# First Time / Worried Sick / Reassurance



## RaptorDude (Sep 7, 2016)

So like the title says, it's my first time owning and caring for a tegu. In all truth, I've never personally owned a reptile before, but I spent two years planning, researching, talking to caretakers, going to expos, gathering and setting up equipment. Got a better job. Moved to a bigger place. In all, it hasn't been an impulse purchase.

And now I have my Argentine black and white tegu. Her name is Moxxi and she's roughly three months old. I've only had her four days now. She was sold to me by a breeder I networked with at a reptile convention who said he'd been doing this for 28 years; although he said I should be feeding her Pedigree beef/liver/chicken combo? Which seemed odd to me since I'd rather be feeding her higher quality food and raw meats.

Of course, now that I've jumped in, I'm terrified that I'm doing this or that wrong. I already love her to death and any little thing is making me sick with worry. I believe all I really need is a little reassurance or advice so I know I'm on the right track. And I'd like to be active here, too. Attached is a picture of her and her enclosure. I'm a terrible do-it-yourself person, but money isn't an issue to have an experienced enclosure builder make her a larger one when the time comes.

I'd like to document my first four days of experience.

Day One
She had burrowed herself into her hide the night before (she was given to me late the night before). She hadn't come out that morning, so I left her some food. She did emerge later that afternoon. I saw her a bit when I came home and she was naturally wary and flighty. I talked to her while cleaning things up in her cage, took her bowls out to clean, and she was burrowed back in by the time I returned.

Day Two
The best day. Roommates let me know she was out in the afternoon again, basking and mostly active. When I came home, she was still there. I once again evened out her bedding, did some cleaning, prettied her bowls, and even touched her tail a bit. I managed to directly feed her some ground turkey before she retired into her makeshift burrow about a half hour later. My heart soared!

Day Three
She was still hiding in the morning. Roommate reported she was out in the afternoon again, but she was burrowed away by the time I got home and that was that.

Day Four (today)
I once again return home from work to find that she's already hidden away. It appears she's been out by the looks of her dirtied water bowl, but I believe she's already done for the night. I've left some raw ground turkey in her bowl.

Day five will be my first full day off work and hopefully some real progress can be made. I'd like to attempt some touching/handling, but of course I'll let her decide the pace of that.

*Questions / Concerns*

1. Is this a normal sleep cycle? I've made it a point to turn her sun bulb on at 8 am and switch to a night (red) bulb at around 7-9 pm. But she never seems to be up in the morning and spends a large amount of time in her hide. I'm dying to socialize with her, even in the smallest and most patient of ways, but I'm hardly seeing her in the first week and I typically work 11 am to 7 pm shifts.

2. Temps. The solar light I was recommended seems to be working well. The hot side can get to around 90-95 degrees and when I switch to the red bulb, it goes down to about 85 degrees. With nothing on, the cage is naturally at about 75 degrees. Her basking spot is about 100+ degrees, but I'm touching a probe to it (don't have a temp gun). I'd like to say how warm her hide is on the other side, but I've had no real chance to even check yet since she's practically always in it. Do I even need the red bulb on at night?

3. The seemingly low humidity bothers me. On average, it's usually around 50% with the bulbs on. With them off, it rises to 60-70%. I mist frequently (2-3 times a day) and it raises the humidity nicely, but then it goes right back down in about five minutes. I'm thinking of purchasing a Reptifogger machine so I can just put this to rest and not have to worry so much about it.

4. Raw meat. This might be an incredibly dumb question, but I've never had to handle raw meat before for any reason. Should I be fridge thawing the meat to feed her, freezing the rest, and repeating this cycle? I know I can't leave it in the refrigerator for days on end. Just need some reassurance on this and I'm willing to sound stupid on my end for her sake, haha.


Sorry for writing so much and I hope that somebody takes the time to read this over. I'm just ever so concerned for her well being; whether she's comfortable and adjusting or not. It's even been affecting my sleep. I truly want the best for this beautiful girl. I know she needs time to be a lizard doing lizard things as she gets used to being here, but... well, I still worry immensely. I feel like a first time parent having adopted a kid, haha.


