# Chacoan tegu growth rate...



## olympus (Sep 6, 2008)

Look at how big ripper has gotten since I got him...


----------



## PuffDragon (Sep 6, 2008)

Nice, my male is at 19 inches. I think all those rodents you feed gave yours the extra 2 inches! I'd measure my female but she has been down the last 2 days. She's probably around 17-18 inches.


----------



## chasehelschien (Sep 6, 2008)

he looks awesome! how old is he?


----------



## pinto24 (Sep 6, 2008)

man, that is a lot bigger than my guy. You got that guy on HGH or something??


----------



## olympus (Sep 7, 2008)

He's the same age as everyone elses chacoan tegu. I don't remember when we I got him but I think it was about a month or two ago..


----------



## Kharnifex (Sep 8, 2008)

wow, you got me beat, i'm gonna go buy some pinky's now!


----------



## PuffDragon (Sep 8, 2008)

Kharnifex said:


> wow, you got me beat, i'm gonna go buy some pinky's now!



Get fuzzies/hoppers. Your guy can def. handle them and are much more nutritious.


----------



## olympus (Sep 8, 2008)

Definitly feed him the fuzzies and some of this stuff, it works...


----------



## pinto24 (Sep 8, 2008)

cod liver oil? Whats that do?


----------



## olympus (Sep 9, 2008)

Helps with shedding and has a vitamins in it also. I learned the trick from bobby.


----------



## DaveDragon (Sep 9, 2008)

olympus said:


> Helps with shedding and has a vitamins in it also. I learned the trick from bobby.


And it keeps them "regular"! I mix cod liver oil in with the ground turkey once a week. It's very stinky though.


----------



## dscolopendra (Sep 9, 2008)

*cod liver oil*

Where can I buy cod liver oil?


----------



## JohnMatthew (Sep 9, 2008)

try your local drugstore


----------



## DaveDragon (Sep 10, 2008)

The only place I could find it was GNC. A few drug stores has Mint flavored cod liver oil.


----------



## PuffDragon (Sep 10, 2008)

pinto24 said:


> cod liver oil? Whats that do?



<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1835">http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1835</a><!-- m -->


----------



## dscolopendra (Sep 10, 2008)

Hello, now that I know where to get the cod liver oil, I need to know how much of it do I put per pound of Turkey meet???Thanks.


----------



## DaveDragon (Sep 10, 2008)

PuffDragon said:


> pinto24 said:
> 
> 
> > cod liver oil? Whats that do?
> ...


See the above link.



VARNYARD said:


> One teaspoon per one pound of ground turkey for tegus. This can be fed once or twice a week.


----------



## olympus (Sep 20, 2008)

Ripper has went from pinkies to fuzzies and now mice. Look at the comparison from how small he was to now.


----------



## dave (Sep 20, 2008)

I get cod liver oil at the grocery in the fresh fish section


----------



## shabazz (Sep 22, 2008)

my guy is still only 14ins what im i doing wrong


----------



## JohnMatthew (Sep 22, 2008)

Shabazz, as long as he's not thin then I think you're ok at 14 inches. Not all animals eat/grow at the same rate. Boon was right around 17 inches when he started to hunker down and I've only seen him once in the last 2 weeks(popped up for a bit of basking and ate a few bites of beef liver). He's tiny compared to some of the other chacoans but he's got enough weight to hibernate so i'm not worried. Looking forward to his spring growth rates tho :-D .


----------



## MMRR - jif (Sep 22, 2008)

Here's my little guy who arrived here on July 29th. I've been concerned about his lack of appetite but he is thinking about going down for the season. His weight is good and, according to the photos, he has grown about 3 inches or so and is sitting at 16-17 inches. 

I think I hover and worry too much. LOL He is gorgeous, though! Can't help but sit and stare at him at times.


----------



## Kharnifex (Sep 23, 2008)

yea, my extreme is slowing down too. hell i haven't seen groxy since saturday.


----------



## olympus (Sep 24, 2008)

I had to call Bobby and thank him for the monster he sent me. Look within probably a week or two he has grown again...




















