# red tegu



## j.sawyer48 (Jun 22, 2011)

can anyone guess how old my tegu is im guessin either 6 months or 7 months old but not sure let me know thanx


/Users/elisesawyer/Desktop/Photo on 2011-06-22 at 17.37.jpg

she is 1ft long and like half an inch


----------



## Strange_Evil (Jun 22, 2011)

Don't know if its just me but the pic does not work.

But for now i guess i could give you what i know so far on this matter. Tegu's like many reptile grow according to how they are being feed and cared for. Poor diet equals unhealthy small tegu, good diet nice healthy tegu. Uvb lights also play a huge role in the growth. Tegu's grow in spurts so when they do start to grow they really take off and from everything i read it's usually the second summer when they start to get some real length on them and the third summer when they start to fill out. 

Not all will grow at the same rate though. It also depends if your hibernated or not as we'll so info like that would be really helpful.

Try to post things like when and where you got him from?


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jun 24, 2011)

srry this is my first tegu but i got him from petsplus in tewksbury ma and i got him a month ago and no i am not hibernating him 

also when would u suggest feeding ur tegu small mice?


----------



## Bubblz Calhoun (Jun 24, 2011)

_Hi,.. Welcome to the site and congrats on the new Gu. 

To post pics you have to use a site like photo bucket or flickr then copy and paste the IMG Code into your post. Preview it before you post to make sure it shows up. 

As for guessing your tegus age,.. it varies there's no way of knowing exactly how old unless you got it from a breeder. __You can start feeding mice or rats now that are the appropriate size for your Gu. They're usually able to take mouse pinkies and hoppers or rat pinkies in the beginning. But that depends on your tegus size._


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jun 24, 2011)

he is 1ft long and a half an inch and thank u for ur insite it is much appreciated


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jun 24, 2011)




----------



## Bubblz Calhoun (Jun 24, 2011)

_You're welcome,..  not a problem,.. that's what we're here for. At that size I would start it on mouse fuzzies, sm mouse hoppers or a rat fuzzie. It doesn't quite look big enough to take a rat hopper_


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 5, 2011)

i got him pinkys but he seems not to be interested at all in em i may think there too big for him 

is there anything i can do to help my gu shedd anything special u guys doo?


----------



## james.w (Jul 5, 2011)

If it is CB, I would guess about a year, but looks a little small so I would say it is a 6-7 month old import. Also you will not be able to prevent hibernation if you set him up correctly.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 5, 2011)

now when u say i will not be able to prevent hibernation if you set him up correctly wat do u mean ? ima alil confused lol


----------



## james.w (Jul 5, 2011)

If you give him the proper amount of substrate or a hide that he can burrow into, he will go down if he wants to.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 5, 2011)

okay how would i no hes hibernating ?


----------



## tora (Jul 5, 2011)

He won't be active at all. He may wake up for an hour or so every once in a while though. 
You don't want to bother them if they're hibernating, either.


----------



## james.w (Jul 5, 2011)

Eventually he should not come out at all. Just provide UVB, heat, fresh water, and offer food when/if he does come out. Once you realize he has gone down you can leave the heat and UVB off. 

He may not hibernate, and may just be getting acclimated to his new environment. Just follow his lead.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 5, 2011)

he sleeps alot but is very active


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 6, 2011)

thanx wil do


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 7, 2011)

im pretty sure my lil buddys hibernating i havnt seen him all day hes just bin under his rock wit the entence blocked off. Wat would u guys say hes hibernating????


----------



## james.w (Jul 7, 2011)

How long has it been since he has been out?


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 8, 2011)

just a day I guess today if he dosent come out will be the real test..


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 8, 2011)

if he is hibernatin wat does his encloser need like for humidity heat n stuff


----------



## tora (Jul 8, 2011)

If you don't see him for a week you can go ahead and turn his lights off. Mist occasionally but not enough to disturb him.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 8, 2011)

wat about him eating or anything do I need to put food out


----------



## james.w (Jul 8, 2011)

You can put food out if you suspect he is coming out when you aren't around. Once he is hibernating, he won't need heat, light or food. You will want to keep the humidity up though.


----------



## kellen.watkins (Jul 8, 2011)

No I wouldn't if he is down for sure say he gets up eats and goes back to sleep the food will rot in his stomach as he won't be able to digest it, be sure to always check to see if he is out, my last tegu died during hibernation :-(


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 8, 2011)

I don't want that to happen but I'll see wats up it's only been 2 days.. I don't think he is gettin aclimated to his home james.w I've had for 2 months now unsless he still is


----------



## james.w (Jul 8, 2011)

I would cut down the length of time you have on your heat and light if you feel he is hibernating. You can go to 10 hrs on, 14 off for a few days, and reduce it from there. It is kind of hard to determine unless you are home for a better part of the day, he could be coming out when you aren' there.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 9, 2011)

I got my girl there most of the day watching him I just don't want him to die it's like how would I no... I just get nervouse about it you know.


----------



## herpgirl2510 (Jul 9, 2011)

My extreme hid for alost three weeks he was adjusting to his new home. I would just keep doing what you are doing and not jump the gun that he is hibernating. He seems very small to be a yearling. My first B&W I bought was maybe 3-4 months at that size. Also I believe reds tend to be shier than B&W just don't pull him out of his hide let him do his thing and see what happens.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 9, 2011)

so I guess he came out and is alil sleepy.. Hopefully he stays out I don't want him to hibernate to pravent this wat kind of substrate should use I got jungle mix which is very easy to burrow in do all you guys use cypresss mulch??


----------



## herpgirl2510 (Jul 9, 2011)

Let's not give the new guy an a coronary. I use hemlock and on the cool side dirt/sand holds burrow better than mulch.

I am planning on experimenting by keeping my lighs and temps the same year round see if that keeps them up. If they go down I won't stop them but I at least want to give it a shot. There are quite a few people who do this.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 9, 2011)

yea I've read that keeping a steady temp and lights all yr will prevent hibernation but ima use ur idea by putting the jungle mix on the cool side and the other half mulch sounds like a great idea thank you herpgirl


----------



## james.w (Jul 9, 2011)

When I had 2 tegus in one enclosure, my red went down and I kept the heat and lights on for my other one. In my opinion you can't stop hibernation.


----------



## herpgirl2510 (Jul 9, 2011)

I agree if they are going to do it they will anyways but it doesn't hurt to try. I am hoping chevy does not hibernate from sept to end of may again he was outside year round.


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 9, 2011)

well hes out walkin around and been out sense 10 this morning he might have been really tired lol


----------



## j.sawyer48 (Jul 12, 2011)

*cypress mulch*

just recantly switched to cypress muclh and it does wonders for myy lil gu shedding


----------

