# Help! Tegu Won't Eat!



## gcd312 (Aug 8, 2011)

My Arg. b&w hasn't eaten in about four days. He had two little bites of ground turkey yesterday but thats all. He's about 3 months old. 

I heard that shedding could have something to do with this. He just finished shedding about a week ago ( i thought) although i am seeing little bits of shedded skin in his cage. Anyways, what i heard was that sometimes lizards don't eat during shedding - but he's done shedding. I'm really worried, so any help would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!


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## Aardbark (Aug 8, 2011)

Hi

Im deffinitly not a tegu expert. I only just got one myself. But my sugestion would be to try a variety of different foods, and see if he eats any of them. Also I heard that when they are going into hybernation that they dont eat anything.


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## Piercedcub32 (Aug 8, 2011)

was your tegu an import? my colombian sometimes goes 3 days without eating, but then will chow down until he is about to pop! How is you lighting? and temps? Humidity? and substrate?


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## gcd312 (Aug 8, 2011)

Piercedcub32 said:


> was your tegu an import? my colombian sometimes goes 3 days without eating, but then will chow down until he is about to pop! How is you lighting? and temps? Humidity? and substrate?



No, he isn't an import. humidity is 60-70, temp: hot side about 95-97, cool side about 90. orchid bark. everything is standard. he still hasn't eaten. or defecated (obviously, cause he hasn't been eating).


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## adam1120 (Aug 8, 2011)

you should probly bump up your basking spot to around 105ish or 110.


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 8, 2011)

You should probably find a way to cool down the cool side, low 80's is max of what it should be, there is a forum from bobby around the time this website was created expressing the importance of the cool side cause peoples babies were dying in 10 gallon tanks cause they couldn't cool off, I don't know if that's why its not eating though, if your watching your baby eating that might also be why my tegu I had last year for the first month or so wouldn't eat if he knew I was watching


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## corruptphantasm (Aug 8, 2011)

ya your cold side is too hot but try some different foods out too


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## gcd312 (Aug 8, 2011)

Thanks, does anyone have some suggestions on how to make the cool side cooler? Also, i think when he's hot he just digs under his hide spot which is probably a lot cooler. 

By the way, he's in a 20gal long tank. He's still small so i figured that would be fine until he's big and i have to build one.


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 8, 2011)

Try a screen fixture instead of a dome and move his basking spot up appropriately, what kinda basking light are you using?


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## got10 (Aug 8, 2011)

he is roasting . Just like we dont want to ea when it gets too hot , neither do they


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## Strange_Evil (Aug 8, 2011)

I agree with everyone, reptiles often will not eat when something is wrong with the care, and in this case things are to hot. To cool things down you could switch to a smaller wattage bulb and go with a raised basking plat form, increase ventilation or mount the light further away.

Do you have something covering your screen top? A pic of the set up would be good.


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## james.w (Aug 8, 2011)

Get a bigger cage. 

What are you using to heat the cage? What are you using for UVB? Where did you get him?


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## gcd312 (Aug 9, 2011)

kellen.watkins said:


> Try a screen fixture instead of a dome and move his basking spot up appropriately, what kinda basking light are you using?



What is a screen fixture? and i think its like a repti-glow or something.


Strange_Evil said:


> I agree with everyone, reptiles often will not eat when something is wrong with the care, and in this case things are to hot. To cool things down you could switch to a smaller wattage bulb and go with a raised basking plat form, increase ventilation or mount the light further away.
> 
> Do you have something covering your screen top? A pic of the set up would be good.



I have foil covering the screen with spots open for the repti glow basking bulb and the UVB bulb - don't know what kind, but it's from like petsmart or something. If it's cooler though, won't the basking spot not be hot enough? And i can't figure out how to get pictures up. Also, theres a wood cave thing that he lays on top of that is right below the basking lamp (when on the wood, he is closer to the light).


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## james.w (Aug 9, 2011)

What size bulb are you using? Is really hard to help you if you don't even know what you are using.


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## gcd312 (Aug 9, 2011)

james.w said:


> Get a bigger cage.
> 
> What are you using to heat the cage? What are you using for UVB? Where did you get him?



I answered the first two below and i got him from a breeder.


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## james.w (Aug 9, 2011)

gcd312 said:


> james.w said:
> 
> 
> > Get a bigger cage.
> ...



Well it says you are using a repti-glow or something. What size/type/brand bulbs are you using??


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## gcd312 (Aug 9, 2011)

james.w said:


> gcd312 said:
> 
> 
> > james.w said:
> ...