This is the pic that I took last time.


----------



## pinto24 (Sep 24, 2008)

thats lovely, I have not even seen mine in 3 weeks. :bs


----------



## Kharnifex (Sep 25, 2008)

what are your basking temps and ambient temps? how are you getting him to pork out like that in this season?

my little joker is fat, but he's not eating all that much. some fish or pinkies here or their but for the most part he just wanders around or passes out under his heat lamp.

although i put a pair of dubia adults in his tank so now he's got baby roaches and lots of small crickets running around his tank. he might be munching those cause they never seem to get any bigger.


----------



## olympus (Sep 26, 2008)

I use a powersun 160 watt and the temp is 100 degrees on one side and about 70 something on the other with absolutley no light at all(the cool side). The only thing he likes to eat are mice. For some reason he does not like ground turkey or crickets. He eats either one mouse or five fuzzies a day. I recently moved my cage into the living room so that he can get use to me and calm down...


----------



## mushman (Sep 26, 2008)

I looked at about 5 stores before I could find it without flavor. I went to Walgreens and found a decent sized bottle for $6. It is very smelly I got the unscented stuff and my hands smelt like fish for hours.


----------



## Kharnifex (Sep 26, 2008)

damn, allmost word for word the same setup as me. 160 watt and all.

do you feed him live pinkys/fuzzies?

my guy'll only eat one every other day or so.


----------



## olympus (Sep 26, 2008)

Her are the pics of my enclosure. I took a pic of the cool and the hot side.
The other pic is an example of the fuzzies that I feed him. On Oct. 18 I have to go to the hamburg show and buy more mice. I'm all out I only have fuzzies...


----------



## olympus (Sep 26, 2008)

You guys should post some pics of your tegus...


----------



## pinto24 (Sep 27, 2008)

olympus said:


> You guys should post some pics of your tegus...



I would love to, but mine is hibernating now. Has anybody elses gone into hibernation?


----------



## JohnMatthew (Sep 27, 2008)

Yeah, my boy is scarce these days too  . In a few pay checks(after I get my last pair of ball pythons) i'll hopefully have my own camera and be able to post some shots. Right now the only time I get pictures is when 1) my sister is visiting me and 2) boon happens to be up and about that day. . Your boy is looking large olympus, very nice!


----------



## dave (Sep 28, 2008)

Kharnifex said:


> what are your basking temps and ambient temps? how are you getting him to pork out like that in this season?
> 
> my little joker is fat, but he's not eating all that much. some fish or pinkies here or their but for the most part he just wanders around or passes out under his heat lamp.
> 
> although i put a pair of dubia adults in his tank so now he's got baby roaches and lots of small crickets running around his tank. he might be munching those cause they never seem to get any bigger.



All those feeders can stress him out, Anything he doesn't eat in 15min. or so should be removed.


----------



## olympus (Sep 28, 2008)

John thanks. 
Yeah Dave I know they can stress him out. He eats everything as soon as put the plate down. I thought about feeding him less for hibernation, but he wakes up every morning at the same time and his appettite has not .


----------



## Kharnifex (Sep 29, 2008)

you may be right dave, all that substrate will be replaced as soon as my cypress arrives.


----------



## sparky (Sep 29, 2008)

very cool, these giants are interesting!


----------



## olympus (Oct 4, 2008)

Ripper has grown another inch. He's so big that he tried to eat my wife :lol: :lol: :lol:


----------



## burke0000 (Oct 4, 2008)

Wow your guy is getting big. My tegu will hardly eat anything since the day I got him. I finally got him to eat two pinks the other day but thats the most he has ever eatin in one sitting.


----------



## Kharnifex (Oct 7, 2008)

yea, my boy ate a roach last night, n half a goldfish, no apetite. he's even picky with chunks of talapia which my big girl goes absolutly nuts for.


----------



## olympus (Oct 28, 2008)

Ripper has grown another 2 inches, but I noticed some skin scrapes on his face the other day and nose rub so I put some neosporin on it and hope it heals nicely.


----------



## pinto24 (Oct 28, 2008)

nice Tegu. Is that Bumblebee in the first pic?


