# new to reptiles... just bought a tegu. help please



## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

hey guys i just bought a 18 month old tegu and i cant seem to keep his cage warm enough. he is a black and white Argentinean tegu and never moves from under his heating lamp and i am not sure how to keep his/her cage warm enough during night i want to make a perfect environment for him i just am not sure how to... if anyone can tell me how they achieve this and maybe send me pictures of what products you use to maintain the overall temp as well as the basking spot and how they use these products.[/img]


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## dorton (May 3, 2008)

How big is the enclosure? Is the top open, screened?
What is the ambient temps in the room in which it stays?

Congrats, and welcome to the board


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

dorton said:


> How big is the enclosure? Is the top open, screened?
> What is the ambient temps in the room in which it stays?
> 
> Congrats, and welcome to the board



thank you so much! 

the enclosure is a 48 gallon tank with a screen top. I have a 150 watt bulb in the basking side as well as a 9 watt heating pad under that same side. he is currently is our room where i am not sure how cold it gets but it gets pretty cold, as my boyfriend turns a fan on at night and the window is always open. we thought it would be ok to turn the lamp off last night and just about had a heart attack because the temp on his basking side was below sixty. we need to close the window huh?


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## dorton (May 3, 2008)

Thats a little on the cold side. The 9 watt pads, is it flexwatt?
How long is the tegu?
As far as the screen top, you can make a lid out of plywood, or lexan, or plexglass, but I would make a covering to not only help hold heat, but also to help hold moisture.
What substrate are you using?


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## Mvskokee (May 3, 2008)

put a towel over half of the cage it should keep in more humidity and heat that the screen lets out. or you could use tinfoil


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## PuffDragon (May 3, 2008)

You want the lamp to go off every night. Leaving it on 24/7 will be very stressfull to your tegu. You want a basking spot of about 110 F and a gradient temp of 90-75 during the summer months. 60s F will be ok for brumation temps in the winter.


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

i am not sure what flexwatt is but i do know that it is a reptile heating pad. my tegu is about a foot and a half. the substrate i am using is repti-bark i was going to get cypress but it was what he was using before and it kept getting in his mouth and was really dry. he seems to like this stuff as he burrows in it and doesnt stick on him or poke him. I am working on getting pictures right now so you guys can see him because we are also concerned with a couple of other things.


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## PuffDragon (May 3, 2008)

Is the 150 watt bulb you are using a UVB/UVA bulb? Other wise known as a Mercury vapor bulb?? (IE. Power Sun, Megaray, Trex Active UV)


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

here is his cage

IMG]http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc156/sillysallie1990/fa48f21a1a75.jpg[/IMG]















the light. i dont think it is a Mercury vapor bulb.


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

this is a pic of his tail which we are worried about. He has lost it before. and the tip of it is very dry could it be that its old skin that he tried to shed but didnt have a humid enough enclosure?




another pic of him/her






and from what i have read bout sexing, he is too small to sex correctly? is this true?


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## Mvskokee (May 3, 2008)

you need to get some form of uv bulb on him like a repti sun 10.0 and i would recomend buying a temp gun to checkl the basking spots.he needs high humidity make sure you spray down his cage and put somthing over half the screen fornow. i cant tell wha type he is in the picture. but if he is a arg b&w white your gonna hav to buildhim a cage the is 8x4x4 for his adult size. also you might wanna get him a HIDE TOO


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## Mvskokee (May 3, 2008)

HE LOOKS LIKE A COLUMBIAN B&W TO ME I CAN TQUITE TELL sorry caps lock


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

Mvskokee said:


> you need to get some form of uv bulb on him like a repti sun 10.0 and i would recomend buying a temp gun to checkl the basking spots.he needs high humidity make sure you spray down his cage and put somthing over half the screen fornow. i cant tell wha type he is in the picture. but if he is a arg b&w white your gonna hav to buildhim a cage the is 8x4x4 for his adult size. also you might wanna get him a HIDE TOO



the guy we bought him from has a uv light for him and i am going to call him about it on thursday, can he wait that long?

we have a digital theremomitor w/ a probe for him but i am unsure of how to use it. do i leave it in all the time or just to check temps everyonce in a while

i bought a reptile spray bottle for him

yes he IS a arg b&w and we are already drawing up plans for his new enclosure

and we have a half log for him is this what a hide is? or is it close in all the way. 