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## beardeddragon111 (Sep 8, 2016)

1. That sleep cycle seems fine to me.
2. Tegus are surprisingly cold tolerant so they wont need any nightime heat unless its heating like 60 degrees. I think that basking temp is ok but im not as familiar with air temps as surface.
3. You could cover a good portion of the led to help hold in humidity, make a humid hide, etc, etc. If you want a fogger, dont buy the one from zoo med as its 50 bucks and doesnt last very long before breaking. While I havent used this, I know some people have convrted walgreens foggers into something of using that isnt complete crap like the zoomed one. You could also use a mistking, while theyre expensive, it would be a fantastic addition. They can hold a LOT of nozzles and last a long time so it could even help you for the adult set up.
4.The most important thing in keeping reptiles is making sure about absolutely everything, so in that light, there really cant be any stupid questions . I put my portions of raw meat in plastic bags, one days portion per bag. SInce you have a baby, you can use ice cube trays to make the portions. I set all of them in the freezer and on feeding days just thaw it in room temp water. I want to add that since your feeding raw meats, look up the san diego zoo diet, closest recipe to a whole animal out there. Though I definetly would not recommend it, there was a group of ackie monitors raised and bred completely on this diet alone. 

If you want this best results feed mostly whole prey items like mice/rats/chicks/quail/fish/bugs/crustations. ground meats can make up a portion of the diet (somewhere in the 25% range, though that completely controversial and you'll probably get a different answer from every person you ask), put as much as is put into them, they are not a whole food.

Building the cage itself is actually really easy and just about anybody can do it. If you build a 6x3x3 for the adult cage you can litterally just screw some plywood together, seel it, and add a drop down door. An 8x4x4 requires a frame but isnt much harder. There are plenty of threads on how to build it and I think youd really benefit from how much cheaper it is than custome made. 

With all that said, you have one of the plumpest baby tegus ive ever seen, you've studied more and are doing better than most first time keepers would be.


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## Walter1 (Sep 8, 2016)

She looks well-cared for and settled. I'm not sure from the picture, but you'll want her hide at the cool end. Goal is to heat up as needed and to cool off when too hot or at rest. 

Heavily dust all meals with calcium powder. Lots of small whole prey, some organ meat, high quality wet dog food, ground bird of your choice.


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## RaptorDude (Sep 8, 2016)

Thank you all so much for the replies! It really helps to put my mind at ease and to know that she's doing well. Hearing this sort of direct advice is exactly what I needed.

I realize now that the enclosure example pic is actually a little outdated. The small bowl in the middle is what I use for her food. What's there now is a much larger water bowl for her that I clean and replenish daily. Also, yes, her hide is on the cooler end. And I will definitely calcium dust like a madman!

Day five went exceptionally well. Having a day off, I managed to catch when she emerged at 11 am on the dot. Watched her eat what I put in her bowl earlier that morning, directly fed her a bit of banana, and got some wonderful interaction in. She backs away warily (and understandably) if I reach in too far for her, but doesn't mind sniffing my fingers and touching them with her snout, as well as if I get small touches to a leg or her tail. Baby steps! At a little after 7 pm, I watched her go into her hide and dig herself in. Night night, Moxxi <3


 

I'm so very in love with this black and white gal, haha. Thanks again so much.


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## Maverick&Goose (Sep 8, 2016)

I would definitely recommend the temp gun. Your air temps are good, but if your basking surface temp is too low, you can run into all kinds of digestive issues. A probe just won't get you any kind of a good reading for surface temps.You can find a pretty decent one on Amazon for about $15. You'll want to give a choice of about 110 to as high as 130. Getting a range like that in a baby enclosure can be tricky. In my experience, keeping humidity in an open screen enclosure was a nightmare! I had to seal up a good portion of the lid with foil and keep a humidifier (just a regular non reptile humidifier) running directly into the enclosure. This would get me between 70 and 80 percent. It was a little crazy looking, but it worked! Also, the ice cube portion idea was great for my baby! Very convenient. When they are small, go with a lot of bugs and worms. Every thing else that the others have mentioned is great food, but my baby gu went crazy for any kind of crickets or superworms and it provides a healthy meal. They'll be ready for whole prey VERY soon. My guys is 2 months and is eating mice. He out grew his 40 gal tank in 1month, so get ready for that new enclosure!


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## RaptorDude (Sep 9, 2016)

You're right. I don't want to play a guessing game with anything, so I went ahead and ordered one. Thanks!


