Long post trying to give as much detail as possible.
I’m a big reptile person we have over 60 animals in my home but this is my first Tegu. Pure blue line hatched on 7/4/21 so he’s six months old today. He was hatched and raised in Florida i live in northern Missouri. We’ve only had him four days the first day I fed him and he did eat and then I’ll let him be to kind of settle In. Since I’ve had him he does not leave his hide box ever i’m home all day with him so I know for a fact he had not been out at all. But if I remove his hide kind of forcing him to be out and about he will take food off tongs quite a bit of it. (more then I think would fit in him lol) Then he will bask in his hotspot for a bit like 10min tops. Before going back to his hide. If I put food in the enclosure he will not come out and eat it on his own only if I take his hide away. Forcing him to come out. He’s obviously very skittish if I move too fast he puffs up in stands up real tall. If I sit at the edge of the enclosure with my arm in it after making him come out. About one hour he will come check out my hand and as long as I move very very very slow he will let me touch him petting his back in sides puffing up somewhat randomly. he’s obviously not too happy about it at all.
My question is should I just leave him alone he is a pet and will be handled daily eventually and I want to start that relationship but am I forcing a relationship to far by forcing him to come out of hiding to eat and interact with me. Can I over stress him doing this for roughly 2hrs a day. Any experienced help would be much appreciated thank you very much.
Basking surface temp is 122°.
Ambient of hotspot is 95°
with the coolest side of the enclosure being 78° Ambient.
UVB light is about 24 inches from his basking spot and is a Arcadia 14% UVB light is about 20 inches from his basking spot and is a Arcadia 14% UVB. I went with 14% because of the distance and it’s going through a 1/2 in hole mesh screen.
I’m a big reptile person we have over 60 animals in my home but this is my first Tegu. Pure blue line hatched on 7/4/21 so he’s six months old today. He was hatched and raised in Florida i live in northern Missouri. We’ve only had him four days the first day I fed him and he did eat and then I’ll let him be to kind of settle In. Since I’ve had him he does not leave his hide box ever i’m home all day with him so I know for a fact he had not been out at all. But if I remove his hide kind of forcing him to be out and about he will take food off tongs quite a bit of it. (more then I think would fit in him lol) Then he will bask in his hotspot for a bit like 10min tops. Before going back to his hide. If I put food in the enclosure he will not come out and eat it on his own only if I take his hide away. Forcing him to come out. He’s obviously very skittish if I move too fast he puffs up in stands up real tall. If I sit at the edge of the enclosure with my arm in it after making him come out. About one hour he will come check out my hand and as long as I move very very very slow he will let me touch him petting his back in sides puffing up somewhat randomly. he’s obviously not too happy about it at all.
My question is should I just leave him alone he is a pet and will be handled daily eventually and I want to start that relationship but am I forcing a relationship to far by forcing him to come out of hiding to eat and interact with me. Can I over stress him doing this for roughly 2hrs a day. Any experienced help would be much appreciated thank you very much.
Basking surface temp is 122°.
Ambient of hotspot is 95°
with the coolest side of the enclosure being 78° Ambient.
UVB light is about 24 inches from his basking spot and is a Arcadia 14% UVB light is about 20 inches from his basking spot and is a Arcadia 14% UVB. I went with 14% because of the distance and it’s going through a 1/2 in hole mesh screen.
