# tegu heating pad



## TE GU-RU (Jan 13, 2010)

Can I put a Heating Pad Directly into the cage? is there a cover i can use so it will not burn the tegu?


thanks


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## reptastic (Jan 13, 2010)

hi te gu-ru welcome aboard as for the heating pads i used one with my tegu when she was a hatchling. i didnt use a cover i just put it on a timer 30 mins on 30 mins off and set it on medium. and i put it outside the cage, so she couldnt get to it. it kept the mulch warm but not to hot.


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## cornking4 (Jan 13, 2010)

I keep my heating pads outside of the tank; if you place the pad right against the tank sides the heat will conduct perfectly. If you put it inside the enclosure your tegu runs a risk of puncturing it with his/her nails and getting electrocuted.


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## TE GU-RU (Jan 13, 2010)

well im getting a tank on saturday and i wanted to provide extra heat underneath the basking area.

the tank im getting only has glass on the front so i do not know how else it would work, maybe ill just get a bigger heat bulb.


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## cornking4 (Jan 13, 2010)

Vision cage? The heat conducts well through plastic and wood too. I have a heating pad set up under my vision cage and it works great.


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## chelvis (Jan 13, 2010)

I think a bulb is a better way to go, after all in nature tegus would be getting their heat source from above. If you really want to add some heat for overnight or somthing a pig blanket is the only one i would recomend for inside the tank use. They are coated in a think rubber that makes them extremly hard to puncture and they are water resistant. Still this shouldn't be needed as tegus are cold tolerant.


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## cornking4 (Jan 13, 2010)

Good point. The only reason I have a heating pad on right now is because my gu's fighting a flagylate infection; other than that I just focus on heat from above.


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## TE GU-RU (Jan 17, 2010)

actually the cage i got was thin enough to put a heating pad underneath it, i wanted the pad because for some reason my tegu lays in the burrow it makes all day and all night, i pull him out just to see if hell eat but he just makes another burrow and sleeps.


im getting some pinkies tomorrow and if i can find a cheap food processor im making a "Slop" for him of different things.

he hasnt eaten more than 10 crickets and a few bites of catfood in the past week.


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## TE GU-RU (Jan 17, 2010)

i noticed your tegus name is zzyzx. are you a zeromancer fan? thats the only place ive heard that name haha


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## chelvis (Jan 17, 2010)

It sounds like your little tegu is trying to hibernate. If his trying to sleep and is not eatting, he might be going down for the winter time.


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## TE GU-RU (Jan 17, 2010)

i've heard you can stop them from hibernating. how would i go abouts doing that?


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## chelvis (Jan 17, 2010)

You'd have to ask Varnyard, but it can be hard to keep a tegu from hibernating. You'd have to make sure temp doesnt drop keeping the day and night time temps simliar to that of summer temps. Even then some tegus still will hibernate. Its hard to tell what signals its time to hibernate but they seem to know regardless of the light and heat cycles we put them on. Like i said i dont know how to pervent them from hibernating, i wanted my tegu to breed one day in the furture and rememeber reading that if they dont hibernate their first year then they tend to be harder to breed. Dont know if this is still true but i figured it couldn't hurt.


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