# Burying in the dirt



## Skeetzy (Feb 24, 2014)

So my tegu woke up a few weeks ago, and has been a nuisance since. I'm guessing it's his "teenage years" but who knows. His new cage has the slanted front, which he decided means to jump straight up into the plexiglass to scare the **** out of everyone in the room. He usually does this when he wants to come out and explore. He's been going to the bathroom all over his cage, and when he's done eating, he flips the plate/food onto the dirt. Not big issues, but exact opposite of how he was last year. 

My concern is his new sleeping habit. He digs up his basking log, and sleeps under it. It's nowhere near heavy enough to hurt him in any way, so that doesn't concern me. But he's been literally burying just his head in the dirt, and will sleep all night like that. You can't see any of his head during this. Come morning, he'll move the log back into basking position, and repeat the process later in the day. 

Now he is shedding, so Idk if this is just soothing to him, or what. Everything is ideal in his new cage. 100-115* basking spot, powered by 2 bulbs. Measured at the surface of the log, or his back if he sits still long enough. ~75* cool side, 80-85 hot. Brand new ReptiSun 10.0 tube, 12" away from basking spot. Typically 65% relative humidity, but I have it bumped up to 80% since he's shedding. 

Is this typical behavior, or do I just have an odd ball? The front of his face shed no problems, but the back half(from his eyes back) is still peeling.


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## Michael Soto (Feb 25, 2014)

That is interesting, Mine likes to jump up thinking he can escape from his enclosure and loves to roam around the room when I do let him out. Mine has finally started to calm down so I think it might be a part of some of their lives where they do act like teenagers.


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## Skeetzy (Feb 26, 2014)

I'm weary of letting him roam my apartment right now. Waiting for him to go back to his regular bathroom routine, so I don't have to clean any messes off my carpet, or worse, the light tan couch. I take him into the bathroom to roam occasionally, though it usually means being trapped in a small bathroom with a very smelly pile of poop. He also has the habit of trying with all his might to climb into the tub, but once in it(with water in it, up to his shoulders), he tries with all his might to climb out. Back and forth, back and forth.

This has turned into a whole new issue though. I've been coming home to see he's turned off one of his UVB strips. It has the flip switch on the face of it, and it made me laugh at first. Till he actually spun the T8 bulb and caused it to almost come out of the fixture. Just two moments ago, I watched how he does this. He's developing into quite the trapeze artist. He's gone from just burying under the middle of the log, to moving it to how he wants it positioned for his pleasure. He just flipped the log on its side, and rotated it 90*. Climbed up on it, and tried pushing up on the door. When that didn't work, he walked down the other end, and jumped ONTO the light fixture. Now I know how exactly he's causing the problem. I'm afraid of him either breaking the bulb in the fixture, or knocking it loose and breaking it into the dirt/him.

Attached pictures to show what the cage looks like. The light is a little over a foot over the height of the dirt, to meet the requirements of how close the bulb needs to be.


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## Michael Soto (Feb 27, 2014)

Nice set up, kinda similar to mine. He might just be one who doesnt like being locked up. When I was doing my research on them Ive read that some can be like that. Do you have in his own room? If so I would line ur carpet with tarp, stapling/nailing the ends to the floor so he cant get under him. Let him roam and put him in for the night and see if the distructive behavior stops.


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## Skeetzy (Feb 27, 2014)

He previously did have his own tiny little bedroom. With a space to crawl around that cage that was maybe 8 feet long by 2 feet wide. I moved closer to work, and it's a 1 bedroom, open layout. So his cage is in the back of the living room. I want to let him roam the living room, but he has a habit of peeing within minutes of when he gets put down outside of his cage. So far I've just been letting him free roam the bathroom with a gate in the door.


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## Magik (Feb 28, 2014)

Skeetzy said:


> So my tegu woke up a few weeks ago, and has been a nuisance since. I'm guessing it's his "teenage years" but who knows. His new cage has the slanted front, which he decided means to jump straight up into the plexiglass to scare the **** out of everyone in the room. He usually does this when he wants to come out and explore. He's been going to the bathroom all over his cage, and when he's done eating, he flips the plate/food onto the dirt. Not big issues, but exact opposite of how he was last year.
> 
> My concern is his new sleeping habit. He digs up his basking log, and sleeps under it. It's nowhere near heavy enough to hurt him in any way, so that doesn't concern me. But he's been literally burying just his head in the dirt, and will sleep all night like that. You can't see any of his head during this. Come morning, he'll move the log back into basking position, and repeat the process later in the day.
> 
> ...



Mine did the exact same, and I mean the exact same would bury himself under the basking log and he loved it never had any issues, I wouldnt worry too much about they just love to burrow and maybe the combination of the heat soaked substrate + large object above provides him with a sense of security, as I said mine loved to do the same!


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## Tyler445 (Mar 5, 2014)

Hey guys I know this might be a bit off topic here but I am extremely stressed about my black and white, I got him at a expo perfectly healthy it is about 25-30cm in lenght and it jumped off my shoulder trying to reach a table but it did not make it and landed on the floor, he has injured his front right leg and he is walking with a hectic limp he still eats and chases crickets, and he can still climb partialy but I am really worried any suggestions will be extremely grateful...


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## Matthew Krzemienski (Mar 6, 2014)

Common sense. Vet!!!


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