, quail in there as well, with the other 25% being fruits that he will eat (berries, grapes, melon, mango if available, kiwi, and avoid banana mostly, I give my tegu's one banana every 3 months or so because they love it but especially with young tegu's the potassium in bananas doesn't bond well with calcium so their bones could be damaged easy if they eat banana too often but when their bones are pretty much full sized and they are eating bigger animals with bigger bones they can eat a little bit more banana but not weekly). When your tegu is large and almost full grown his diet should change to more of a 60% fruit, 40% mice, chicken, quail, rat, insects. Some people feed their tegu's ground up turkey, beef, goat, duck and other animals, I don't myself, but if fed whole prey items like the mice and chickens and insects more often and only use the ground meat as a treat type meal or a few times a month meal I don't see an issue. Make sure you give him a nice hot basking spot with ceramic tile or flat rocks to absorb the heat and for him to lie flat on, you want that temperature to be as high as 63 Celsius or 145 farenheight. The high temperatures and high humidity are important for his health, the food and love come next try to post some picture of his cage with info about his basking temps and humidity levels and there are a lot of posts under caging section on this forum to find out what you should buy for lights, sealant, or whatever. I suggest getting on Amazon and search for a $20 temperature gun that reads the surface temperatures of the basking site (the rock or tiles temperature) which is what needs to be read not the air temperature under the lights. As long as you keep him warm like that, humid in that soil I posted the link to earlier, and fed well he will be a nice friendly big guy more than likely. Good luck and keep us updated, I hope I didn't put you to sleep with this long post

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

I just realized 37 inches might be about normal for a tegu 2 years old if they brumated during the winter which is like hibernating for bears, my tegu's did not and kept growing and being in their normal hot cage conditions through the winter and they just kept eating and growing. From the picture your guy looks to be healthy and in good spirits I would just make sure you find a way to read bask temperatures and make sure temps are high enough

 

[Alliocha]

Thank you so much for all of this informations! You really seem to love sharing your experiences to those that are just going to start! Thats awesome amd what I am willing to do as well when I have my boy a few years already. So, I love long posts. I could read about this topic all day. Travis needs to have a perfect home

So for the fruits: I can get everything you have as well I guess and will keep your tips in mind.

When it comes to eggs: How often shall I give him some at this age do you think? Also hard boiled or raw?

I am now starting to put everything in his enclosure. As soon as its finished I will measure temperature and send pics! Travis has to wait until tomorrow until he moves in. Oh, I miss this boy already ^^ But I am going to pay him a visit with some fruit and an egg at the reptile shop where he is kept till tomorrow in an hour.

Again, I am so thankful to all of you wonderful people here sharing their beautiful experiences and everything I need to know!

Oh yeah: He didn't brumate this winter of course but did it once to what I know. I think I rather don't want to send him in hibernation or brumating in the future, cause I have to say I am a bit afraid of this.. I read that it is ok when you don't want to breed with them. Is that really true? Again, people have different opinions here..

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

My tegu's have never shown signs of brumating and they're 4 to 5 years old by now, so I don't think its an issue. As far as eggs are concerned I wouldn't feed them to Travis very often, maybe one or 2 eggs a week, unless these eggs are fertilized then you could give them a few more a week. I would stick with giving him the insects, mice, chickens and fruit, and when you do give him some egg raw is better than boiled as cooking changes the properties of nutrients making it harder or not possible to be digested. Feeding raw egg is messy as well so find a spot that is easy to clean for spill to take place in I know this is very off topic but do you have a favorite football club in Germany? I have a favorite team in Germany, Spain, Italy, France, and America! Good luck again with Travis!

 

[Alliocha]

That all sounds very reasonable For now I will give him only 3 mice or chicken once a week and apart from that just fruits, insects and raw eggs once or twice a week. Would you agree on that with all of your experience?
Also, do you defrost the dead mice in putting them into hot water or do you feed them living? I just wonder how to defrost the best way and whether just putting them into hot water is the best thing.

Haha, yeah I have a favorite team. It's Schalke 04. Its the next city from where I live. Whats yours?
You're from the U.S. right?

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

I am from the U.S. and be easy on me schalke is doing well (my friend is a Schalke fan also), my team is Borussia Dortmund, not doing so well in the league but I have high hopes for them to return to better form, back to the topic though, I defrost my mice and chickens in cool water or room temperature warm is ok but if it's too hot the meat may be cooked and that's like giving cooked egg as opposed to raw. Live mice may bite an eye out if your tegu grabs his back legs or tail only and isn't quick enough with the killing process (most are very good at it but it only takes one time to not have an eye forever) but it's best to be on the safe side with food especially if you want him to be tame even during feeding if he never has to chase a white rodent he might not be tempted to biting a white sock with a foot in it I wear shoes at all times feeding. I would give 2 mice or 1 mouse and 1 chicken twice a week and use the raw egg as a once a week treat with all the fruits thrown in. You may try feeding a few insects on Sunday with fruit, a little bit of fruit with more insects on Monday, Tuesday no food, Wednesday a chicken and fruit, Thursday a mouse and insects only, Friday no food, Saturday egg treat and fruit. How does that sound? There may be days where he refuses food so you should find out if he's interested before thawing mice or chickens or quail and cutting fruit up because I don't recommend re freezing them and thawing again

