# HELP! my tegus sheddingis weird and no one knows why..



## reptile.obsessor (Dec 14, 2011)

My tegu has all this dead skin still hanging on and is patchy all over but is also starting to scab in many places and get cuts/cracking in tail. Its sad to see  she also has stopped eating.. or she trys but isnt aggressive enough to get the food? she trys once to bite some chicken or something but then gives up and lays down. Im very worried 
what can i do?? i soak her every day as well and mist cage 3 times a day ever since this has been happening


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## james.w (Dec 14, 2011)

Can you describe the cage setup and diet? Any pics of her and the enclosure?


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## reptile.obsessor (Dec 14, 2011)

diet has been pinky mice twice a week, scrambled/hard boiled eggs, chicken breast, crickets, and occasionally cockroaches. with calcium powder when feeding. Her enclosure was 110 breeder tank but she got very aggressive in it and wouldnt eat at all so a guy told me to put her in something smaller so she isnt overwhelmed or feels secure.. so now she is in a 20 gallon long tank. she is still very young too. Ill try and get some pictures up soon. She does have uv and uvb lighting as well

heres a pic of her tank. quality of picture not so good so sorry for that. wood part is her hide/home i made and other side is large rock under heat lamp


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## james.w (Dec 14, 2011)

How long is she? What are the temps and humidity?


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## Dana C (Dec 14, 2011)

Give her baths everyday, then feed her. During this critical period baths twice a day may be order. I bath my kids daily in warm 90f water. They won't touch fruit as yet,even hidden in other stuff. Plus there is no scientific evidence that fruit helps sheds anyway. My girl loves to have the shed picked off of her. After she gets out of the bath when the shed is soft, gently pull it off. After it drys pull a bit pull more off. It won't hurt her and she will thank you for it. As I said, mine love the help and stand very still for my picking their old skin off.

Also, if you have a log or a half hollow log it gives them something to scrape against. 

Tegus don't shed like a snake. It comes off in bits and pieces as you describe. The skin cracking is a problem however. I have two layers of substrate. I put down unfertilized potting soil without vermeculite about 1-2" deep and 6-8" of cypress mulch on top. I pour warm water into the substrate every other day or so, keeping the bottom layer silghtly moist. I am sure that others may have very divergent opinions but it works for me.
The most important thing, IMHO, is the baths right away.


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## laurarfl (Dec 14, 2011)

The UV is a flourescent that is too far away and has a screen barrier. If you are going to keep the linear, make sure it is a 10.0 and put it in a kitchen fixture that can be hung inside of the cage with wire. If it were a bigger cage, you could use a MVB. Even with the calcium, without a vit D source, the calcium can't be used by the body.

The scabbing on the shed sounds like an issue beyond needing soaking. It could be a dermatitis or a vitamin deficiency. Do you supplement with any multivitamin or fruits?

Try keeping the humidity at 60-80%, putting Neopsorin ointment on the scabbing spots and tail (the substrate will prob stick so go thin), and the basking spot at 115. A small tank with a heat bulb can dry quickly. Put calcium on each meal w/o bones, and add cod liver oil for Vit A and D, plus a multivitamin twice weekly for B vitamins, etc.

If the scabbing gets worse or if the tegu continues to not eat, a vet check-up is in order to see what exactly is going on. The lack of appetite and listlessness is a big concern.


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## reptile.obsessor (Dec 14, 2011)

Thank you so much! ill try those things and let you know how it goes, Ive just become very attached so quickly and will do anything! and im not quite sure what you mean by the lighting??
on top of all this.. her legs are sometimes shaky.. is that associated with MBD? or just not eating and getting weak?

one of my good friends who knows alot about reptiles said i probably just bought a sick tegu since it came from lllreptiles at an expo and they are always traveling :/


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## james.w (Dec 14, 2011)

What type and size bulbs are you using?


