# QUESTION NEED ADVICE ON ADULT B&W TEGU



## animalnut (Oct 22, 2011)

I have had my adult female B&W tegu for 2 weeks now she seems to be fine but she seems to always get frisky after her bath we have had the same routine every morning.. bath ..then feeding..then she can do what ever she likes past that..usually shes behind my rap around couch nesseled in my clothes or even my snuggie..it just seems like every time she awakes shes ready to eat...any advice..im willing to read it:exclamation:


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## babyyitslove (Oct 22, 2011)

Its getting time for her to fatten up and slow down for hibernation. My big female would eat me uut of house and home if I let her. She will eat anything I put in front of her. So no worries... its ok to limit her diet and avoid turning her into a bottomless pit.


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## Rhetoric (Oct 22, 2011)

Try to feed larger meals or you can try splitting the meals up. Are the lights on when you take her out to eat? You could try taking her out as she comes out to warm up, if shes a bit cooler she won't be such a brute.


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## animalnut (Oct 27, 2011)

im not letting her hibernate ..i was told that u dont have to hibernate them unless u want to slow down growth..or for if u intend to breed them...she has already had some babies..i just think shes a lazy butt...she comes out when she wants to..shes a big girl ill have to post pictures of her one day when she quits hiding behind my couch ..i think she hides there because its always warm (like she dont have everything she needs which she does)..umm i dont know if anyone else does this but i pick her up like a baby in a baby blanket (not on her back) ..shes grown and it seems she dont like being held off the ground it seems to make her a bit uncomfortable so i carry her around in a baby blanket...once she get comfortable shes limp legged...now you got to remember that shes 4 foot and grown up not a baby and not the least bit small..ive had her for about 3 weeks and she shows no sign of aggression ..shes just like the big bad wolf ..all she ever does is huff and puff...i try to tell her shes not going to blow my house down..lol..but so far we get along..i haven't had a real problem out of her ...but thinks for all of ur input ..if i have another question ill post it ..i find this to be helpful..thanks a bunch.


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## reptastic (Oct 27, 2011)

If she is an adult she shouldnt be eating every day, 3 to 4 large meals a week should be plenty, do you feed whole prey? as far as hibernation you really cant stop it, i had 2 tegus(same age, same size) that were kept together one went down a month ago and the other is still up


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## animalnut (Oct 27, 2011)

what do u mean whole prey? and im aware they shouldn't eat every day i mean u kinda cant force feed them anyway..she eats when she wants ..not over feeding as she tends to eat small portions..not everyday if she dont go potty she dont eat..and sometimes she dont wanna eat ..meaning shes not hungry..i do not feed her live ..i have two young children..and i dont want her to associate things moving with food..as far as defrosted mice she gets one a week as seeing as they cant digest the fur well..in the wild there main diet is turtle eggs..no fur on them.lol..but im glad to read that there's others with big babies..by the way ur babies are beautiful...when i got her i thought i had found the golden goose..cause the pet store i got her from let her free roam..and the next morning while she was doing her daily routine.. i just happen to take notice that she had eaten a large decorative sea shell after she went potty..she had an obstruction a huge sea shell..now the people at the pet store said they feed them..but ive been going to that pet store for a while and when i got my tegu..she was already missing toes ..a toe nail...im not trying to say bad things about the place i got her from but they suck..they have no clue where the free roaming ones are half the time..its obvious they cant take proper care of them or she wouldn't be missing a couple of toes ..plus the didn't handle with care ..they just snatched them up by the tail...plus i never saw a bulb anywhere and they need them..so i don't know what they were thinking.. she seems to be better now ..but i told them all about themselves and they couldn't do anything but agree..look i had a chinchilla before my tegu i had bought a as they called it a male chinchilla ..and i brought (HIM) home and the next morning HE had BABIES 3 of them..come to find out he was a she ..if there's one thing i can say about the pet store is they dont know what their doing or talking about..the examples are above..well sorry for the ranting and raving .. im amazed on how little they actually know about the animals they sell.. well thanks for the input ill keep it in mind ..im always willing to read what everyone's opinion and Experience on tegus ..


