# My New Baby Columbian Tegu some tips please



## Nero (Apr 11, 2008)

Hi everyone I'm pretty new to this. About a month ago I purchased a baby columbian tegu. At first he was impossible to hold without him running away. Each day i spent with him I pretty much spent the whole day chasing him around my room. He never hissed or bit me. Even in his cage he would let me pet him. I set up his tank right by my bed so when he comes outta his borrow im the first thing he sees. Now I can hold him he will run but not far I let him just sit on me and he just chills out and lets me pet him without getting scared. Im really enjoying him and I know hes gonna become more mellow. My only concern is he wont eat everyday. Sometimes he does but sometimes he will skip a day I was wondering if thats normal?


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## angelrose (Apr 11, 2008)

Hi Nero and :welc to tegutalk.

I have a colombian also and she is with me 3 1/2 yrs now. when I first brought her home she ate like there was no tomorrow for first year at least.

what are you feeding him/her ?
and how small/big is your baby ?


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## Nero (Apr 11, 2008)

*Baby columbian tegu*

Well he didnt come outta his burrow today so i got him out myself and he seemed fine with it. I actually got him to eat today he eat 2 baby pinkie mice so i feel a little bit better. I spray vitamins on his pinkies and I dust his crickets as well. He seems more interested in pinkies though. I guess if he doesnt come outta his substrate I should just get him out myself and make sure he eats everyday I dont want a sick baby columbian. Hes only 2 months old right now and I'm not sure if hes a male or female.


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## angelrose (Apr 11, 2008)

Hi Nero, if he/she is in their burrow leave them alone. they will come out when they want to or when they get hungry. it's important they have a safe place they can hide and will not be disturbed. they have to see you as not being a predator. you have to make time to build trust especially with colombians. it's worth it, trust me.

at least for the first year with me my colombian started with pinkies, fuzzies, hoppers, small mice etc. and that's all she ate _the first year._


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## Nero (Apr 12, 2008)

Hey thanks a lot another concern is about feeding him in a seperate place. I've tried over and over to get him to eat outside of tank but he wont eat, but if I put his food in a dish and place it inside his tank he will eat it. How do I break him from doing that? Oh and hes only like 7 or 8 inches long from snout to tail


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## VARNYARD (Apr 12, 2008)

Nero said:


> Hey thanks a lot another concern is about feeding him in a seperate place. I've tried over and over to get him to eat outside of tank but he wont eat, but if I put his food in a dish and place it inside his tank he will eat it. How do I break him from doing that? Oh and hes only like 7 or 8 inches long from snout to tail



Welcome to the TeguTalk community, glad you could join us. 

As for your tegu, if he is eating lots of rodents, he might not eat everyday. He needs time to digest them. As for feeding him in his cage, just keep trying, once he start eating in the feeding bin he will start knowing this is the place to eat.


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## walkingundead (May 28, 2008)

Hey! I'm also fairly new to tegu's, and I've had my golden for about two monthes now. He, (and I mean it, as its still a baby) is certainly an interesting character. 

Last week, we had a pretty good relationship developing. I could put my hand in the tank, and he'd wander up, and smell me, but wouldn't make the move to try and climb up on my hand. He's in the middle of a shed right now, and when i went to put some food in today, he freaked out... Is this normal? or is our whole relationship back at square one. I'm planing on moving him to a bigger tank, as he's growing at an alarming rate, but last time I took him out to clean his substrate, he bit me. Someone else here mentioned that they had some success stuffing a sweaty shirt in the tank, and a worker at my local reptile store mentioned the same thing. Is this adviseable? It sounds a little weird to me. I've heard that handling him is the best method, but I'd rather not frighten him more... Any advice?


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## chriz (May 29, 2008)

hay dude i was 1 who posted that comment about t shirt . i.ve been getting on a lot better with my guy since i done that but he still has of days with me but think he's got a hell of a lot better now . as 4 thing t shirt give it a try nothing lost if it dont work hope all works out 4 u let us know how it goes . n post some pic b nice 2 see him


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## chriz (May 29, 2008)

n remember give it time rome wont built in a day turst takes time n im leaning that with these little guys


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## walkingundead (May 30, 2008)

So an update on my situation, lol. I moved my little wednesday monster yesterday. It took alot of coaxing to get him to relax, and he looked like he was going to chomp me a few times, but he didn't in the end. I dunno, it's kind of weird. He really didn't want to move, even though his old tank was getting too small for him. I put on some old gardening gloves first, so if he did decide to bite me it wouldn't hurt as much. Then I moved all of his things ie rocks, dish, water bowl, hide. Once that was done I spent about 35 mins hunched over his tank trying to move him using the method that bobby showed in his feeding bin vid. Last time I tried that, he chomped my thumb, which wasn't pleasant. But by the time I got a hold of him and he didn't scamper out of my hand, he had calmed down alot. For a moment it looked like he was going to bite my fingers, but I moved them away from his mouth, and he closed it, almost like he was saying "Fine, move me, but get those fingers away from my face." He certainly is much more relaxed in the new tank, and he had a nice fat fuzzy today, so he's in good spirits. I got a few pictures after we moved him, that my amazing girlfriend took, so I'll post them as soon as their loaded on my computer... Thanks for the tips guys!


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## chriz (May 30, 2008)

pics pics pics pics


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## chriz (May 30, 2008)

lol


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## Nero (Jun 5, 2008)

Man I still cant figure out how to put the pics on this thing!!


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## Mvskokee (Jun 5, 2008)

search for turtorials they have ones that tell you how to post pics


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