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## reptile.obsessor (Dec 14, 2011)

zilla uvb 15 watt light strip
and 75 watt or 100 watt heat bulb in a 150 watt dome light
i cant check bulb yet because its hot but i know its one of those



I live in washington state so the humidity is always at around 40% but i spray her tank like 3-5 times a day raising it to around 70 or 80%


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## james.w (Dec 14, 2011)

Too high heat can cause shakiness and listlessness. MBD is also a possibility, but with the small tank I would guess the temps are too high. The humidity is probably not nearly as high as you think, the heat bulb will quickly dry out the fish tank you are keeping her in.

I would feed her more insects with calcium powder and get some ground turkey and mix in Cod Liver Oil and calcium.


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## reptile.obsessor (Dec 15, 2011)

the basking spot is at about 105 and cool end around 80. and for humidity, ive just never seen it go below 40% so its basically when its low after me spraying it a couple hours later. ill definitly boost it up though and i changed her bedding to eco earth bark stuff which is holding humidity great! although it does get stuck to her feet and legs but thats probably normal haha tomorrow ill go and get some ground turkey and that oil to put in food. also are there better calcium and vitamin powders than others? some people say one has crushed shells in it and others dont do anything and im lost when it comes to that stuff. so any recommendation would be great!


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## laurarfl (Dec 15, 2011)

My guess is that it is the calcium, diet, and UVB lighting causing the shakiness. That would also explain the loss of appetite and tiredness.

Calcium is necessary for muscle contraction/relaxation. Vitamin D is as well...they go together. Low levels of vitamin D and/or calcium lead to hypocalcemia. Muscle tremors result when the calcium balance is off in the blood plasma, and hormones are produced to leach calcium from the bones to get the calcium levels in the blood back to normal. The bones are affected which is why it is called Metabolic Bone Disease, but the actual name is secondary nutritional hyperparathyroidism.

Having the temperature high enough will keep the metabolism warm enough and fast enough to process everything, but like James said, you don't want it too high. The wattage of bulb doesn't determine much, it is the actual temperature inside the cage. I bought a digital probe at Wal-Mart for about $12. That was a couple of years ago though. Anyway, at this point, Vit D needs to be provided either through the diet via cod liver oil or in the calcium supplement, and with natural sunlight or a good UVB bulb. Everything without bones needs calcium supplement. You want a diet that is about 2:1 Ca : P ratio. Ground turkey is about 1:27-33. It's very backwards, high in phosphorous and low in calcium. So it must be supplemented with calcium. Eggs, insects, pinkies are all backwards and need to be supplemented at every feeding. Young tegus rely on the protein of bugs and meat for growth. But in the wild, their prey feeds on greens which are higher in calcium.

There is a lot of debate about calcium supplements. Right now, most people avoid oyster shell and coral calcium not because of absorption issue, but because of heavy metal contaminants. Calcium citrate is good. Liquid calcium gluconate (usually from the vet) is good. If you use powder and do not use cod liver oil, then I would use a Vit D added calcium.

Flourescent tube lights do not put UVB at a great distance. The best use of it is no more than 8" from the basking spot without any barrier between the lizard and the light. The slim Zilla lights have had issues in the past with causing skin problems and eye problems. I worked with a friend's baby beardies years ago that almost died from the lights. In my opinion, the owner of the company did not do enough to get the word out or recall his lights. He admitted they were defective. I would use a light like this (tube, no coils or compacts):

http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=182 for about $15
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=554 for about $23
http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=554 Mercury Vapor UVB and heat when you go back to the big cage

When I use a linear bulb, I buy a $10 fixture from Home Depot and take out the plain light bulb and remove the plastic cover. My husband cut wire from clothes hangers and makes hooks so that it will hang 6-8" from the basking site and the screen lid will still close. Most of my reptiles have mercury vapor bulbs now, but I have an occasional beardie or ameiva who uses a tub light.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ12ky/R-100384834/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053



Ah, I see you have a little red tegu. They are known to have shedding issues. Watch the little toes, too. 

I didn't see that you posted the temp of 105. I would try to bump it up a bit to 110-115 maybe just raise the basking platform. That way the tegu can choose to get up there for a bit of heat, or come down for something cooler. It's hard in a small tank, but can you put in a smaller something to give her that choice?


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