I did lots of research about tegus but i just need help on the reptile basics. no one seems to talk about these.

thank you everybody for all the responses!


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

at least the guy said he was a arg b&w hmmm here are some pics in good lighting (from before we got him. i have only had him for two days and he is pretty freaked out so i am trying not to handle him much)











what do you guys think? sorry bout all the questions i just really want to be a good reptile owner. I want to take good care of this adorable lizard.


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

sorry there are alot of questions mixed in there.. any answers?


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## Mvskokee (May 3, 2008)

well i cant really telli think thats arg
you are gonna need a big enclosure if it is


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## PuffDragon (May 3, 2008)

I can tell you right now it is definetly not a Argentine B/W Tegu, _Tupinambis merianae_. It is 100% _Tupinambis teguixin_, a Columbian Tegu. 

You can find out lots of info on this species here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17">http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17</a><!-- m -->


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

Mvskokee said:


> well i cant really telli think thats arg
> you are gonna need a big enclosure if it is



yeah lol we fell in love with him and are very excited about it we know that he can get to be five feet long and we are thinking about how we are gonna build his new cage but the tank is fine for now. i just checked on him an he finally moved. i just put a blanket over half his cage and i am gonna close the window.


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

PuffDragon said:


> I can tell you right now it is definetly not a Argentine B/W Tegu, _Tupinambis merianae_. It is 100% _Tupinambis teguixin_, a Columbian Tegu.
> 
> You can find out lots of info on this species here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17">http://www.tegutalk.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17</a><!-- m -->



how can you tell?


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## PuffDragon (May 3, 2008)

Coloration, scalation and pattern. Take a close up pic of the side of the face for us please. You will see only 1 Loreal scale. Use this page as a reference of what I am talking about. 

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://thetegu.com/contentid-10.html">http://thetegu.com/contentid-10.html</a><!-- m -->


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## Mvskokee (May 3, 2008)

i kinda thought it was a columbian but was unsure


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

no stripe




one scale

you guys are so right!

wow i know nothing about the columbians. i dont even know what they eat! i was being so careful, i did so much research. that sorta sucks oh well geuss i gotta do some more research.


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## sillysallie (May 3, 2008)

lol feel free to tell me a little bit about the columbian black and white.


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## VARNYARD (May 4, 2008)

sillysallie said:


> lol feel free to tell me a little bit about the columbian black and white.



Sally, if he was sold to you as an Argentine, I would return him, he is not an Argentine. However, if you would like to keep him, we will be more than glad to help you with him.


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## sillysallie (May 4, 2008)

VARNYARD said:


> sillysallie said:
> 
> 
> > lol feel free to tell me a little bit about the columbian black and white.
> ...



the guy i bought him from raised him from a baby and as far as i can tell he honestly thought he was an Argentine. The only thing I am concerned about is its health because i know that the two species have different diets and other requirements. I also might be concerned about price differences because as far as i can tell Columbians are cheaper because of the almost complete halt on importing the Argentines. I am leaning toward keeping him though because he/she really has a cool personality so far. We fell in love with him not knowing what he was at all. i am not sure yet what I am going to do.


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## sillysallie (May 4, 2008)

VARNYARD, 

I emailed you a while back talking about buying this lizard and asking a few questions about your Argentine black and whites. Now that we have been suprised about the species of the lizard we have now I am pretty sure that I want to purchase one from you. I was looking forward to everything I learned about the Argentine black and whites and now that I dont have one I am pretty sure that I would like to. So I was wondering have your lizards mated or laid any eggs yet?


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## COWHER (May 4, 2008)

I wouldnt let him go for more than a few days without uv. if you are going to get the uv bulb on thursday I would say thats ok but I have never let my tegu go with out for more that a day total.

leave the temp probe in all the time.

he or she should be out of site for it to feel the security that a hide instills make sure your Cypress mulch is deep enough for it to dig in and cover its body with

I am 90% sure its a Colombian tegu.. what do you think?

