Experienced reptile handler. New adventure

[Muhlny]

Hello all.
I'm Michael, I'm from Erie, PA. The wife and I recently adopted a tegu from a rescue in Florida. Things are going well. I have experience with a wide variety of reptiles such as bearded dragons, leopard geckos, Tokay geckos, day geckos, prehensile tailed skinks, water dragons and iguanas along with a wide range of snakes. But these guys are totally different. Still learning what ours likes food wise. I have been offering fresh meats, greens, fruits and veggies. But it is sporadically eating and spending most of it's time buried in the substrate. I made a temporary enclosure that has about 7 inches of cypress mulch and soil mixture that it has been hiding. It will come out about ever 2 to 3 days to eat. Wondering if I should be considered. Never worked with an animal that borrows so much. Should mention not sure how old it is. Probably around 2.5 feet in length from head to tail.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Walter1]

Welcome. Tegusonly is a fine source. Tegus take a few weeks to settle into their new place. Also, just starting to come out of brumation. Provide proper lighting and temps and a little food every few days and wait.

 

[Debita]

Don't forget the raw egg with crushed egg shell in a bowl - I have 2 from Rodney at Tegus Only, and I've had great results with the egg...then introduced the other foods you talked about. Congrats too! You'll get a lot of good feedback here. I just got a new baby from Rodney, and she is only 16-17", prob about 4 months old, and she just didn't want anything until I dipped my finger in the raw egg and held it up to her nose. She started licking right away. (Might want to be careful with a bigger animal doing that though!). I have an adult 2 yr old (40 inches now) from Rodney and he's not much interested in the veggies. I make sure I put some supplements into the ground turkey, and I give him thawed mice every time he eats - every 2-3 days.

 

[Walter1]

Hi Debita, The Florida WCs have access to ground-nesting birds and their nest and are accustomed well to the delicious taste of egg. An other reason they need to out of the Florida wild and a reason that eggs are a winner for reluctant tegus. Beware, frequently-fed bird eggs, like quail, generally good, domesticated chicken eggs not good.

 

[Debita]

Thanks Walter - sad news for me a little.... is there something in the chicken eggs that is different than the croc or other bird eggs that is harmful? Does this apply to cage free chicken eggs, or organic? Thanks for the info...

 

[Walter1]

Right off, I can't remember the compound in the egg but in tmregular doses it's not good, but fine as a treat.

Stapme of whole prey, liberally dusyed with calcium and a frequent squirt of fish oil is ideal. Don't sweat the veggies. Some ripe strawberries, etc. good. Too much'll give them the runs which is not good for them.

Biggest problems are overfeeding, fear of not enough veggies, not enough calcium, whole prey, and fish oil.

 

[Zyn]

Rats rats and a rat with some dust on it throw in some fish and bam happy
Tegu