# new tegu owner



## holyshotgun28 (Oct 12, 2011)

hello i just got a Argentine red tegu on saturday at a local reptile show and feed it hard boiled eggs on saturday i have two questions since i am new to lizards but keep other reptiles I have the tegu in a 4x2 cage now with a substrate i use for one of my snakes its aspen shavings but for "small mammals" so my first question is when should i expect it too eat next since the tegu is borrowed non stop and has not come back out too eat ive left some more eggs in there right now and geuse will leave it for bout another hour but it still has not eaten since saturday is this normal for a new baby tegu. My second question is that the tegu i took it out tonight too check on it and see how its looking but it was making kinda a wheezing sound now im used too the signs of hissing snakes but this was kinda a like breath out but not really loud like any of my snakes and then would take a deep breath back in so im wondering if this could be a possibility of a RI but theres no other signs of it since ive seen it before in one of my snakes i adopted from a person so if i could get some help that would be appricated.


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## james.w (Oct 12, 2011)

The wheezing could be from the aspen. It is pretty dusty, and is not a very good substrate for tegus.


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## holyshotgun28 (Oct 12, 2011)

ok what would be the best substrate then and another question how long should i leave the chopped up hard boiled egg in the cage for and since i have a reptile fogger going on the cage will that effect the dustyness of the aspen bedding


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## kellen.watkins (Oct 12, 2011)

Its normal for a new tegu to hide and burrow a lot for the 1st week or 2, my advice would be to just leave him be til he starts coming out on his own its a horrible idea to dig them out or remove them from their hide, that's their safe place if your tegu has nowhere to fee safe he will stress out immensely, as far as food I wouldn't recommend hard boiled eggs for anything more than a supplement or treat, there is a petstore pet tegu who a rescue that was only fed hard boiled eggs for 2 years and was stunted and extremely overweight, go to varnyard-herps.com and read the care sheet there for an awesome mixture of ground turkey, you can also try silversides, chicken hearts and gizzards, raw shrimp, pinkies and larger mice/rats as he grows (which won't take long) ground lamb try a varied diet instead of a staple food. You can offer non citrus fruit I personally don't feed mine fruit but that's personal opinion. I wouldn't do a strict whole prey diet either that's also my opinion I like to give mine something really easy to digest often which are raw meats. 
While he is acclimating to his new home just leave him food on a plate when he is hungry he will eat  lose the aspen bedding also, it doesn't hold humidity well its dusty and can't hold a burrow I would suggest eco earth, cypress mulch, or a sand/soil mixture


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## TeguBuzz (Oct 13, 2011)

holyshotgun28 said:


> ok what would be the best substrate then and another question how long should i leave the chopped up hard boiled egg in the cage for and since i have a reptile fogger going on the cage will that effect the dustyness of the aspen bedding



Hope your tegu is holding up alright, as for substrate I use coco husk coarse chips. In the unlikely event that they consume a little bit of it (which has happened before in my case), it will pass with ease through their digestive tract. If you can't get your hands on the coco husk at local pet stores, order it from petmountain. Otherwise I'd use a pure cypress mulch product only, the blended stuff isn't that great. As for him burrowing/hiding often, you have to take into account that he might be trying to hibernate, if that is the case, he'll come out every now and then for some food, or some heat. My tegu stayed under for 3 months one time without coming out (as far as I know). Let us know what happens and keep us posted!


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