Here are the pics! And some questions!

[thomasjg23]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasjg23/4697278201

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasjg23/4697279163

Couple questions
I live in Pa and I'm not sure what temperature the tank should be kept at.

When I got him at the reptile expo he was very calm and stayed in my hands now that I have him warm and toasty he just runs from my hand how can I calm him down?

Where can I find an exact diet regiment that describes what to eat on each day?

Additional info: As soon as i set him down in the tank he walked to the water dish took a drink basked for a bit then pooped and now he is super skittish.

 

[thomasjg23]

Also how can i determine the sex without probing?

 

[AlbatrossTrevelyan]

I think that you have to wait until he gets older, and you tell by their size or their jowls. I'm not ENTIRELY sure, but I remember reading that somewhere.

 

[chelvis]

i highly recomend that you read the care sheets on the homepage. There is a caresheet on basic requirements for tegu care. I'll try my best now to give ya a little bit.

Temps: Cool side in the 70's the high side 80-90's Basking area ditrectly under the spot 110. Some tegus like warmer than others so it can be a bit of an art figuring it out.

Taming: If you just got him, give him a week to calm down before you try handling him. Then read the the post on the front page about taming tegus. It has alot of information that works for people.

Feeding: This is very demanding in young tegus. Feed them everyday, some young tegus do best with twice a day feeding. remove your tegu from his cage and place him in a feeding bin (rubbermaids work well). Crickets are good from growing tegus, make sure they are gut loaded and dusted with a reptile vitamine. Offer as many as he'll eat in a sitting. Ground turkey with cod liver oil and vitmains are good as well as other feeder inscets. Again feed as much as they will eat.

Other considerations: Make sure to have a goot UVB source otherwise be perpare for MBD. And i see in your pictures you have him on paper towls, switch to cyprass mulch to help with humitity and to allow him to burrow (this will make him feel more secure and adjust easier).

Sexing: At that age just got to wait. Jowls and spurs at the base of the tail will develope in males.

Can't say this enough read the notes varnyard has placed on the homepage.

 

[reptastic]

Can't say this enough read the notes varnyard has placed on the homepage.

cant say that enough!!!!!!!!!!!!


well he may have been cooler when you first got him and now that he is warmed up, he has the energy to flee! just keep handling him each day and working with him each day he should come around for you! for his temps keep his basking spot between 100-110* and his cool side 85-90* and his humidity around 60-70%! now as far as sexing goes jowls dont always indicate male or female, you will want to look for 2 bumps on each side of his vents, if your tegu has them then you have a male if not then you have a female. judging by the size of your tegu it may be too early for you to see them, thry usually dont show up until around 2-3', although my male red had them @ 17"! now with feeding its pretty simple you just supply a variety of good foods, like organ meats(hearts,livers ect.), ground meats(ground turkey/beef ect.), whole foods(mice, rats ect.) fruits(berries, mango ect.)just search the board and you will get a more in depth answer to each of your questions!

 

[Herplings]

You are going to get conflicting information in some of these posts. So, I will say this before I even start typing. A lot of the info you will get will be a good base line, but not "the only way" to do things.

That being said. I keep an ambient temp of 75-80 and a basking spot of 105-110 *F. I keep the basking spot on 24/7 by using a heat emitter, or heat panel. I use a UV type bulb on a 12/12 cycle.

I don't feed insects all that much, even to young Tegus. I just feed them smaller portions of what they will eat when they are older. I feed them once a day. I put a bowl of food in their cages and let them eat. I leave the bowl in their cage until later that night when I go to bed, or until the next day. When I wash out the bowl and put their new food in it. As they age some will eat more then other. You will have to see when that time comes how much your Tegus is eating a week.

I don't feed my Tegus in a feeding box. This is something a lot of people do, but I would say there is a very large percentage of people that do this that have a lot of problems because of it.
I feed them in their cage with the same bowl every time. Only changing the bowl once they need a larger one, and never changing the bowl more then twice a year.
These animals as a majority, respond to consistency. The more consistent you are with them, the better your results will be. They see the bowl and bowl color, they see food. They don't see a bowl, they don't see food. I even put my whole prey items in the bowl. Everything they eat, is eaten from the bowl, in the same spot of the cage every time.
I can go on about this topic for ever and get into more detail. But, I will stop here unless you want more info on the topic.

As far as sex of the animal goes. There are ways to tell as it ages if it is a male or female. I will let Bobby, or another person talk a bit about that.

The stress of the animal will be high at the moment. Give him some time to relax. They also calm down with age too.

 

[chelvis]

Herplings: I use the bowl method as well, i've used it with all my reptiles and perfer it to the feeding box method. It just seems to be the perfered method now a days. Thank you for suggesting it. Let me just add one thing. Make sure to get a heavy bowl (creamtic dog bowls work well) other wise they will knock them around. My tegu dragged his plastic one into his humidity hide, learned somthing though, he needed a bigger bowl, lol.

 

[themedic]

I would keep your tegus at a good 50%+ humidity with daily light mists.

Keep temps on hot side round 90-100, and cool side around 75-85.

Fresh water everyday, food everyday.

To me this is a typical reptile upkeep, I own snakes, chameleons, geckos , bearded dragons, iguanas, you name it I got it.

Mainly all reptiles are the same, since they are cold blooded they dont generate there own body heat thus require an outside source like the sun and or a bask light to create heat in order for them to digest there meals.

like the previous poster said, a good 12/12 cycle is normal for reptiles.

They need UVB, Calcium and D3 supplements but be sure not to over- do it.