A bunch of questions

[Aardbark]

I have a few questions reguarding Argintine B&W tegus.

Heating: It some times gets pretty cold in my appartment, 55-60. Would this be bad for the tegu? I would provide a nice bulb and a heat rock, but the tegu would be in my room, and Id turn the light off at night so in the winter it gets kinda cold sometimes.

Hybernation: When does a tegu start and end its hybernation, what months? And when he is hybernating, does that mean I leave him alone and cant handle him? Like, if its december and Im feeling lonely, I cant pet my tegu? Do they sleep for several months straight, or do they occasionaly come out?

Feeding: How often do I feed him, and what ammounts? As a baby and an adult. And is there a best time of day to feed, or some time or way that they perfer to feed at?

Cleaning: How often should I clean his cage, and is there a good safe product to clean with?

Other pets: I have a cat, do cats and tegus get along? He is a very lazy and calm cat. I wouldnt let a baby tegu and cat interact, but is it ok when the tegu gets bigger? Id like to let them wander around the appartment.

I want to make some kind of checklist, that way Im nice and prepaired for my new baby tegu. I'll make the list here, please feel free to make sugjestions, or tell me what Im missing.

Cage: 50 gallon fish tank (to start with)
Bedding: Cyprus
Hide: (how big?)
Food:Crickets, cooked eggs, pinky mice, ground turkey, various fruits and vegitibles (the good ones on the food list here)
Water bowl: Big enough to soak in
Vitamin: Zoo-Med Repti Calcium without D3
Bulb: MegaRay MVB
Heat Rock: (what is a good temprature?)

What am I missing?


Lastly, is there a good step by step tegu guide I can buy or find online? Im not an idiot, but Ive never owned a reptile before so I want to be sure I have everything covered. Espesualy when it comes to making the tegus home the best possible.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. And dubble thanks to any advice I recieve. I want my future tegu to be as happy and healthy as possible.

 

[reptastic]

Heating: DO NOT USE A HEAT ROCK!!!! They can seriously burn yhour tegu, a basking lamp is all you1 need, if that isnt enough you can use a ceramic heat lamp to get the correct temps
, best tep is 105-
115 during the day(basking) and 80-87 ambient a night they should be fine as long as it dosnt go below 60 to often

hibernation: a tegu can and some will hibernate up to 7 mos. It usualy starts around august and ends in may, y tegus hibernated from septeber to febuary, do not disturb them during this time, just ake sure you keep the humidity up and fresh water availible
, some will occaionally come out and take a drink and go bk down

feeding: growing tegus needs to be fed all they can eat at least once a day everyday, older tegus should be fed every other day or so

other pets: it really depends on the animals but they should never be out of your vision, i never had problems with my larger tegus and my dogs but that was a case were they were actually raised together and were use to each other, but interactions were still carefully supervised when they were adults

sadly there are no books on tegus, they make small references to them in books on monitors but its not enough to go by, i think were all waiting on bobby hill to write that book lol, but you have plenty of references and highly experienced owners right here to get your info from and were happy to answer any question

 

[chelvis]

I have a few questions reguarding Argintine B&W tegus.

Heating: It some times gets pretty cold in my appartment, 55-60. Would this be bad for the tegu? I would provide a nice bulb and a heat rock, but the tegu would be in my room, and Id turn the light off at night so in the winter it gets kinda cold sometimes.
- Like Reptaic said NO HWAT ROCKS!!!! I wish they would just ban the sale of these already, too many animals being burned. A 100wt MVB Mega ray would work for a 55 gallon, just watch the temps closly. If you are worried about night temp a cremativ heater will work, most of the time providing a think enough layer of bedding is all a little tegu needs.

Hybernation: When does a tegu start and end its hybernation, what months? And when he is hybernating, does that mean I leave him alone and cant handle him? Like, if its december and Im feeling lonely, I cant pet my tegu? Do they sleep for several months straight, or do they occasionaly come out?
- Some go down sooner than others, but september/october to febuary/march is not unsual. You should never dig up your tegu. This could brake the trust you are starting to build, you also do not want to upset their natural hibernation process. Best let sleeping tegus lie.

Feeding: How often do I feed him, and what ammounts? As a baby and an adult. And is there a best time of day to feed, or some time or way that they perfer to feed at?
- Hatchlings and babies need as much food as you can give them. I would stay away form eggs for the first few months they can mess with Ca absorbtion, they do not seem to mess to much with older animals. I use to feed my baby tegus twice a day, once when they got up and once when i got home. I would give them crickets, ground turkey, super worms, earth worms, roaches, whatever they could chow down on. A juvi should be fed once a day still as much as they will eat. An adult will vary, some people do it every other day other once a week. I depends on the animal and thier wieght.

Cleaning: How often should I clean his cage, and is there a good safe product to clean with?
- Spot clean daily, this will keep the smell down and the enclosure clean. I completly remove all beding only ever six months but that is becuase removing 18 cubic feet of bedding is alot of work and expensive.

Other pets: I have a cat, do cats and tegus get along? He is a very lazy and calm cat. I wouldnt let a baby tegu and cat interact, but is it ok when the tegu gets bigger? Id like to let them wander around the appartment.
- My older tegu has no problem curling up with me and the dogs, just sleeps right along side them. One dog has been raised along a varitiy of animals so this is nothing new to them and the pup met Bosco his first day so its gotten use to him as well. Still the tegus are never out without me watching.

I want to make some kind of checklist, that way Im nice and prepaired for my new baby tegu. I'll make the list here, please feel free to make sugjestions, or tell me what Im missing.

Cage: 50 gallon fish tank (to start with) - Will be a good first cage, be perpared to have a larger cage ready. If a tegu does not hibernate its first winter it can and often will reach 3 feet by spring.
Bedding: Cyprus
Hide: (how big?) - This will depend on the size of the tegu. It needs to be large enough to allow for them to completly hide themselves but also not too large to make the feel exposed. I found alot of the large hides at petco are fine for a hatchling, but as they get older a cat litter pan with a hole in the side flipped upside down worked better. Now i have to use rubbermaids with holes in the side to make a hide.
Food:Crickets, cooked eggs, pinky mice, ground turkey, various fruits and vegitibles (the good ones on the food list here) - I would avoid egg for a bit. Add as many inscets as you can at this age and make sure to dust everything.
Water bowl: Big enough to soak in
Vitamin: Zoo-Med Repti Calcium without D3
Bulb: MegaRay MVB
Heat Rock: (what is a good temprature?) - NO NO NO!!!

What am I missing?
- Thermometer could be handly, one of the infered ones work better.


Lastly, is there a good step by step tegu guide I can buy or find online? Im not an idiot, but Ive never owned a reptile before so I want to be sure I have everything covered. Espesualy when it comes to making the tegus home the best possible.

- i don't know where i went but there is a good care sheet that bobby has writen that explains alot about tegus and their care.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading. And dubble thanks to any advice I recieve. I want my future tegu to be as happy and healthy as possible

Read more: http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=8026#ixzz1KMAuvtNB

 

[Aardbark]

Thank you everyone for your replies!