# can u help me with my subborn girl



## Jazzy1221 (Jan 3, 2013)

Hi guys, so im new to this website and being the proud owner of a Tegu. But i have a few questions...

Well to start off, her name is Jazzy, she is 2 years old and about 3 ft long. We bought her from a lady who had had her since she was a baby. So far she seems to have taken to me very well. And shes working on my boyfriend. But my problem is her old owner said she ate a few days before we got her and that shes a good eater, but since weve owned her she hasnt ate one bit. Weve tried everything ground beef, turkey, chicken, gizzards, strawberries, banana, boild and scrambeled eggs, dipping frozen mouse in raw egg,and even a pinkie, and nothinggg has intrested her. I am not trying to hybernate her so i really want her to eat.she is pretty active when shes up. But will sleep all day if i let her. We have had her for 2 weeks tomorrow night. Im thinking its her temp and it may be because of the bulb we have. It is a 100 watt exo terra but it doesnt even gey as hot as my 75 watt zoo med so i belive its a p.o.s. I will be exhanging it tomorrow for a zoo med. But my problem with getting her temps right is that her light has to hand pretty low to get her up to about 105 but i have to pull it up because She wants to use this light to jump out of her tank. Which brings me to my next topic, she despratly tries to jump out of her new tank. We did get a 6ft tank that came with her. This tank was in horrible condition and i did not like it. She was in that tank fo the first week we had her. Untill she learned how to escape.the old owner never told me she was able to do this. Ithink the only reason she tried was because she was interested in my dogs. But man once she figures it out, every 15 min i was putting her back in her tank. So we decided to change he tank. This one is a bit shorter but she fits beautiful in it and i feel its much nicer, it is a custome made tank we made for beardie we had. The walls are tiled over and so is the bottom but the bottom covered by a think layer of cypress mulch. Soooo im worried about her hurting her self trying to jump out. She is very powerful and i cant drop her light to get her temps higher becuase she just pulls it down. I can only get her to stop trying to jump by putting a sheet over her. Which sucks because i cant admire her  i just want to get her to eat and i know getting her temps higher will help that but i cant get her temps higher because she yanks it down and i do t trust a hot lightand dome laying in her tank. If u no maybe a way i could fix this id really appreciate it. If i could get her to stop trying to jump out all problems would be fixed.... please help if u can. And thanks for taking the time to read this


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## james.w (Jan 3, 2013)

First - it can take time for them to acclimate to their new home. 

Second - Why is there no lid on the enclosure, how do you expect to keep heat and humidity in without a top? Why is the enclosure empty? What are the dimensions of the enclosure? What are the temps (cool side and basking), what is the humidity and how are you measuring both? What was the previous owner feeding? Answer these questions and we can go from there.


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## Dubya (Jan 3, 2013)

About the bulb, I noticed that the mercury vapor bulbs make the basking spot as hot as a halogen bulb of less than half the wattage. I use a 160w MVB with an auxiliary 50W halogen and the 50w halogen makes it's side of the basking spot warmer than the MVB. Also, as James said, it needs a lid.


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## Jazzy1221 (Jan 3, 2013)

We are working on the lid when it was for our beardie we didnt worrie about it but its in the process of being made should be done in a day or two. It stay humid becaude i mist every day and i constantly check it to mske sure its in the 80s. And i never ever had a problem getting it to stay warm for my beardie with no lid i figured with a stronger watt wed be ohkay but i cant drop the light down because im afraid shell break it. The cool side is about 75 and her basking gets to about 104 if im lucky and can leave it hanging long enough.but when its pulled up high from her so she cant reach the temo is around 95 I know it should be around 110 . And like i said ill be purcashing a better light tomorrow. I measuer the humidity with a meter on the side of the tank and her temps are meausred with a laser thermometer. And i asked the old owner what she feed her and she told me she loved ground chicken and "i could google their diet and she would eat just about everything" but my suspision is that she was feeding live rats. Because when i went and picked her up she had 2 tanks full of rats all diff sizes. She seemed to beat around the bush when it came to talking about her diet. One thing that really caught my attention was when we picked her up i asked about her diet she also said groud beef. But when i txted her because i was worried about her not eating she told me she hated ground beef and wont eat it. The situation seemed wishywashy to me. 
The tank demensions are 4ft by 2. This is only temp. Untill me and my boyfriend move into a home isntead of renting.(hopefull in 6 months) The 6ft tank she came in was in horri ble condition. Fithy dirty and was duck taped together to "fix" a few cracks.


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## Murkve (Jan 3, 2013)

First thing: You need a well fitting, secure cage-top and appropriate furniture. She likely does not feel safe at all being out in the open like that. She WILL try to escape, and trust me - as a proud owner of a Tegu escape artiste - if there is even the remotest possibility of an escape, it will happen. These are not stupid animals, they are well aware of their surroundings, the weaknesses of their enclosure, and the habits of their caretakers. You will be exploited.

Without a cage top she will escape and risk death.

Second thing: She needs UVB, so that light needs to be closer, or a basking spot that is higher. I know you said that you increased the distance due to escape risk, but once you get a cage top that distance needs to be closed.

