# Yoshi (changed his name)



## Diablo (Sep 24, 2012)

Decided to rename smaug to Yoshi because I didn't really like the name Smaug. Anyways I had a pretty bad taming experience with Yoshi today, you can read about that in the taming section. However, I was able to take some good pics of him before. He had just shed and he hasn't eaten yet which is why he is looking a little thin. I just set some food for him inside his cage, hopefully he isn't too stressed out to eat it.




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Looks like he ate what I left him in his cage, and pretty fast. I offered him some dubias, since all he had was ground turkey. He took a couple licks of the dubias just like he had with some crickets I offered the other day. But showed no interest. Do some tegus not like live animals/insects?


Here he is with his fat belly


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## KABIKANO (Sep 24, 2012)

Nice fat belly on Yoshi! Great job! I like Yoshi better than Smaug. Good choice on the name change. I don't know for a fact but every tegu got it's own preferences. I would assume food is no exception. Maybe he was just full of turkey. Mine get that way too. Try feeding roaches and crickets before turkey and see.


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## Diablo (Sep 24, 2012)

KABIKANO said:


> Nice fat belly on Yoshi! Great job! I like Yoshi better than Smaug. Good choice on the name change. I don't know for a fact but every tegu got it's own preferences. I would assume food is no exception. Maybe he was just full of turkey. Mine get that way too. Try feeding roaches and crickets before turkey and see.



Yeah Yoshi sounds a lot better I thought haha. Tomorrow I'm gonna offer him roaches before turkey and hopefully he'll react to them better than last time, wanna try and get variety in his diet. I did order a bunch of food from Hare-Today, and it should be here on Wednesday. Can't wait to offer him something new!


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## fastforward (Sep 25, 2012)

Can't go wrong with a name like Yoshi. Looks like he's doing great.


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## BatGirl1 (Sep 25, 2012)

He's really cute  and yoshi was always the character I chose in super mario kart with my kids...haha

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## james.w (Sep 25, 2012)

What substrate are you keeping him on?


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## Diablo (Sep 26, 2012)

james.w said:


> What substrate are you keeping him on?



Top soil mixed with play sand, but I'm changing it cause I think I got it wrong and it looks wrong. I'm going to either get orchid bark or the pressed bricks of the stuff from reptile stores everyone says is so expensive. Was going to do it today but I have to find a way to get him out of the enclosure and somewhere to be while I do it.

Is there anything you recommend before I go to the store? There is no PURE cypress mulch in my area, just blends.


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## Deac77 (Sep 26, 2012)

Petsmart doesn't sell the 8qt bags at your store I bought 7 for 3bucks a piece


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## james.w (Sep 26, 2012)

I used dirt for my tegus large enclosure. It looks like you have too much sand and not enough top soil. The soil should be dirt, not potting soil as well. Cypress is very hard to find and I wasn't a big fan of it when I could find it and was using it.


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## Diablo (Sep 26, 2012)

*Re: RE: Yoshi (changed his name)*



james.w said:


> I used dirt for my tegus large enclosure. It looks like you have too much sand and not enough top soil. The soil should be dirt, not potting soil as well. Cypress is very hard to find and I wasn't a big fan of it when I could find it and was using it.



I got bricks of eco earth for like 2$ a brick and it looks and feels a lot better. Also nothing for him to swallow if I feed him in a cage. I gotta start putting him in a bin and feeding him.

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## james.w (Sep 26, 2012)

Eco Earth will work, but will get pricey when it comes time for an adult enclosure.


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## Odonata (Sep 26, 2012)

The reason I had asked the question previously about your substrate was that it looked like it was predominantly sand.

I have been doing some experimentation since the volume of substrate went up considerably when I moved my tegu Shadow into his new enclosure. Previously the substrate was a mixture of EcoEarth and ReptiBark. Now I have a mixture of regular old dirt, peat, sand, and Reptibark. I add EcoEarth to the end where he mostly makes his burrows as it definitely seems to help retain the moisture in that area which is not hit by the misting system. When I mix the substrate up I add water and aim for a consistency that holds water and seems to hold the shape of the burrows well.


