Tegu breathing hard?

[Hokurai]

It looks like my tegu is breather really hard like he's sucking his stomach in really deep. The temperature on the cool side is around 80 degrees and the humidity is around 60% and he's on "Decorative Forest bark" from the hardware store and peat moss. Is there something in the forest bark bedding that could be causing respiratory irritation? I'm worries about him. He seems to have just started doing it when a lot of the mulch got kicked up. Should I risk trying to catch him to put him in a bin with newspaper and see if it helps or is this normal?

 

[james.w]

Does the bark say what type it is?

 

[Hokurai]

Does the bark say what type it is?

No, it just says forest bark but it looks red like cypress but with a few lighter colored pieces mixed in that might be pine or similar wood.

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It also looks a bit like orchid bark which is fine, too.

 

[james.w]

pine is toxic to reptiles

 

[JohnMatthew]

There may be dyes and other bad stuff added to the "decorative" forest bark. If you can't confirm what type of wood is in that bag I suggest you ditch the stuff and find something else. Are you sure your tegu isn't just throwing a hissy fit? Does he do the odd breathing when he isn't aware of your presence? I'd switch to newspaper or something more sterile in the meantime just to be safe.

 

[Hokurai]

It's just a very small amount of lighter colored wood and I think he might have been mad at me. I was playing in the mulch and after an hour, he calmed down but I kept doing it and I think he might have just mad at me for being too close to him for too long.

 

[james.w]

I would try to find out what types of wood it contains or switch to something else. Better to be safe than sorry. I recently switched to a sand/soil mix and it is working much better than the cypress I was using.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

You ^ ^ ^ read my mind,.. even though he may be doing better now. Find out what's in the wood mix you're using.

 

[herpgirl2510]

I too would check the wood. Sometimes my B&W will huff(sounds like heavy breathing) when I take him out of my dogs kennel he likes to bury in their blankets and does not appreciate being moved.