# Meet Jaeger :)



## Little Wise Owl (Sep 23, 2012)

I picked this guy up from Tegu Topia. He is 100% Canadian bred and hatched. I'm looking forward to watching him grow up.

His temporary enclosure (building his adult cage in a couple weeks):






Here is Jaeger:




































What I got with him (T-Shirt, Lizard/Snake bag, certificate certifying he was bred and hatched in Canada, hatch date, CITES, health guarantee)


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## Deac77 (Sep 23, 2012)

He's absolutely stunning!!!!! I'm glad ya got him!


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## chitodadon (Sep 23, 2012)

He is beautiful 

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2


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## kim86 (Sep 23, 2012)

I got mine from Tegu Topia as well! I guess we both have sibling Tegus! I loved the packaging mine came in too with the certificate. Cindy is AWESOME. There's a pic in my signature of Tybalt... she seems to have gotten some nice looking babies this year. Congrats!


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## Deac77 (Sep 23, 2012)

I like the packet they came with too!


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## Rhetoric (Sep 23, 2012)

Congrats on the new one. Do you still have your red? If so, I would love to see pictures of her.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 24, 2012)

I made no progress with my Red at all so I handed her over to Tegu Topia. When I went to pick up Jaeger, the Red STARED at me like "oh GOD it's that woman again". According to Cindy (Owner of Tegu Topia), she's been eating great and I could tell since she was much fatter when I saw her. Apparently the thing just HATED me. I'll miss her but I just couldn't make progress with her. She was still the size of a small yearling and she's about 2 years old. I know she's in good hands now. I hope Cindy is able to help her grow to a healthy size and maybe one day she may produce for her. Maybe we'll be seeing one of her (or his) babies in the future.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 24, 2012)

kim86 said:


> I got mine from Tegu Topia as well! I guess we both have sibling Tegus! I loved the packaging mine came in too with the certificate. Cindy is AWESOME. There's a pic in my signature of Tybalt... she seems to have gotten some nice looking babies this year. Congrats!



Do you have any photos of him and his enclosure? Is he starting to hibernate for you or is he still active? What's he been eating?

I'm a little disheartened that Jaeger is already hiding and will not come back out... I've had horrid luck with lizards lately and I'm just so worried about him turning into another Lucy (my past import Red Tegu who always hid and never ate).

He's only been home for one day and I understand it's normal for them to hide but I'm just a little pessimistic about it all. I feel like I have no luck with tegus (even though I've only had him for a day). I guess I just need reassurance.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 24, 2012)

I wanted to see where he was hiding (UNDER his bucket...) and scared him out by accident. He's been awake ever since. I decided to offer food soon after and he BOLTED from the cool end to his basking spot and scarfed down dusted hearts and gizzards... This is such a new experience for me. My previous tegu rarely and reluctantly ate for me... 

Here he is again:


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## ReptileGuy (Sep 24, 2012)

awwww such a cutey and has quite some looks! cant wait to see him when he is older!


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## kim86 (Sep 24, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> kim86 said:
> 
> 
> > I got mine from Tegu Topia as well! I guess we both have sibling Tegus! I loved the packaging mine came in too with the certificate. Cindy is AWESOME. There's a pic in my signature of Tybalt... she seems to have gotten some nice looking babies this year. Congrats!
> ...



He's in a glass tank that is about 4 feet long by 3 feet right now, with a Solar Glo MVB bulb on one side where the basking area is. Lots of different dirt and bark type bedding and his hide on one side. It's a simple setup. but it works. He's very easy going and doesn't huff, hiss or run away when I'm in the cage doing stuff and seems to enjoy being handled. He eats well on dusted crickets, raw ground turkey/chicken mix and whole f/t prey. I find hopper mice are a good size, he chokes 'em back like it's nothing! 

