adult red questions...

[jwyo]

Hi all, this is my first post, and just wanted to say thanks in advance for any info.

I recently acquired a 3' male red, and had a few questions. First he will not come out of his hide. I have seen him out a few quick times, but never for very long. He is "lethargic" compared to my other lizards, but have read that larger tegus become lazy. I am sure he is still acclimating to a degree. I have had him for 8 days now. He has eaten, but very little, and his food response was not very eager. Health wise he seems to be pretty good, nice thick tail, full mid-section, nice jowls. He is missing two half toes, and has one toe with a constricting shed that needs removed. Not overly concerned at this point.

His enclosure specs are:
6x3x3.5
basking 111
cool side low 80's
12" soil and leaf litter substrate
2 huge fieldstone hides, one at each end
UVB at the basking spot
humidity 70-80 constant

Just wanted to post and see if this all seems ok, not really a newbie but was just becoming a bit concerned about his lack of energy, and him not coming out of his hot hide. I am sure I am just eager for him to be comforatable.

One quick last question. I have the viv. he is in, in a stack type setting with my uro tank beneath his. The uros hot side is under the reds hot side hide. Do you think that the heat from the uros tank could be warming the hot hide up to were he feels he does no need to leave the hide for heat?

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Welcome to the site and congrats on the new tegu.

The stuck shed on his toe should be removed as soon as possible before he loses it. It's not comfortable for them at all since it's cutting off circulation. He has probably lost the other two toes because of the same issue and his cool side should be lower than 80*.

It's nothing for a tegu young or old to sleep and lounge around barely doing anything at all for days at time. They wake up, come out bask and eat when they need to. As long as he's at a healthy weight with plenty of fat reserves it's not something to worry about unless that changes. His environment is still new, it may take him more time to come around.

On another note depending on how old he is and where he came from, he may be settling down to hibernate.

As for the heat, there's only one way to find out if the Uros tank is affecting the heat in his tank and that's to measure it. But either way that wouldn't prevent him from coming out of it. If anything he would try and find a cooler spot to hang out when needed.

Also what are you using to measure temps?
Does he have a basking gradient under his light or is it just one spot at 111*? Some tegus prefer cooler spots for basking. If you don't have a platform that allows a range of temps it's something you'll have to tweak to find out what he prefers.

 

[jwyo]

Welcome to the site and congrats on the new tegu.

The stuck shed on his toe should be removed as soon as possible before he loses it. It's not comfortable for them at all since it's cutting off circulation. He has probably lost the other two toes because of the same issue and his cool side should be lower than 80*.

It's nothing for a tegu young or old to sleep and lounge around barely doing anything at all for days at time. They wake up, come out bask and eat when they need to. As long as he's at a healthy weight with plenty of fat reserves it's not something to worry about unless that changes. His environment is still new, it may take him more time to come around.

On another note depending on how old he is and where he came from, he may be settling down to hibernate.

As for the heat, there's only one way to find out if the Uros tank is affecting the heat in his tank and that's to measure it. But either way that wouldn't prevent him from coming out of it. If anything he would try and find a cooler spot to hang out when needed.

Also what are you using to measure temps?
Does he have a basking gradient under his light or is it just one spot at 111*? Some tegus prefer cooler spots for basking. If you don't have a platform that allows a range of temps it's something you'll have to tweak to find out what he prefers.

Yeah been working with cooling the cool side down, need to play with it some more. Basking spot is measured with temp gun, all other temps are with digital probes. His gradient is good at the hot side I believe, it is a 2'x3' flagstone hide with UVB and basking above that spills onto the ground below. I agree that if the uros tank heated it up that much he would leave the hide. He seems to be a bit better today, got him out for a bath, and he ate a decent meal. Strawberries and ground turkey mix.
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