Sorry about that. I just got a new bulb today - 75watt exoterra. I also have a Repti-glow 26 watt 10.0 UVB bulb. The first one was the basking bulb. i used to have a 100 watt basking bulb and he was eating fine. It seems like everyone is saying that i need it to be cooler in the tank though. Do you know any ways i can make it cooler on the one side but still about 95 or so degrees on the basking side?


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## james.w (Aug 9, 2011)

First if your UVB is a coil type, be careful with them, they are known to cause eye problems. 

To get it cooler on one side but get a 110 basking spot, raise your basking spot closer to the bulb.


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## gcd312 (Aug 10, 2011)

Ok, but is all that really going to help him eat? i had a hotter bulb and it was 110 in the basking spot and he wasn't eating. Also, i don't know how to make one side cooler.

I don't think it is a temperature thing, because last night i put his food in his cage and he ate every bite. Any thoughts?

Thanks


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## james.w (Aug 10, 2011)

Ok lets start over, how long have you had him?

Husbandry is probably one of the top reasons a new reptile doesn't eat, stress from being in a new place being pretty equal.

If you haven't had him long, let him get used to his new home for a few weeks before bothering him. Only go in the cage to spot clean, feed, and change water. 

In order to get the proper temps, you really need a larger cage. In the one you have you can try using a smaller wattage bulb to get the cool side correct and then raise the basking spot to the bulb to get the proper basking temp. You will probably have to use a tube type UVB bulb because they don't make a MVB small enough for a 20G tank, and the coil bulbs cause eye problems and I feel they don't provide enough UVB.


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## gcd312 (Aug 15, 2011)

Sorry for the delay in response, i was on vacation. I have had him for 2-3 months, not a few weeks. He ate the day before i left a lot in his cage, then when i was gone ( i had someone taking care of him) he ate twice out of 4 days; only when food was left in his cage for him. He used to eat outside of his cage all the time, for about the first month or two that i had him. Everything is the same: lighting, temp, humidity etc.. - nothing changed. This came out of nowhere. Any more ideas? cause hes still only eating every few days. 

Thanks


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## Piercedcub32 (Aug 15, 2011)

how does your tegu look? is he thin? looks like he is sick? have you tried offering just his favorite things? Perhaps he just doesn't want to eat every day...? idk..

can u post a pic?


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## reptastic (Aug 15, 2011)

Well its getting closer to that time of year were tegus are slowing down, both of my tegus are eating 3-4 times a week if that, they were eating huge amounts daily up until about 3 wks ago, they don't even eat a lot when they do eat now


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## gcd312 (Aug 15, 2011)

Piercedcub32 said:


> how does your tegu look? is he thin? looks like he is sick? have you tried offering just his favorite things? Perhaps he just doesn't want to eat every day...? idk..
> 
> can u post a pic?





He looks thin after not eating for a couple days, but when he's eaten he looks pretty plump. He seems healthy, always moving around, still shedding etc... He isn't going to hibernate is he?


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## tora (Aug 16, 2011)

You can tell how healthy a lizard really is by the thickness of base of it's tail. If you are just looking at the belly, they all look fat after they eat, and they all look thin after they poo.


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## gcd312 (Aug 16, 2011)

tora said:


> You can tell how healthy a lizard really is by the thickness of base of it's tail. If you are just looking at the belly, they all look fat after they eat, and they all look thin after they poo.



That is great, because the base of his tail does seem pretty thick - it has certainly gotten thicker in the time that I've had him.


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## Lance (Sep 15, 2011)

I agree with James, it needs to be in a minumum 20 Long tank, to give a good temperature gradient across the tank. We always start ours babies in a 20 Long. Make sure all the lights and any heat pad are all on one end so that there isnt any heat for the cool side. Since it is relatively new to its habitat, leave it alone for a few days up to a week before getting hands on. Spot clean his cage and change his water, make sure you give him a nice sauna bath at least once a week, by that we put ours in a tupperware container, with a lid, holes drilled in the sides for ventilation and warm water about mid shoulder depth. The warm water will increase the humidity and help hydrate him and ensure that he has good sheds. Make sure its substrate is damp ALL the time, either misting or pouring water in it and tilling it up with your hands. All these reptiles can sense a change in the seasons and will start slowing down, if you maintain their temps and everything it will only be temporary thing and they will come back to normal behavior in a few weeks. They sense the shorting of daylight hours and barimetric pressure changes which signals them to begin hibernation or brumation. 

Hope things are going better for your tegu and he is eating again.


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## spidersandmonsters (Sep 15, 2011)

Bigger enclosure, definitely. But it also sounds like it may be going down for the winter, since he was acting fine until recently. Of course, it goes without saying that you need a much bigger enclosure ASAP regardless. You may also want to make a habit of keeping good track of the exact brand/model of all your lights, as well as how old they are. They generally should be replaced every six months or so to be safe.


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