Third thing: This enclosure will instantaneously be outgrown. You did not mention the LxW dimensions, but for a Tegu of that size (~3 ft), the cage should be at _least_ 6'x3'. Might as well build an adult sized 8'x4' - as she will grow quickly with proper care.



Jazzy1221 said:


> but since weve owned her she hasnt ate one bit. Weve tried everything ground beef, turkey, chicken, gizzards, strawberries, banana, boild and scrambeled eggs, dipping frozen mouse in raw egg,and even a pinkie, and nothinggg has intrested her. I am not trying to hybernate her so i really want her to eat.she is pretty active when shes up. But will sleep all day if i let her.



There are two things I want to address about these lines:

1) Your Tegu needs time to acclimate. You waking her up is stressing her out, possibly to the point of not eating.

2) Your Tegu may in fact be in hibernation. This is NOT something you get to control. If she is in hibernation, and from what you said she may be, then she will not eat - her body will not allow her to. She will attempt to sleep all day. Just because you get her up every day doesn't mean you avert her hibernation impulse - in fact you are risking death. Tegus in hibernation are still perfectly capable of wakeful activity, however due to the fact that they will not eat; forced activity, stress, and/or high temperatures (such as 70s and above) can rapidly deplete fat stores and starve your Tegu.


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## Jazzy1221 (Jan 3, 2013)

Murkve- thank u for sharing this with me about hibernation. When i was lookig into tegus i read that the only true reason to hibernate them was for breeding purposes. And if u wernt looking to breed then there was no need to drop temps. I will absolutly drop hers and leave her be. It sucks because i havent owned her long and so i dont really no her behavior yet so its so hard to tell if she is hibernating because i have nothing to compare to. She seems to love to get attention for me. When i pet her shell walk right up my arm and lets me hold her she stays very calm. Shes deff tamed. I do have a 10.0 uvb buld thats normally in her cage during the day o did take it out because she was jumping at it. Im not worried about her using the light to escape. Im worried about the light getting busted by her jumping at itand then shed have broken glass in her tankk. Not what i want at all. And im worried even with our lid shes still going to try and do this and that worries me about lowering the light. 
Im just confused. Im being told to up temps but then im being told to drop temps for hibernation...


Oh btw her light isnt normally that far away. I only put it there when her lights turned off so she wasnt tempted. Normally it hangs about a foot from the tank floor


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## Dubya (Jan 3, 2013)

Jazzy1221 said:


> Murkve- thank u for sharing this with me about hibernation. When i was lookig into tegus i read that the only true reason to hibernate them was for breeding purposes. And if u wernt looking to breed then there was no need to drop temps. I will absolutly drop hers and leave her be. It sucks because i havent owned her long and so i dont really no her behavior yet so its so hard to tell if she is hibernating because i have nothing to compare to. She seems to love to get attention for me. When i pet her shell walk right up my arm and lets me hold her she stays very calm. Shes deff tamed. I do have a 10.0 uvb buld thats normally in her cage during the day o did take it out because she was jumping at it. Im not worried about her using the light to escape. Im worried about the light getting busted by her jumping at itand then shed have broken glass in her tankk. Not what i want at all. And im worried even with our lid shes still going to try and do this and that worries me about lowering the light.
> Im just confused. Im being told to up temps but then im being told to drop temps for hibernation...
> 
> 
> Oh btw her light isnt normally that far away. I only put it there when her lights turned off so she wasnt tempted. Normally it hangs about a foot from the tank floor





What country are you in? Just curious.


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## Jazzy1221 (Jan 3, 2013)

Im in the united states. State-florida


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## Murkve (Jan 3, 2013)

She might not be in hibernation. It's hard to tell. Keep the lights and temps on their normal cycle for a week or two, and put some hides and furniture in. If she barely to never comes up, and refuses food, she is hibernating - let them temps come down and only offer fresh water.

When she gets up on her own will be when you start offering small amounts of food, as a test.


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## Jazzy1221 (Jan 3, 2013)

Ohkay sounds good. Can u offer an advice on getting her to stop jumping. Or will the lid fix that. And i no she needsfurnituee in her tank i was waiting on payday tomorrow to get her some new stuff from the store.


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## Dubya (Jan 3, 2013)

Mine was jumping at the lid a lot, but after I changed to different bedding, he stopped jumping. I think he didn't like the bedding.


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## Murkve (Jan 3, 2013)

Don't waste money on too many items. Nature provides us with good furniture. Sterilize pieces of wood with the oven, there are directions online. Also, an old shirt will suffice as a good hiding place. In fact many Tegus prefer shirts.

As for the jumping, the only sure way is to teach her that it won't work. That means getting a lid. If she keeps finding success she will keep jumping. What may also help is putting about a 6 inch barrier of duct tape around the cage so she can't see out. This will stop the constant visual reminders of what lies beyond.


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## Jazzy1221 (Jan 3, 2013)

Dubya- i thought this to vecause we switched her bedding from some hamster like stuff to cypress which is what i read over and over again to be the best option so i got it. She seems to love to burry in it. I think its the dogs and seeing me up and moving thay gets her excited and makes her want out.

Murkve-Ohkay sounds great ! Thanks a ton!! I will get back to u in about a week with any updates and new pics.


Thanks again guys!!! Speak to u soon


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