# Tegu Help plz



## BigNick (Sep 30, 2011)

[attachment=3304]well to be honest im a huge reptile fan and raise alot of snakes well i went to repticon down here in orlando florida. well being a dumb ass i bought a tegu from a guy who honestly didnt tell me much about this tegu and i still got him his name is tiny and when i first got him i could hold him and pet him but since i got him in his cage and waited 2 weeks for him to get used to his new house he wont even let me open his cage without him flailing around and running to his hide he is about 6-8 inches long from nose to back legs. i have been keeping his cage from 95+ and humidity between 65-80% and a shirt that i wore for about 3 days straight just to help him learn my smell. i have tryed picking him up and as i said he flailed so much i couldnt hold him and when i got him out of the cage so he could roam around he thrashed hissed and i almost dropped him trying not to injure him. can anyone help me with this adventure to tame tiny the psycho tegu?


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## Rhetoric (Sep 30, 2011)

How big is his cage? The temps should be around 110*F for basking. How often are you feeding it and what are you feeding it? I would stop picking him up for now, let him get used to you first. 

Start reading some of the links on this thread, welcome!
http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=8526#axzz1ZTfOXbqg


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## BigNick (Sep 30, 2011)

rhetoricx said:


> How big is his cage? The temps should be around 110*F for basking. How often are you feeding it and what are you feeding it? I would stop picking him up for now, let him get used to you first.
> 
> Start reading some of the links on this thread, welcome!
> http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=8526#axzz1ZTfOXbqg



right now the cage is 60 gallon 4ftL/2ftW/2.5H his basking area where he is always in his hide is temped at 98 but he also has an undertank heater so it is around 100-115 i feed him every day had me scared to begin with because he wouldnt eat til i found the beloved egg which after that he started to eat the cat food i bought him which is i think 85-90% ground turkey and chicken and i have dragon meals that he likes which is a vegie mean a fruit meal and a mix insect meal i rotate that around through the week to keep him with a well diet and i sprinkle them with flukers cal powder


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## Kebechet (Sep 30, 2011)

Ambient temperatures should be MUCH lower than in the 90s. He needs a colder part of his cage in the 70s. Hides should be offered in both the warm and cold sides of the cage. Tegus have to temperature regulate as they are cold blooded. They do this by going to a cooler or warmer part of the cage, based on what they need. It sounds like your tegu is stressed because it's far too hot. Only the basking area should be hot, and no hotter than 115. 

Tegus also don't need an under cage heater. They get their heat from UVB/heating bulbs, such as a powersun bulb.


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## BigNick (Sep 30, 2011)

Kebechet said:


> Ambient temperatures should be MUCH lower than in the 90s. He needs a colder part of his cage in the 70s. Hides should be offered in both the warm and cold sides of the cage. Tegus have to temperature regulate as they are cold blooded. They do this by going to a cooler or warmer part of the cage, based on what they need. It sounds like your tegu is stressed because it's far too hot. Only the basking area should be hot, and no hotter than 115.
> 
> Tegus also don't need an under cage heater. They get their heat from UVB/heating bulbs, such as a powersun bulb.



the right side of the tank is at 95+ which is where the heat lamp and undercage heatpad are located the uvb bulb is on the left side were his big waterdish nothing else to produce heat since the uvb bulb i have doesnt give off any heat. he doesnt try tp jump out of the tank or constantly fly about the cage he only gets flighty when i try to pick him up. he doesnt flip out when i put the food bowl in


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## james.w (Sep 30, 2011)

Get rid of the undertank heater. Tegus burrow to escape the heat and the UTH makes that impossible. How are you measuring temps and humidity? What are you using for heat and UVB. 

As far as taming, just spend time with your hand in the cage, moving mulch around, spot cleaning, changing water. Try feeding from tongs.

Your diet seems a little off as well, I would be feeding crickets, roaches, ground turkey, tilapia filets, chicken gizzards and hearts, greens, and fruits. All dusted with calcium. Mice and rats of the appropriate size can also be offered.


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## spark678 (Sep 30, 2011)

I second leaving the hand in the enclosure. Sit your butt down and just leave it in there still until he stops huffing. I started doing that with mine and each day its getting better. Im still unable to pick him up but until he gets used to my hand and doesnt huff n puff im not taking him out. Persistance pays off! GL!


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## BigNick (Oct 1, 2011)

james.w said:


> Get rid of the undertank heater. Tegus burrow to escape the heat and the UTH makes that impossible. How are you measuring temps and humidity? What are you using for heat and UVB.
> 
> As far as taming, just spend time with your hand in the cage, moving mulch around, spot cleaning, changing water. Try feeding from tongs.
> 
> Your diet seems a little off as well, I would be feeding crickets, roaches, ground turkey, tilapia filets, chicken gizzards and hearts, greens, and fruits. All dusted with calcium. Mice and rats of the appropriate size can also be offered.



im using a flukers digital therm with humidity scale. as i said b4 the under tank heater is on the far right side under his basking spot which is about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long. because its not to ez to keep his tank at 100+ degrees. where on the left side where his water dish is there is the uvb bulb which gives off no heat for his cool spot. feeding wise he doesnt like crickets ive tryed and he ignored them he isnt a baby i believe he is about a year old the last owner was feeding him some kind of cubed cat food. i feed him 1 spoon full of evo brand 95% chicken and turkey each day and after that ill use a dragon meal which each is different one is a veggie diet which has corn, green beans, squash, broken mealworms and the other is a fruit mix with all kinds of fruits each is about 2 spoon fulls and the last one is an all bug mix which he is kind of blah about all of which is dusted with fluckers vit powder. he is a big boy about 2.5 inches wide by about 2 inches high he isnt fat but he is very buff. im worried that he is hitting the adult stage and it will be very hard to tame him also its just now hitting winter here and he is starting to make a burrow in the cold spot and not coming out to look at me in the morning when i come out to the living room.


