Morning Grouchyness?

[Blue Crab of PAIN!!!]

Hello everyone!
I just got my Tegu from Bobby yesterday (Oh, and Thank You very much! I forgot to thank you yesterday). His/Her name is "Taco". Don't ask me why.

Anyway, when I first got Taco I tried to keep my hands off of him/her as much as I could, but the temptation was too much to not interact with him at all! He didn't seem skittish at all around me; came over to my hand when placed in the cage to inspect, and was quite calm when picked up (only to move him to and fro the feeding bin).

Anyway, this morning at around 9:00am I tried to checkup on him to see how he was. I left the heating lamp off because it was quite a hot night (70's-80's). This morning he was buried and I briefly panicked because I thought he escaped. Over the years I've had an unfortunate lot of animals escape, including a gigantic land crab and I still have absolutely no clue how he got out. Anyway, I found his tail in a mound of dirt under his log, so the rest of his body was still buried and he didn't see that it was me waking him up.

Relieved that he didn't run away, I put everything back in its place and brushed my teeth. When I got back he was out and walking around his cage. When i tried to pet him he whipped at me. When I tried to scoop him up to feed him he bolted out. And when I just touched his tail he lunged at me. So I left him alone. He slept out in the open for about 4 hours. When I noticed he was awake again I tried handling him once more. He was as well behaved as ever; coming over to my hand in curiosity and letting me pet and pick him up.

Is it normal for tegu's to be irritable in the morning? Could this have been related to the heat lamp being left off?

Oh, and one more question: Taco seems to lose his appetite when he is in his feeding bin. Yesterday he wouldn't eat any crickets: I figured that was a normal side effect of being shipped. This morning he wouldn't eat in his feeding bin either, but when I put crickets in his cage with him was all over them. I put him back in the feeding bin; not hungry again. Just a few minutes ago I gave him some ground turkey in his cage (Forgive me for I have sinned: He saw me put the food in there) and he was all over it.
Whenever he's in the bin he seems less interested in food and more interested in rubbing his snout against the sides of the container. My Red-Eye Crock Skink did the same thing when she had "a cold" (she would sneeze a lot too). I don't think there's anything wrong with Taco since he doesn't do that in his cage and he hasn't sneezed. Do you guys have any idea what may be going through his head?

Thank you all for your help!

 

[slideaboot]

I think it has less to do with your tegu being grouchy in the morning and more to do with you having a brand new, hatchling tegu that IS NOT tame, regardless of how your first interaction went.

My tegu was SUPER calm/tame out of the box too, but got more feisty as he got more acclimated to his cage. Now, after a week of solid interactions and handling, my gu is just now letting me go in his cage and pull him out without having to chase him around the cage.

You're going to have all different kinds of interactions with your gu, depending on a multitude of factors, until he gets older and a bit more predictable. Patience is the only answer...

 

[Blue Crab of PAIN!!!]

Ahh I had a feeling that's what it was, but I was hoping my original suspicions were correct instead! :doh

A recent development on Taco though, he buried himself again last night and now I know better to leave him alone. It's 10:00am now, he went under around 9:00pm last night, and he's still not up. It probably varies from tegu to tegu but is it normal for baby tegus to bury themselves to sleep? The light from my computer monitor was on until about 11:30pm, could that have been bothering him enough to warrant his burial?

Since he's US born I doubt he's already going into hibernation but, to my inexperienced eyes, this is kindof what it seems like. Then again... the day is still young.

 

[fireimp141]

I doubt that anything really warrants them burying themselves. Tyson goes under with 2 heat lamps and 4 uvbs. They will do what they want lol. Just let him do what he does and he will come around. Takes a couple weeks with hatchlins.

 

[jamelyn77]

my tegus, both my yearling and the new hatchling both bury themselves at night to some degree... i think it is a natural burrowing behaviour and my yearling tegu doesnt even think about getting up before noon on most days lol, maybe just let taco do things on his own pace if hes sleeping leave him alone he will come out and let you know when he's up and ready for interaction/ food ... this is what works for me anyway

 

[isdrake]

My Tegu always bury herself then she sleeps. Sometimes she sleeps inside a corkbark log though.

It's very cute.

 

[tora]

Yeah mines hours are from like 11am - 4pm, then he takes a cat nap and comes back out for an hour or two, then burrows again for the night.

 

[Blue Crab of PAIN!!!]

Ahh very encouraging! They you all. I was afraid that I just got the new little 'gu and I wouldn't see him again until spring! He came up about 2 hours ago and ate a little bit of lunch. Now he's sprawled out on his log under the lamp (or he was; now he just went in the log as I was typing this).

 

[Guest]

My tegu is definitely grouchy when he wakes up. He used to huff when I tried to touch him in the mornings, but he doesn't seem to mind it as much now. I guess it is just a matter of letting him get warmed up in the mornings.

 

[CaseyUndead]

Mine is just sluggish when he wakes up. He's really slow, and when he's just gotten up it takes him awhile to decide to come out and eat. After he's been under his lamp for awhile he becomes more energetic and will usually come out.

 

[eddyjack]

They are just like us! Some of us are morning people :-D and some of us...well...DO NOT TOUCH some of us until we are awake :nono.

My Tegu is one that you best not mess with until she is awake for a few minutes and don't you dare touch her when she is under her hide or substrate. My inexperienced curiosity learned me good on that one! :shock:

She is the sweetest thing you can imagine but "OH Buddy" don't wake her up for nothin :doh

:bolt