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## Diablo (Sep 27, 2012)

Odonata said:


> The reason I had asked the question previously about your substrate was that it looked like it was predominantly sand.
> 
> I have been doing some experimentation since the volume of substrate went up considerably when I moved my tegu Shadow into his new enclosure. Previously the substrate was a mixture of EcoEarth and ReptiBark. Now I have a mixture of regular old dirt, peat, sand, and Reptibark. I add EcoEarth to the end where he mostly makes his burrows as it definitely seems to help retain the moisture in that area which is not hit by the misting system. When I mix the substrate up I add water and aim for a consistency that holds water and seems to hold the shape of the burrows well.



Yeah for now the eco earth works great for his 4x2x2 enclosure that I'm keeping him in until he gets bigger around spring/summer time. Then I'm gonna build him a nice enclosure and do a dirt/sand/ eco earth mixture. Thinking about doing 50% dirt, 25% eco, 25% sand.
Gave Yoshi some ground duck from hare today, today. I also mixed it with some pureed free range eggs I got from them. He gobbled it up! He didn't eat the rabbit I tried giving him yesterday, but he mightve been too stressed from being moved when I changed his substrate. Here he is with his meal today, before he ran away when I pulled some paper towels out...


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## Diablo (Sep 30, 2012)

Got bored so threw together a short video of Yoshi eating

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpG-fCn3Idg&feature=youtu.be


Also took some more pics because whenever he is out I take as many as possible.

I really wish I had a different heating bulb because the red always makes the pictures bad


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## TeguBlake (Oct 11, 2012)

Great video, very cute little guy


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## elsalsa (Feb 12, 2013)

Great name! My tegu's name is also Yoshi! I think the name is perfect for a reptile!

Here is a video explaining how I tame MY Yoshi. I'll check out your other posts right after this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV8SKsYWLkw


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## Diablo (Feb 12, 2013)

Awesome vid! I wish my little guy was up and about still but he has been asleep since early November. He came up two days ago but went back down again so hopefully he is back up again. I'll have to try out that basking light taming you do, it looks like it works really well.


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## BatGirl1 (Feb 13, 2013)

Awww you're so cute  and really good advice. Yes. Time and persistance = success!  I too, am waiting for niles to wake his lazy butt from hibernation... *sigh* 

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## Diablo (Mar 25, 2013)

Yoshi is finally waking up! He hasn't been eating for the past couple days he has been up but I'm giving him time to wake up and all. I went out and got him a different bulb today but I got 150 instead of 100 and his basking spot got up to 135 at one point. He basked a lot in it but moved around cause he got too hot I think. I'm gonna return it today and get a 100 instead. Hopefully he'll start eating soon.


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## BatGirl1 (Mar 25, 2013)

Yaay that's great! Niles has been up every day too! He ate egg yolk first then chicken dipped in yolk but I had to feed with tongs, not out of dish. It seems he's drinking a lot now too which I was worried about dehydration before. His temperment also seems to be returning to his 'old self '...


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## Diablo (Mar 25, 2013)

That's awesome! I hope Yoshi starts eating more soon. He took a couple licks of egg yolk but thats about it today. I got him a better basking bulb and he is loving it. He has been basking for a while now, I think it is giving him a lot more energy


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## BatGirl1 (Mar 25, 2013)

Yes i agree that the basking makes them perk right up and get more mobile


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## Diablo (Apr 9, 2013)

So Yoshi is fully out of hibernation and is eating regularly everyday! he wasn't eating much at first but I think he was getting used to going poop for the first couple of time in six months haha, he pooped twice yesterday then today ate twice almost three times than I have ever seen him eat. He ate two f/t dusted pinkies and close to 10 super worms, I'm currently working on his 7'x28"x3' cage so I think by the time I'm done he will be a good size for it. I'm making it 28 inches wide in order to fit it through my door, I didn't want to have to deal with sealing issues if I split it half or disassemble it to get it into my house. 

Anyways, right now he is about 18" long. Handling wise he hasn't really been too curious to come out like he used to. So I haven't really been forcing it, just getting him used to my hands and voice again first. I'll post some pictures of him soon.


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## BatGirl1 (Apr 10, 2013)

Niles is still 18" but definitely getting fatter  he's eating good now...even out of his dish, where before I had to tong feed each piece. I'm so happy and glad yours is doing well too! Oh and he just had his first shed for me!!!


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