He hid for the first day or two when I got him, but now he comes out an hour or so after lights come on at 10am, basks and explores for a few hours and goes back underground until the evening and basks a tiny bit and then goes to sleep for the night. Sometimes if he's not out when I have to feed him, I will drag my finger through the substrate until he wakes up and comes out on his own... he doesn't seem to mind. I don't think he's going into hibernation yet, he's pretty steady with the amount he basks/eats/sleeps. 

Just keep an eye out, I'm sure Jaeger will be the same very soon!


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 25, 2012)

Sounds awesome.  The way he was acting while I was hooking up more heating was pretty neat. My last tegu would have ran and hid and not come back out but he was purely just interested in what I was doing. Sometimes he would get spooked by any clunks I'd make but then he'd just come right back to see what I was doing. I'm already loving him


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## kim86 (Sep 25, 2012)

Haha awesome! Mine loves watching me pick up his poop...


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 25, 2012)

Today I held him in his tank and he did a little open-mouth display (it was kind of adorable). That's all he did though. Just sat there with an open mouth... then a closed mouth.... then open again. He was the one in my hand though. lol I didn't really have any sort of grip on him. I lowered him to the floor when he closed his mouth for good. Then he got some chicken hearts and snails.


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## Steven. (Sep 25, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> Today I held him in his tank and he did a little open-mouth display (it was kind of adorable). That's all he did though. Just sat there with an open mouth... then a closed mouth.... then open again. He was the one in my hand though. lol I didn't really have any sort of grip on him. I lowered him to the floor when he closed his mouth for good. Then he got some chicken hearts and snails.



If you dont mind me asking, whats the temps and humidty on hot/cold side of his cage?.. That open mouth can be him trying to cool his body off cause its too hot. Not saying you dont know what your doing, just checking in, thats all =]


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 25, 2012)

He only did the display in my hands. The warm side is about 85-86F and the cool side is about 74-76F with a basking spot of 105F. He was also on the cool side when this occurred.


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## kim86 (Sep 25, 2012)

He was trying to be a badass, nope not happenin'.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 25, 2012)

Is it normal for hatchlings to randomly spazz out as if there were an invisible hand chasing them...? He's flipping around the cage like something's spooked him even though nothing's there and nothing ever was. He does it worse if I walk by. Even when I picked him up earlier, he didn't freak out like he is now...

I decided to bring my laptop over and just sit beside the tank and let him know that I'm not gonna do anything to him. He seems to have calmed down kind of. He's acting like I have a gun but was fine earlier and yesterday. What gives? A hatchling trait, I'm guessing?


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## kim86 (Sep 25, 2012)

Mine explores his cage and tries to find ways to escape, maybe the same kind of thing with yours? Is there loud music or thumping around that could be freaking him out?


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## Steven. (Sep 25, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> He only did the display in my hands. The warm side is about 85-86F and the cool side is about 74-76F with a basking spot of 105F. He was also on the cool side when this occurred.



excellent



kim86 said:


> He was trying to be a badass, nope not happenin'.



I guess so lol


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## Rhetoric (Sep 25, 2012)

Maybe he saw a reflection. They can be pretty jumpy but it makes sense when you think about everything that would love to eat them at that size. Sounds could also spook it.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 25, 2012)

When can I start handling him every day? Should I wait a couple days for him to settle in or can I start simple and right away (like placing and leaving my hand in the enclosure everyday and so on)


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## Steven. (Sep 25, 2012)

I handle kane everyday since I've gotten him.. But then again.. He's super small compared to jaeger..

sent from my phone to your eyes


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## Rhetoric (Sep 25, 2012)

I would give it a few days but its entirely up to you. If it were me I would do something like this:
Give him a few days to settle in, hang out around the outside of the enclosure (reading, redditing, whatever). This will help him get used to your presence.
Once he seems comfortable having you in eyesight I would start putting my hands in the enclosure more often. Spot cleaning, water changing, etc. I wouldn't touch him quite yet, maybe a few days of this. Then slowly work your way closer to him as you planned. Hold a hand out, slow movements, some touching as he allows, etc. I wouldn't chase him around if he gets uncomfortable and bolts. 