----------



## akward_silence91 (Oct 28, 2008)

lol. Whats that on his head?


----------



## shabazz (Oct 29, 2008)

mine is still only about 14in he really wont eat that much


----------



## Kharnifex (Nov 7, 2008)

lol, i need to measure my boy, he deff don't have the girth you got.

i need to stimulate his appitite.


----------



## shabazz (Nov 7, 2008)

mine still not eating that much, i just looked at my last post on here and he was 14in now hes 15in


----------



## olympus (Jul 9, 2009)

These are recent pics of my chacoan I got last year from Bobby, and the last one is when I first got him.


----------



## Richard21 (Jul 9, 2009)

You really have a beast. Nice!


----------



## DaveDragon (Jul 9, 2009)

He's lookin' good!!! What's with the gloves??


----------



## KSTAR (Jul 9, 2009)

Nice extreme


----------



## GOT_TEGUS (Jul 10, 2009)

awesome GU lookin good. why the gloves ?


----------



## LouDog760 (Jul 10, 2009)

I think its the nails, god they freakin hurt.


----------



## DaveDragon (Jul 10, 2009)

But he's just a little guy!!! :lol:


----------



## Beasty (Jul 10, 2009)

"Hand dagger" solution= "Pet-i-cure" once every couple weeks.
Belle was awesome about it. She's due again now and I have as of yet to try the others. I hardly notice on my hands and arms any more but when they want to sit on your shoulder and scrape your neck, that hurts!


----------



## olympus (Jul 10, 2009)

Anyone who has one knows that their nails are like razor blades. Even when he was smaller his nails dug into my skin. They hurt like hell.


----------



## DaveDragon (Jul 10, 2009)

We trim all our lizards nails. They do hurt most on the neck!!


----------



## Jer723 (Jul 11, 2009)

DaveDragon said:


> We trim all our lizards nails. They do hurt most on the neck!!



hey dave? when should you start trimming the nails?


----------



## DaveDragon (Jul 11, 2009)

Jer723 said:


> hey dave? when should you start trimming the nails?


It's probably hard to hold one as small as yours and trim his mails. Give him some large rocks to climb on, that'll wear them down. We only cut off the pointy tip of the nail, if you look carefully you'll be able to see the "quick" of the nail, which is the blood vessel. You don't want to cut back that far. There nothing more fun than chasing a scared bleeding lizard all over your house!!


----------



## JohnMatthew (Jul 11, 2009)

It's amazing what 1 year of growth can do to those cute little things, especially since they hibernate almost half of the year  .. I remember your tegu fought hibernation a bit longer than some of the others, how long did he end up going down for? Reguardless, he's a beast, looking great!


----------



## redlizard5 (Jul 13, 2009)

Nice pics 
I just picked up a pair of Extremes from a fella that due to the economy lost his job and had to part with his animals .
I handle them everyday for about 30 mins each. the female is an 08 and the male is an 07 .So far they eat whatever i put in front of them roaches crickets superworms chicken,,,, hearts, livers and gizards. Fruit of all kinds. they dont miss a meal and are steadily growing and are taming out very well.
1.1 white headed tegu
1.o red tegu
2.1.3 crested geckos
1.1 egyptian uros
1.1 leos
0.1 res
0.0.1 western hog
5.0 corn snakes


----------



## olympus (Jul 13, 2009)

He was under until early march...


----------



## shabazz (Jul 13, 2009)

mines is no where near that


----------



## VenomVipe (Jul 19, 2009)

Wow! Did you see that kink in his tail at the beginning. It was all wavy and now he has just about grown out of it. Did you make any changes in diet or did he simply grow out of it?


----------



## DaveDragon (Jul 19, 2009)

I had a Blue hatchling last year that hatched with a 90 degree tail kink. In a couple of months I couldn't tell which one it was. It straightened on it's own.


----------



## VenomVipe (Jul 19, 2009)

Cool. That means mine who has a little kink will straighten out. Whoohoo!


----------



## Kingwolf26 (Jul 5, 2010)

Whats the update on the length of your tegu?


----------