 

[Alliocha]

Sorry for getting back so late to you! I had a whole lot to do in building a great home for Travis.. But he finally moved in and seemed to feel comfortable from the very beginning. He even went to his food within two minutes eating the khaki and kiwi including 5 big grashoppers I served him. I am very happy He also was very nice to me and very interested in the shirt I put him.
What do you think when can I give him the mice after his food from today with the fruits and insects? I know you already gave me a great feeding plan and I want to do it like this, I just wanted to add some insects today because he didn't ever get some as far as I know..

Also, is there any way to avoid parasites in whatever, like freezing every animal source food I give him?

Haha, it's funny you and your friend like Schalke and Dortmund. The hardcore fans of both clubs here hate each other. The both citys are very closely settled to each other. My city Essen is right in the middle with the border to Gelsenkirchen (Schalke) and something like 15 miles to Dortmund. However, I like both teams. Eventhough people here normally like one of the both teams and despise the other. Yeah Dortmund are very weak right now. But I am sure they will find their way back to the top. Especially because they have the best coach within the german league. Juergen Klopp is awesome. Very authentic guy and funny entertaining.

Thanks a lot for all your hints homie!

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

Great news to hear about Travis's new home! I wouldn't concern yourself with parasites in his food unless you're catching food from out in the wild, in which case freezing them should kill any present parasites but I'm not sure about all of them. If he will take a mouse today you could give him one, for the first few weeks it might not hurt to feed him a little food everyday in stead of larger meals with days where he gets no food, this will help him to trust you faster.

Yeah the rivalry is one reason why I chose Dortmund as my team since my friend was already a Schalke fan and we wanted to have a fun friendly rivalry, I'm not the type of person who hates other teams even if they have bitter history or whatever reason especially since I haven't been a fan for more than 2 years so its not like I'm very familiar with the history , but I do like Juergen he is a very good coach! I just feel like they got their confidence struck down by a few losses that they let slip. Momentum and confidence are very important to keeping up performances in football and they are missing that extra edge at the moment.

I hope we can stay in contact throughout Travis's life and we can throw some friendly trash talk at each other when Dortmund and Schalke face off!

 

[Alliocha]

Oh, thats pretty strange. The following message was sent hours ago but did not go through. Luckily it has been saved:

Yeah, everything cool here I guess. One thing is where I am a bit unsure: The guy from the reptile shop where Travis stood for three days while I was preparing everything told me that I should give him pebble stones and that he needs that for his digestion after eating mice and stuff to avoid intestinal obstruction. But he also told me that I shouldn't give too much cause this could cause intestinal digestion as well. I am a bit leery there. I don't want to put him in any danger of course. Just do everything perfect. His former owner told me that I shouldn't give this to him cause his defecating is fine. I now just found some pebble stones inside his enclosure which the guy from the shop must have given him. Now I'm afraid that he has some mor inside his belly that won't come out. What is your advice about this? Man, I feel like a mother being afraif of its baby to happen something to. I still have a lot to learn but am very motivated. I think in some weeks or month I feel more safe about everything. I hope you don't feel annoyed by all of my endless questions!

Ah yeah. One more thing. You told that for the first weeks I should give him smaller rations but than without a pause of two days in between. So do you mean with that that I can also give him fruits the next day when I fed him mice or a mouse one day before? So like giving him one mouse every two days and the next day just fruits? What about the insects then?

For Dortmund and Schalke Hardcore Fans its just that they hate each other because they are (normally) very successful teams in the first league, both from the Ruhr Area. They are clubs with a long tradition and every team here seems to need an enemy team for the fans. Stupid, but just the way it is. I think ist the same for NFL teams and stuff in the States, isn't it?

Yeah, I would really much enjoy keeping contact! It's always great to share life with people around the globe! So, since Travis is almost 3 now I hope it will last for the next 17 years at least
You can write me a pm if you like! Thats possible here, right? You should tell me something about your animals and life as well then!

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

I would stick with the soil I sent you the link about but I just realized that link does have pebbles in the bottom lair, I wouldn't do that it just makes it too much work especially if the tegu might just mess it up, just the souls sand mixture along with the bugs is fine by itself.

Now with feeding, if you give him one mouse or some insects only and he eats all of them and is still hungry go ahead and let him have some fruit after until he seems full, if you fill him up one day he might not be very hungry the next day but might take a bit of food especially if he's still growing fast. I would just try to give him as much different types of meat as possible like mice, roaches grasshoppers