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## RaptorDude (Sep 11, 2016)

Okay, the temp gun was helpful. The surface temp of her basking spot seemed to be around 101-103 degrees, so I moved it up a bit closer to the light and now it seems to range from 108-110, so that's a bit more relief.

Been trying to vary her diet with other things like mealworms, but she doesn't seem to give those the time of day and goes right for the meat every time. I'll be introducing a few more fruits to her and get some small rodents next time I get the chance.

It's been a week now and I haven't been able to hold her yet, though. I talk to and interact with her every day I see her, get little touches in here and there, stay around the enclosure for long periods and feed her directly when I'm off work, and generally give her as much attention as possible. But she backs away if I reach in too far over her, and if I try to directly handle her, she pops off faster than I've ever seen her move. I'd like to let her do things at her own pace, but I'm also wondering when's a good time to kind of push the envelope a bit and get her used to being handled. Any advice?


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## Maverick&Goose (Sep 11, 2016)

I'm glad the temp gun worked out for you! I went my first week without one and realized I had to redo most of the setup once I got one. I know the few degrees difference seems nominal, but every single reliable source I've read swears by 110 as a min temp for proper digestion. Just out of curiosity, what type of UVB light are you using? I noticed you didnt have the long fluorescent tube in your enclosure pic, so I'm guessing either a fluorescent bulb or a mercury vapor bulb? As far as food goes, my tegu was a very picky eater at first and would only go for a couple of things. Now he'll eat just about anything. I think that's pretty normal. Mine still won't really eat fruit, but that also seems to be pretty normal. Crickets always seems to be a favorite of any young tegu though. I think it's all the jumping around that catches interest. As far as interaction goes, my experience was the same. Youre already on the right track. It took about a month of constant, daily obsession to get him to let me handle him. Even then, it was unreliable. At 2 months, he is very relaxed and sociable. I can scoop him up with no issues. For me, the code to breaking into handling was to be his exit out of the enclosure. They really want to explore. Keep your hand in the enclosure a lot and hand feed when possible. Cordon off a small, inescapable area near the enclosure that you can let her loose in. Get a lamp and shine right on your lap. This sounds silly, but it worked for me. They will always come to the warm light. Getting her back in will be tough. Don't chase her. I made a little trap with a box in its side and the light shining into it. Once he laid under the light, I would just turn the box over. A lot of people talk about putting a worn t shirt in the enclosure to get them used to your scent, but I didn't see any results with this. For me, it was showing him that I was the way to do something he wanted to do.


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## RaptorDude (Sep 11, 2016)

It's this one here: https://www.amazon.com/SB100-FROST-Solar-Brite-000Hrs-Incandescent/dp/B00IKVEESA

There's a reptile store (that I love to death) here in town. Before I ever got Moxxi, I told them to set me up with practically everything I would need. This was the day bulb they recommended, but I also have a nocturnal (red) bulb for whenever it dips down too cold at night. Money wasn't an issue, haha. And even then I've ended up getting extra things like the temp gun.

I've been reading people's experiences and the time it's taken to make them more sociable really does seem to vary. Ah well. Within a week, I'm still proud of her progress. In the last few days, she's started coming up to the front of the open doors when it's time to eat and eagerly awaiting food, which she didn't do before. I'll just keep taking baby steps and small attempts to handle her when given the opportunity, but I don't want to stress her out too much. And I'll incorporate these tips. As soon as I can get a hold of her and have her calm, I'll start taking her for some free roam time in the bathroom and tub. I'm just impatiently waiting for the day! XD


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## beardeddragon111 (Sep 11, 2016)

Not sure if this is true for tegus, but most reptiles see in fared as white light. If you want to, I'd recommebe a ceramic heat emitter.


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## dpjm (Sep 11, 2016)

> Not sure if this is true for tegus, but most reptiles see in fared as white light



Maybe you are thinking of UVA, not infrared. I don't think many reptiles see too much infrared with the exception of some snakes. 

The original idea behind the red lights was that reptiles can't see red therefore these things can be on all the time without disturbing their sleep. This idea was based on nothing, of course, and is not true. Many reptiles see red just fine, even better than we do. However, before ceramic heat emitters were available, red lights were the best option available for providing overnight heat. Red light would be less disruptive to sleep than any other color, this has at least been shown in humans. But now that we have ceramic heaters and they are not as expensive as 10 years ago, they are a better option.


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