# Great tasting jugle bark



## timmah (Oct 11, 2009)

So I walked into my reptile room and looked in Tegu cage and he is eating the reptile jungle bark. I tried to get it out of his mouth but he atleast ate 3 peices of it. never had this problem, any ideas? i hope he doesnt get impaction and die


----------



## DaveDragon (Oct 11, 2009)

I've caught our male Blue eating cypress many times. After getting impacted 3 times and almost dying the last time I finally took him off any substrate. A couple of months ago we put him on aspen. At least he can burrow, but we can't mist it, aspen tends to mold.


----------



## Herplings (Oct 11, 2009)

DaveDragon said:


> I've caught our male Blue eating cypress many times. After getting impacted 3 times and almost dying the last time I finally took him off any substrate. A couple of months ago we put him on aspen. At least he can burrow, but we can't mist it, aspen tends to mold.



I could not agree more.

Substrate is not only dangerous to the animal if eaten, but its nasty and can hold/spread sickness.

There is more and more cases all the time of these animals eating their substrate.

I don't use substrate with my Tegus anymore either and I have gotten great results so far.


----------



## Meg90 (Oct 11, 2009)

How many tegus do you have Herplings?

And I would advise ecoearth for those who's animals eat substrate. I use eco earth for almost everyone, and its great. It is proven NOT to cause impaction if digested.

go on petmountain.com. You can get three bricks for 3.95$ that would fill a giant enclosure easily (maybe you wouldn't even have to use the third brick)


----------



## txrepgirl (Oct 11, 2009)

Do you feed your Tegu inside the enclosure ? if you feed him inside a bin what you can do is wash off his feed and mouth so there will not be any food or the juices off the food stuck on your Tegu.Because if the food or the juices off the food gets onto the mulch he can smell it and think it's food and will eat the mulch.What you can do is give your Tegu a warm ( not hot ) bath for a few minutes three times a day.You also can put some cod liver oil into the ground turkey or some all natural peanut butter ( my vet recommended that.It has natural oils in it ).That will help with the lubrication and the mulch has a better chance to slide out.Also make sure your temps are 100-115.Please keep us postd.Thanks.Good luck.


----------



## paulsreef (Oct 11, 2009)

My son witnessed our tegu taking bites of cypruss mulch, but he never saw him swallow any, just biting and spitting out. I was feeding him later that day than usual so I think he was hungry and was getting impatient.

We don't feed in the enclosure, but I bet if food was mixed in with the cypruss mulch he would of swallowed it.


----------



## Zilch (Oct 11, 2009)

I'd been considering eco earth for a while... but today I spotted my 'gu biting a huge chunk of cypress, he didn't try to swallow it, but that was scary enough. I went and ordered 2 of the 3 packs from pet mountain, hope it gets here soon. For that price theres really no excuse to not give it a shot.


----------



## Herplings (Oct 11, 2009)

Meg90 said:


> How many tegus do you have Herplings?
> 
> And I would advise ecoearth for those who's animals eat substrate. I use eco earth for almost everyone, and its great. It is proven NOT to cause impaction if digested.
> 
> go on petmountain.com. You can get three bricks for 3.95$ that would fill a giant enclosure easily (maybe you wouldn't even have to use the third brick)



Why don't you ask DaveDragon?
He owns Tegus too and agrees that wood chip substrate is bad. Why not question him?

Like I said before. I would be happy to compare Reptiles with you at any time. I would be more then willing to show you my whole collection spanning 20k. LOL. 
If you would like to post all your Reptiles in response.
I have snakes that cost me more then your whole years appt rent. Lmfao.

Anytime you would like to ask the general public whos animals are better examples of what they are, I would be glad to do that.
Start posting yours, I will follow suit. I would be happy to show you the best examples of these animals in captivity. :app 

You have Bob-cat Geckos. I have 20 foot Rertics. Go back to school. ,,|,, Haha.


----------



## Reflektr (Oct 11, 2009)

Don't they also have Eco-Earth in a bag? I found some sort of coconut-fiber stuff in a bag the other day while I was in town. From appearance, it looked as though it may dry out quick. Wonder how resistant to mold it is...


----------



## Meg90 (Oct 11, 2009)

Yeah, the expanded stuff is actually more expensive, because you don't get as much, and you still have to mix it with water to make it damp.

Its pretty mold resistant, but poop, or old food will mold right quick on it.

And Herplings, this is a Tegu Forum. Not an "other pets" forum. You said "tegus" yet you've only ever posted about your little B&W. Sue me for being curious? And what does your snakes costing a lot have to do with the fact that you don't use bedding for your tegu?

I don't understand where you are coming from.

And Dave did not post in this thread, which is why I did not ask him?? And he also has pictures up of all of his animals. I know he has more than one Gu. I've seen pictures. This, I also did not understand.


----------



## Reflektr (Oct 12, 2009)

Hmmm... Thanks! That's the first time I had come acrossed it. I always just thought it came in bricks. That's what some forums suggested for my cham, but I opted for no substrate in his cage...

What about just using plain old "clean" dirt and leaf-litter? Isn't the goal of keeping animals in captivity to emulate their natural environment as close as possible? I can't imagine tegus having cypress mulch and coconut fiber in the wild. Though it is a hilarious thought. I'd love to study them in their natural habitat.


----------



## Meg90 (Oct 13, 2009)

Dirt and leaf litter would work. I would bake everything off first though, before using it. LOL casserole dishes filled with dirt. haha. You just want to make sure there is no bugs in it, its not going to kill the microbial stuff, but the majority shouldn't harm your Gu.

In my college bio class this semester, we cultured a soil sample and you would not BELIEVE the bacterial diversity...it was kinda scary.

Just my two cents. 

Cleo was acting funny when she was eating the other day---right away I'm thinking its the dreaded Cyprus mulch! I was about to run to petco and buy some for full price. Annnnnnnd then she pooped. ALOT. On the nice towel I had in her feeding bin.

There was nothing there but poop. Poor girl just had to go, and didn't really want to go in her bin. :-D She's such a lady.


----------



## kschlunegger (Oct 13, 2009)

Those of you who are saying that you do not use substrate.....what do you put in the cage? My cage has a substrate area (orchid bark) and then a divided out non-substrate area (tile and brick). I feed him in the area where there is no substrate.

How do you know if they get impacted? How do you fix it if they do?


----------



## Meg90 (Oct 13, 2009)

Distended bellies, constipation, and low appetites are all symptoms of impaction. Feeding cod liver oil once a week helps, as well as baths in warm water several times a week (they usually go in the water)


----------