COLOMBIAN TEGU






ARGENTINE TEGU


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## KoreanDeathKid (May 4, 2008)

I think bobby does have some eggs being incubated at the moment, but he will have much more in the near future
that is indeed a columbian tegu and they're known to be carnivores, your best chance of getting him to eat healthy is feeding him good sized mice lots of worms, and other kind of meat product like ground turkey, etc
he will probably grow up to the size of 3 feet average and will need a 6x3x3 enclosure that will hold humidity pretty well


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## Lexi (May 4, 2008)

Thats a Col. B&W.. Hope you didnt pay and arm and a leg for him. and he wont reach 5 feet... maybe about 3


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## ApriliaRufo (May 4, 2008)

There is a ton of information on Columbians on this site, you will just have to dig. Their requirements are almost identical to argentines except they have no interest in anything that isn't breathing or at least was breathing at one time. I have a Columbian that I've been spending a lot of time with just to squash people's dislike of them. There is no doubt that they are "wilder" than argentines, but are simple to acclimate to captivity (not tame..) and can be wonderful pets. Don't sell him short just because he's a Columbian.


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## angelrose (May 4, 2008)

ApriliaRufo said:


> are simple to acclimate to captivity (not tame..) and can be wonderful pets. Don't sell him short just because he's a Columbian.




hi sillysallie, I have had my colombian going on four years now. we are insparable. their spunky ! their fun. she is my pride and joy.

and I am always looking for more colombians.


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## AB^ (May 4, 2008)

angelrose said:


> ApriliaRufo said:
> 
> 
> > are simple to acclimate to captivity (not tame..) and can be wonderful pets. Don't sell him short just because he's a Columbian.
> ...




ha, spunky!!


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## sillysallie (May 4, 2008)

hey guys thank you so much for all the info and feedback.

Well here is what is going on right now. We are busy doing research about the Columbians as we speak. We are not sure about what we are going to do because we did pay alot of money for Rocky (Thats his/her name for now. The name he came with). We paid $300.00 for him, a 48 gallon tank, a half log, and three dishes. I am thinking that we got ripped off, do you think the same? If you guys could tell me if you think that they really ripped us off we will go in and talk to the store because I honestly think this has all been a mix up. The owner of the store has raised rocky from a baby. I think he honestly didn't know. 

I would also like to know about if any of you have gotten your tegus as adults and how they react to a new home. Rocky just buries himself into his bedding and sleeps all day.


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## angelrose (May 4, 2008)

you got ripped off. 

yes, this is normal behavior. you should have the cypress deep enough to cover their body. they like to dig and burrow. give him time it's a new home for him.


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## dorton (May 4, 2008)

Yes, I saw them by the hundreds at a reptile show today for $20-30. 
There are people here that prove they can be great, and even had me eyeing some today, but they are not $300 tegus.


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## DZLife (May 5, 2008)

Jeez, 300? You need to get some cash back.


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## ApriliaRufo (May 5, 2008)

Yea that's a little steep, but it saddens me to think that the store will probably give you two options, give it all back and they'll give you the money back, or "tough sh**". It would be nice just to get some of the money back and be able to keep him... Too many Columbians meet the exact same fate and go back to the store for yet another buyer who get sold something they don't get. Hmph.... sad and frustrating. I got my Col from Ben and I think we paid 65$ shipped?


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## angelrose (May 5, 2008)

or

if things don't work out with the store and / or your not happy with rocky then I would gladly buy him from you.


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## DZLife (May 5, 2008)

angelrose said:


> or
> 
> if things don't work out with the store and / or your not happy with rocky then I would gladly buy him from you.



That would work too, I guess XD

*hugs angelrose*


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## angelrose (May 6, 2008)

DZLife said:


> That would work too, I guess XD
> 
> *hugs angelrose*



LOL, *hugs DZ*


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## sillysallie (May 7, 2008)

hey guys!

so here is what is going on. We are keeping him. we did call the petstore and just like somebody said before they offered to take him back (and refund all the money) or we could pretty much just deal. the guy insists that he is an argintine and that he even took him to the vet when he got him. LOL i do not know what the vet was smoking because I am pretty sure he is a columbian. He ate the other day but other then that he pretty much sleeps all day. We are still a little worried about his tail so if anybody has some tips...


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## bige85tegu (Jun 9, 2008)

What is wrong with you tegu's tail?


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## Nero (Jun 9, 2008)

I think its a columbian tegu. You can use heat emitters to warm the tank up at night. I would use cypress mulch to keep the humidity. You should get some kind of bark or wood so your tegu can bask. Try moving your tegus tank to a warmer spot in the house so you wont have to worry about that at night.


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## PuffDragon (Jun 9, 2008)

FYI, thread is over a month old. bige85tegu I believe the answer your looking for is on page 1.


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## bige85tegu (Jun 9, 2008)

Did not notice that.


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