A day for my aa....

[Steven.]

Hey guys. I've had prime for a little more than three weeks now and I'm starting to see why these guys are amazing pets. He's gotten a lot better than he use to be... It still a problem to get him out of his cage but it's getting better.. He absolutely HATES water..lol.. In his bath he'll try to escape the bath tub with or without water.. He tries to run up the sides, hopefully one day he'll understand that no matter how much he tries, he can't get out. But i use his bath time to my advantage by having my hand in there. I've done this for 3 days and what a HUGE difference... He knows my hand is a safe place. Now i put my hand in there and no matter where he is in the tub, he walks over to my hand to get on... Its by far the most effective trust excerise i've used... To get him out of his enclosure i turn on the mister.. When he starts to look for a hiding spot, i put my hand in front of him and he climbs on.. Its the only way he actually gets on my hand... I could touch him anytime i want but when it comes to picking him up, thats the easiest way.. After i got him out he kinda just drops himself in my hand.. Belly down, legs back.. He's never fisty at all when i hold him.. Then he goes into his feeding cage outside by the pool area and gets his food in a dish.. He spends most of the day outside getting his uva/uvb from the fl sun.. Its usually around 100 degrees in the cage and 115-130 on his slate plate.. The substrate is cypress/soil mix and I dump a mug of water on it everyday and mix up.. Temps are 80-90 degrees under the soil... Around 5-6pm i put my hand in there and he climbs on, again belly down, legs back, and i bring him to his cage in my room. Lights go on and he spends almost an 1-2 hours on or around his basking spot then lights go off at 9 and he goes to bed... He's slowed down a lot the last week or so.. He eats every 3-4 days now instead of every day, never where his belly is nice and round anymore but more of couple bites of whatever fruit and meat there is and then he's done for the day... He also cat naps throughout the day, he doesn't hide at all when he naps though, he moves around his hot side of his cage for those couple of hours he's in his cage and lays down here and there... I can always rub him and pet anytime, and he shows no signs of "leave me alone"... Man is he awesome... Also if anyone has any pictures of AA yearlings please do share!!! I would love to see what he might look like...

ANY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS/CONCERNS ARE ALWAYS WELCOMED..

-This is his outside/feeding cage

-LOL WOW.. This is how he use to look after his meals...

-CAT NAP PIC!!!!..

I like to angle his light so he gets different levels of heat temps...

-And this is PRIME!!!!

Thank you all, and please feel free to ask me anything and everything....

 

[james.w]

So you feed in a cage with substrate?? Why cause the stress when one of the main reason for a feeding bin is to eliminate the chance of ingesting substrate while eating.

 

[Steven.]

With his feeding dish... Its a huge reptile plate.. When he gets in it to eat he can actually walk around it.. and he doesn't shake his food so there's not really a mess for me to clean up.. I wanted to make sure that could ingest any substrate when i was looking for plate...

 

[HPIZZLE]

that still makes no sense to me...id just get a rubbermaid to feed him in and let him chill in that other outdoor enclosure during the day.

awesome AA!!

 

[james.w]

that still makes no sense to me...id just get a rubbermaid to feed him in and let him chill in that other outdoor enclosure during the day.

awesome AA!!

Yep.

 

[Steven.]

interesting.... maybe i should go back to feeding him in the tub before i put him outside...

 

[james.w]

What is your reasoning for feeding in a place other than the cage?

 

[Steven.]

And forgive me if im wrong but i thought the reason your suppose to feed outside the enclosure is to reduce cage aggression. I don't understand how substrate could be swallowed if he's eating on a gaint plate. Like i said he's not a messy eater at all. So there is no mess or food anywhere other than in his plate...

---

I've always feed my pets in a bowl or a plate, that way when they see it, they know its feeding time..

 

[james.w]

I believe the 2 main reasons for feeding in a tub are to reduce the chance of ingesting substrate and to reduce cage aggression. This is why I asked what your reasoning was, if you feel it will help with cage aggression, by all means do it. I feed all of my herps in their enclosure and haven't had any problems with aggression. Now this raises the question, how will you handle cage aggression in the feeding cage considering it is more less just another cage??

 

[Steven.]

This is why i feed in the plate. I've feed him in the plate from the time i got him. I first started in his enclosure upstairs.. Then i started to feed him in the bath tub rite before his bath.. And now i feed him in his outside cage. All feeding in the same dish.I also tested this by putting him on the floor with the dish across the room. And he came running looking for food. Its the same way we trained our blackthroat monitor. We used a white plate for his food and no matter where that plate was, he found it looking for food... Prime has shown no aggression toward feeding. If i put his food in anything other than his dish It takes him a while to actually go to it...

 

[james.w]

Your reasoning and explanation is somewhat confusing, but to each his own.

 

[Steven.]

Can you explain cage aggression please?... Maybe i don't fully understand it...

 

[james.w]

Cage aggression would be when the reptile reacts aggressively, or as if it is getting fed whenever you enter/open the cage. I feel this can be prevented by going in the cage for reasons other than to just feed.

 

[TeguBuzz]

I feed all my gu's in their enclosures and I haven't had problems with cage aggression. I use a coco husk based substrate, so in the unlikely event that they do consume some of the substrate, it passes through their system. Tegus are smart animals, I've seen Bruce flick substrate out of his mouth after he'd already swallowed whatever he was eating. That way they know when they're out, it's for handling and roaming purposes only.

 

[new2tegus]

I will say this, feeding in the cage is much better, well in my opinion. My tegu didn't seem to take to eating out of his cage, he would try to get out of the tub however he could. He has never had any cage aggression whatsoever, in fact even after my roaming incident he will still come over and sleep on my hand when I put it in there. I hope he settles down after his hibernation. I love him so much . If they take to it, great if not, do what stresses your tegu the least, that way during those first few months or however long it takes for yours to settle down around you, then try and feed outside. He would often roam around,and I'd leave the mice on the door, and out on the floor, and throughout his travels he would eat. Goodluck and I hope this helps.

P.S. On a side note....Steven lol, he will get out of the tub, just look at the size of some of them, mine is about 24in long, and he can crest the top of the tub, I think after about 4 or 5 more inches, he's going to get out whether I want him to or not lol. Although staying in the tub he doesn't mind.

 

[Steven.]

Well today i feed him before i took him out of his inside enclosure. There was some difference in handling... He eat rite away and was much easier to pick up and bring outside... As soon as he was out there... He layer on the slate plate and slept... I guess its because he's more comfortable in his cage than he is everywhere else... GOOD ADVICE GUYS....

 

[james.w]

Glad it worked out. And like said he will one day be able to climb out of the tub.

 

[spark678]

yeah be careful about that I was thinking the same. maybe put some wire mesh on top

 

[Steven.]

Well hopefully by the time he can climb out.... He'll be well tamed and use to the water....