I'm not sure if they pick up on voices, I talk to my lizards lol. You can also try wearing an old shirt to bed for a few nights and then put it in the enclosure. I tried this with guru, I put a shirt in his hide and I think it may have helped... Certainly didn't hurt. 
There are a bunch of different ways you can go about handling. Try one and if you have negative results play around with it.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 26, 2012)

Thanks  I think I'll try your method. 

I'm so worried about messing this up... After failing with my other tegu and having a BTS die on me (he had a birth defect), I've felt I've had no luck with lizards and I just don't want something bad to happen to this guy. Both the BTS and red hardly ate and constantly hid so it makes me nervous when Jaeger refuses a meal and hides. I understand that's normal for a new baby but it's stuck in the back of my mind that this is what he'll be doing constantly.

I'm terrified of letting him hibernate because when my red did that, she never came back out. She just constantly hid from then on.

Today he refused food and did his weird flipping out so that made me kind of depressed and nervous.

I'm real emotional about lizards apparently...


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## paulsreef (Sep 26, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> Thanks  I think I'll try your method.
> 
> I'm so worried about messing this up... After failing with my other tegu and having a BTS die on me (he had a birth defect), I've felt I've had no luck with lizards and I just don't want something bad to happen to this guy. Both the BTS and red hardly ate and constantly hid so it makes me nervous when Jaeger refuses a meal and hides. I understand that's normal for a new baby but it's stuck in the back of my mind that this is what he'll be doing constantly.
> 
> ...



He's beautiful, I regret not picking one up at the show. I lost a beautiful Tegu a few years ago when it ate cyprus mulch and ended up getting a prolapse as a result of struggling to pass it. I always fed my tegu in another room outside of his enclosure and made sure he carried no food on his feet back into his enclosure. He was fed the proper diet and the proper amount as recommended on the Tegu breeder sites, but he still ate his substrate. When I researched this, I found out that tegu's eating their substrate is a common occurence, that's why I always removed him from his enclosure to eat. I changed his substrate to eco-earth which is similiar to peat, so if any is swallowed it will pass easier than pieces of wood; but the damage was already done. Keep an eye on your tegu, their intelligent, but sometimes act like little kids by putting things in their mouths that they shouldn't.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 26, 2012)

Thanks for the reply and I'm sorry for your loss. Over the years, I've read several threads about tegus becoming impacted from cypress mulch. I began wondering why so many people used it because it seemed like impaction was becoming common with it. When I picked up my 'gu from TeguTopia, the breeder told me about how one of her males ingested (and she didn't know how because he wasn't fed on the stuff) and passed a GIANT piece of cypress. She then told me that most bags of cypress mulch aren't 100% and that they're mixes. It apparently took Johnny of TeguTerra months to finally squeeze out from the company what was mixed in with the cypress he was using. Apparently it was pine.

So I'm never going to be using Cypress. I'm using coconut husk chips and sphagnum moss right now but will be switching to either a soil/sand mixture or ecoearth mixture with possibly wheat hay (the breeder used it for adults because it doesn't mould).


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## Murkve (Sep 26, 2012)

Little Wise Owl said:


> Thanks  I think I'll try your method.
> 
> I'm so worried about messing this up... After failing with my other tegu and having a BTS die on me (he had a birth defect), I've felt I've had no luck with lizards and I just don't want something bad to happen to this guy. Both the BTS and red hardly ate and constantly hid so it makes me nervous when Jaeger refuses a meal and hides. I understand that's normal for a new baby but it's stuck in the back of my mind that this is what he'll be doing constantly.
> 
> ...



What are your temps like? Sometimes too high of an ambient temperature will cause lizards to "flip out" while out in the open, and consequently stay in hiding to try and stay cool.


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## Little Wise Owl (Sep 26, 2012)

Warm side = mid 80s
Cool side = mid 70s
Basking = 98-102F


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