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## Kebechet (Oct 1, 2011)

BigNick said:


> james.w said:
> 
> 
> > Get rid of the undertank heater. Tegus burrow to escape the heat and the UTH makes that impossible. How are you measuring temps and humidity? What are you using for heat and UVB.
> ...



What is the phosphorus to calcium content of the food you are feeding him? If you don't know that, you shouldn't be feeding anything other than whole foods like rodents, or chicks, with some fruit like blackberries or blueberries here and there. Does the vitamin powder you are feeding contain calcium? If so, how much? If the calcium to phosphorus content of the food isn't 2:1 you don't have a healthy animal, it will get MBD, and possibly die. The thermometer you have, will only tell you what the ambient temperature is. You need a heat gun to properly measure things like the basking temperature. If the ambient temperature is 100 degrees on the hot side of the cage, your cage is too hot. Ambient temps near the basking spot should be closer to 80 degrees, according to what I've seen in my own setup. 

Also, if your UVB is only on the cold side of the cage, your tegu will have no UVB when it is basking. I highly suggest you go out and get a heat gun, or at least a thermometer with a probe, that will measure temps better than what you have, as well as get a Powersun bulb, and get rid of the Under Tank Heater. They are NOT good for burrowing animals.


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## BigNick (Oct 1, 2011)

Kebechet said:


> BigNick said:
> 
> 
> > james.w said:
> ...



as i stated b4 i bought this tegu from someone who had little to no clue wth he was doing and i was stupid enough to buy it. food wise ive tryed frozen/thawed and pinkies with no progress the powder i use is Fluckerls calcium and Vit D powder. today im going to buy chicken livers/gizzards and ground turkey meat to replace the 95% turkey and chicken cat food since it sems that everyone is against it.
i cant really do much to hand tame him so im letting him be for a little because he looks at me and watches me open the cage and when i go to slowly reach my hand in he makes a beeline for his hide he had his tale sticking ouch which i decided to lightly pet and noticed he fell asleep maybe im making slight progress. ill be going out so ill look for a heat gun i removed the lower tank heater and moved the lamps closer together for his basking. he is very energetic today he tryed to push his 5 lb water bowl around for an hour and is now basking happily on his hide


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## james.w (Oct 1, 2011)

What type/size bulbs are you using?


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## BigNick (Oct 1, 2011)

james.w said:


> What type/size bulbs are you using?



repti glow 50 wat basking light and a 26w ubv 5.0 bulb


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## BigNick (Oct 2, 2011)

we have big progress well this afternoon i was getting tiny some water when i realized he wasnt running from me with my hand in the tank *he still puffed and hissed* but he allowed me to stroke his back and tail. just one problem i went and got him some chicken hearts, gizzards, and livers i placed a few pieces in warm water because i didnt know what would happen if the food was cold and he doesnt seem interested in it. he always got excited b4 when i brought him the cat food should i maybe mix it up with a raw egg? thats what i found that he likes the most or should i just wait a couple days to use his hunger as a way to get him on this new food?


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## Kebechet (Oct 3, 2011)

One other thing you should know, is that 5.0 UVB is too low. You need 10.0 for proper UVB output for a Tegu.


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## BigNick (Oct 7, 2011)

does anyone know if canned fruit would be ok for a young adult tegu if i check to make sure its soft?[/u]


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## james.w (Oct 7, 2011)

No it has sugar. Why not just feed fresh fruit.


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## BigNick (Oct 8, 2011)

james.w said:


> No it has sugar. Why not just feed fresh fruit.



ive tryed about 3 types of fruit so far grapes, bannanas, and mangos and he doesnt really care for them but he loves the dragon fruit meals i get for him another problem im worried about is tiny is now trying to hibernate but isn't refusing to eat. i have been waking him up in the afternoon about 2 pm by slowly lifting him from under the substrate and light spraying him with war water to wake him up and make him use the bathroom what should i do?


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## james.w (Oct 8, 2011)

How is he eating if he doesn't come out? Fruits aren't mandatory, you could try mixing some in with what he does eat.


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## BigNick (Oct 8, 2011)

james.w said:


> How is he eating if he doesn't come out? Fruits aren't mandatory, you could try mixing some in with what he does eat.



it was b4 he started acting like he is going to hibernate he ate no problem and has been burrowing then the center of his cage which at night now has been getting into the low 70s i wake up about 8 am and turn his heat lamp on and everything and he did come up to eat like he usually does but i dont want the food thats in his stomache to go sour so i woke him up yesterday with luke warm water to gentely wake him up and basicly make him use the bathroom i didnt try to feed him should i just let him be now? or gently wake him up the same way and see if he wants food?


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## james.w (Oct 9, 2011)

Just follow his lead if he comes up for a while you can offer food otherwise just let him sleep.


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## BigNick (Oct 9, 2011)

james.w said:


> Just follow his lead if he comes up for a while you can offer food otherwise just let him sleep.



should i turn off all his lamps and stuff?


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## james.w (Oct 9, 2011)

I just shorten the time they are on over a months time and eventually leave them off completely. As long as he stays under the lights can be off.


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## BigNick (Oct 10, 2011)

james.w said:


> I just shorten the time they are on over a months time and eventually leave them off completely. As long as he stays under the lights can be off.



how long will he sleep til like march?


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## james.w (Oct 10, 2011)

It is possible, sometimes they wake up early and some times later.


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