# My Yearling (with pics)



## Toby_H (Jun 19, 2009)

Before I get started about my TeguÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ I suggest that each of you list your city and State as your location. Because of doing so someone local to me who has ordered a Tegu from Bobby was able to contact me. We met at a local Pet Shop, he met my Tegu, we talked animals and heÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s a pretty cool guy. This weekend we may meet up to give his girl a chance to see a Tegu face to face before he gets his. 

Nice meeting you Anthony.

As inspired by himÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢m also posting picturesÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ 

My 4Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢x 2Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢x 2Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ DIY Tegu Cage





The exterior is painted with Killz and the interior is painted with Drylock. The bottom is water tight (holds water). There is a 20Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â x 20Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â screen opening on the top and a 6Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â x 20Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â screen opening on each side. Her cage is currently on the back deck/balcony (upstairs).

A general idea of the dÃ?Æ?Ã?Â©cor in the tank





Her peeking out of her preferred hide





Please excuse her fat bellyÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ she ate not long before these pictures were taken and relieved herself shortly afterÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ She is chubby, but not normally as fat as in these picsÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

Close up of her





Giving you the tongue





Her body is a hair over 7Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â long (nose to back legs)





It takes two hands to measure her fully body at 19.5Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â, but this gives you the basic idea






I ordered her from Bobby last yearÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ she eats primarily ground turkey with occasional pinkiesÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦She spent last summer in a 80*F / 80%+ humidity fish roomÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ hibernated for a little over 5 monthsÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ has been on my deck since May this spring/summerÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ IÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ve recently began mixing raw egg yolks in with her ground turkey (and calcium supplement) still offering occasional pinkies.

I did plan on hibernating her, but was shocked at how easy this was. Despite being in a fish room with a constant 80*F ambient temperature, she still stopped eating and began hibernation in late October. By mid November she stopped coming out at all. I left her in her cage and left her cage in the fishroom until April. I was very worried about her but I resisted the temptation to check on her and risking disturbing her hibernation. 

In April I moved her to my apartment (When I moved) and kept her indoors until It stopped getting below 55* at night and I then moved her to the back deck. Shortly after that she began coming up during the heat of the day for an hour or so but wouldnÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢t eat. After doing this half of the days (staying underground the other half) for 2~3 weeks she began eating very small amounts of food sometimes.

As the nights stopped getting as cold and the heat of the day got warmer, her activity levels pick up quickly along with her appetite. In the month or so sheÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s been fully active she has been eating very strong, has remained quite tame and is growing very quickly. I would guess she has increased her overall mass by 20% since she woke up from hibernation. 

For those of you who are purchasing a Tegu from Bobby this year I hope you have as much fortune and fun with yours as I have had with mine. Her care has been much easier than I anticipated, itÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s required very little effort to keep her hand tame and sheÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s much prettier than I anticipated her to be. I couldnÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢t be happierÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

Thank you very much to Bobby for breeding these beautiful / amazing animals and for putting together this forum. Thank you very much to the Moderating team for supporting this forum into becoming the useful tool it has become. And of course thanks to all of the forums members for all of the useful guidance, advice, pictures, questions, etc, etcÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


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## Tarantu1aMan (Jun 19, 2009)

good looking tegu


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## VenomVipe (Jun 19, 2009)

Yeah Bobby is an awesome guy. By any chance do you know who the parents were of your tegu.


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## Toby_H (Jun 19, 2009)

Thanks TarantulaMan



VenomVipe said:


> Yeah Bobby is an awesome guy. By any chance do you know who the parents were of your tegu.



I'm 90% sure I have it in an old email from Bobby... I'll try to dig it out and will post a response if/when I find it...


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## Anthony (Jun 19, 2009)

yes it was nice meeting u also and i loved your tegu... his tegu let me hold her no problem which was awesome since i figured it would of ran away or worse bit me ha ha.... I cannot wait to get my tegu from bobby ive been calling him almost daily asking him literally dozens of questions but hes answered all of them so im glad im getting my tegu from him... i should have a pretty decent set up for my tegu for im hoping a year or little less then ill build a permanent indoor enclosure... :mrgreen:


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## GOT_TEGUS (Jun 19, 2009)

bro Bobby is the best Varn yard tegus are awesome


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## Toby_H (Jul 22, 2009)

I swear I need to change her name to weedÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ as in grows like aÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

Color/Pattern shot





Body Size Reference (full length is 25Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â)





Lounging on the Deck





Coming in to Cool Off





Showing Me ItÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s Time For Lunch





Her body has grown 1Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â and her overall length has increased 5.5Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬?Â in 33 daysÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


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## jmiles50 (Jul 22, 2009)

Gorgeous! We like fat bellies! It's ok


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## MIKE-ZILLA (Jul 28, 2009)

To give you an idea of growth rates,I too got mine last summer from LLL Reptile. he was abot 7-8" when i got him and hes now 30-32" total length.I also hybernated him last winter. When he started slowing down and not eating as much (about mid to late september) i kept the temps constant and stopped offering food for several weeks. then over the next week i reduced the temps a few degrees/day until he was in the dark at room temp.(68-72F) then he went into a plastic tub with cypress and dirt and was placed in the basement.when it started getting even colder i moved him back inside for the remainder of the winter. sometime in april he became active again and started feeding like crazy.hope this gives you a basis to judge your growth rates. I always fed mine as much as he would eat and hes always had good appitite, but hes not tame like yours  he never really like to be handled ,but would always let me pick him up for a few seconds to place him in his food bin or to take him outside. hes in an outdoor cage now and hes very wild natured.he hides every time i approach the cage and only eats if I leave his food in a dish. mike ,Durham N.C.


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## Toby_H (Jul 28, 2009)

Thanks Mike... that's a very helpful reference...


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