# Twirp's first pinky, plus other updates



## nepoez (Feb 23, 2013)

So I think I've decided to call my new tegu, Twirp!

Today Twirp was already above ground when I got there at 7AM(the light automatically goes on at 7am, and shuts down at 7pm).

I offered him a thawed pinky and surprisingly he ate it without much hesitation! The last couple days he's only ate crickets and refused worms. After the pinky(large pinky too) he was still hungry and ate a bunch of crickets. I was told to keep feeding young tegus as long as they can still eat(pls correct me if wrong).

After a few hours I noticed he's beeg running around the cage(5ftx2ftx2ft) all morning.. so I gave him more crickets and he went crazy chasing and eating them until he got full. 

Finally at 1pm he went back in his hole where I think he'll be staying for the rest of the day. 

I have 35% sand and rest organic soil as substrate as it burrows real well and keeps the tunnels moist. Works well for Savannah monitors so I figured tegus will like it too. I'm also trying to make the soil bio-active. With 2 species of earth worms living in there.. I see them grab stuff and pull them below sometimes... I still need to get some roly-polies, and other cleanup crews to make the soil fully bio-active!

I'm using the solor-glo murcury vapor UV bulb + a ceramic emitter on 1 side of the tank, they are good for making the basking spot about 110F and also creates a gradient of 75F on the other end, and 85F to 90F on the hot end. Today I need to buy another solor glo to replace the old one as it's been 8 months now, and they said the UV level will be gone by now.


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## BatGirl1 (Feb 24, 2013)

Oh wow.the worm thing is interesting...i wonder if anyone else does this. I think it's a cool idea! 

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## dragonmetalhead (Feb 24, 2013)

Kodo wouldn't eat mealworms or horn worms, but he did used to enjoy night crawlers. The firt two he ate he downed alive and they came wriggling back up. He barfed them out and then re-ate them, but not before he shook the hell out of them like ragdolls.


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## nepoez (Feb 24, 2013)

haha... p.s. I had a few crickets in the tank left over, then today I started seeing very tiny baby crickets...


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## BatGirl1 (Feb 24, 2013)

I meant earthworms to recycle the soil etc. Haha. But yes i had that experience with my cuban knights anole with crickets breeding. And once when I used lobster roaches with him they had babies too... *shudder* haha

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## nepoez (Feb 24, 2013)

Did you find the baby insects to cause problems to the lizards?
Yeah I am hoping the earth worms will help clean up... but I think I need more types of organisms still... really need some roly polies and spring tails... check out this article: www.tegutalk.com/newreply.php?tid=13449&pid=133633



BatGirl1 said:


> I meant earthworms to recycle the soil etc. Haha. But yes i had that experience with my cuban knights anole with crickets breeding. And once when I used lobster roaches with him they had babies too... *shudder* haha
> 
> Sent from my ZTE-Z990G using Tapatalk 2


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## BatGirl1 (Feb 25, 2013)

The anole didn't seem bothered by it but he hangs on the tree or other elevated area.i think only two problems i see as a possibility...1- since tegus burrow if the bugs didn't have ample food would they bite him.i know crickets can damage lizards. They are nasty. 2- depending on consistancy of substrate would there be risk of impaction should he snap at little bugs to eat then also ingest substrate. Just a couple thoughts

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