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## m3s4 (Oct 27, 2011)

We have a 9 lb. fully grown adult B&W. 

She's got her own routine that sounds very familiar to yours. 

I have to literally wake her up. I'll pick her up and move her to the UVB lamp set-up I have and sometimes she still has her eyes closed the whole time!

She warms up, eats, soaks (and potties) in the tub for 20 min a day (usually she's napping in the tub) then she's ready to take another nap, which usually ends up with her sleeping under the couch or in some clothes. 

As they age, like us, their metabolism slows way down. They aren't as active as they once were. So if your adult is anything like mine, she'll sleep 75% of the day a way after her routine. 

Nothing to worry about at all. As long as she's eating and drinking and getting plenty of UVB, she'll be just fine. 

Also of note: sometimes they'll spend 30 min. basking, other times they'll lay there for 3 hours. They know how much UVB they need and will regulate their time spent basking accordingly.


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## Rhetoric (Oct 28, 2011)

Whole prey would be rats, mice, chicks, quail, etc. I'm sorry if I missed this somewhere but how old is she? Is she a true adult or a sub-adult? 

I don't think there is anything wrong with telling others about your experience at that business. It would be different if you were saying things without really knowing if it were true or not. I try to get as much info on shops as I can before buying anything from them. Unfortunately there are quite a few stores that don't know much about the animals they carry.


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## animalnut (Oct 28, 2011)

She's a year old she's 4 foot ..but she's been shedding skin here lately so i think she's getting a bit bigger..i don't quite know how big a sub-adult should be...but i was told she was a year old by the pet store ..i hope they would at least know that...she was the biggest out of them all when i got her..the others you could tell they were still some what babies..so what do think she is? Cause im not sure


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## Rhetoric (Oct 29, 2011)

I would say a one year old is a juvenile or sub adult. Probably closer to a sub adult. Most female tegus arent sexually mature until they are around 3 years old, which is when id consider them to be adults. I could be wrong though.
Guru is a little over a year and he seems to have most of his length but hes still filling out a bunch. I feed him every other day during the warmer months. The last month or two hes only been eating like twice a week. If i try to feed him more frequently he just refuses it.
4ft seems a little large for a female, does she look like shes got jowls? There are some larger females but it is usually the males that are larger like that. Do you have any pictures of her?
Hope i've helped a bit.


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## animalnut (Oct 29, 2011)

no she don't have the jowls..u got to remember the pet store so who really knows how old she is as seeing as they said she just got done breeding before she came back to them..then i bought her...see my husband had a male before and he was crazy..talk about a brute.we had him for a while and he was bigger than she is..i wish i could get good photos id post them..umm im gonna see if i can get some good pictures of her for u all..then u can tell me what u think..when i re-post there will be pictures..i figured once you see her then you can tell me what you think.


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## animalnut (Nov 6, 2011)

[attachment=3539]

:heart:

this is a not so good picture of her but she is shedding though im going to take better pictures soon then ill post them ..but what do u think she is? (if u click the picture it should get bigger but you know this i bet)


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## james.w (Nov 6, 2011)

Looks like a female to me.


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## omgtaylorg (Nov 7, 2011)

Def looks like a female (like mine in the sig), and also I can tell that its older than 1 year, especially since they said shes a proven breeder(not that pet shops know much anyways). I hate buying anything from pet shops especially non reputable ones because they say what they can to sell the animal unfortunately. And saying a 1 year old female tegu has already had a clutch is simply not true. Also my adult female is 4ft as well, its just a large female like mine if your measurments were accurate. At that size a male would have the jowls and the beeds under the base of the tail near the vent, just to be sure its a female you can check for that.


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## animalnut (Nov 7, 2011)

Thanks for the info ..im gonna get pictures of her tonight ..but i wanna wait for her to quit shedding so she has her pretty new skin.


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