RaptorDude
New Member
- Messages
- 12
- Location
- Madison, WI
So like the title says, it's my first time owning and caring for a tegu. In all truth, I've never personally owned a reptile before, but I spent two years planning, researching, talking to caretakers, going to expos, gathering and setting up equipment. Got a better job. Moved to a bigger place. In all, it hasn't been an impulse purchase.
And now I have my Argentine black and white tegu. Her name is Moxxi and she's roughly three months old. I've only had her four days now. She was sold to me by a breeder I networked with at a reptile convention who said he'd been doing this for 28 years; although he said I should be feeding her Pedigree beef/liver/chicken combo? Which seemed odd to me since I'd rather be feeding her higher quality food and raw meats.
Of course, now that I've jumped in, I'm terrified that I'm doing this or that wrong. I already love her to death and any little thing is making me sick with worry. I believe all I really need is a little reassurance or advice so I know I'm on the right track. And I'd like to be active here, too. Attached is a picture of her and her enclosure. I'm a terrible do-it-yourself person, but money isn't an issue to have an experienced enclosure builder make her a larger one when the time comes.
I'd like to document my first four days of experience.
Day One
She had burrowed herself into her hide the night before (she was given to me late the night before). She hadn't come out that morning, so I left her some food. She did emerge later that afternoon. I saw her a bit when I came home and she was naturally wary and flighty. I talked to her while cleaning things up in her cage, took her bowls out to clean, and she was burrowed back in by the time I returned.
Day Two
The best day. Roommates let me know she was out in the afternoon again, basking and mostly active. When I came home, she was still there. I once again evened out her bedding, did some cleaning, prettied her bowls, and even touched her tail a bit. I managed to directly feed her some ground turkey before she retired into her makeshift burrow about a half hour later. My heart soared!
Day Three
She was still hiding in the morning. Roommate reported she was out in the afternoon again, but she was burrowed away by the time I got home and that was that.
Day Four (today)
I once again return home from work to find that she's already hidden away. It appears she's been out by the looks of her dirtied water bowl, but I believe she's already done for the night. I've left some raw ground turkey in her bowl.
Day five will be my first full day off work and hopefully some real progress can be made. I'd like to attempt some touching/handling, but of course I'll let her decide the pace of that.
Questions / Concerns
1. Is this a normal sleep cycle? I've made it a point to turn her sun bulb on at 8 am and switch to a night (red) bulb at around 7-9 pm. But she never seems to be up in the morning and spends a large amount of time in her hide. I'm dying to socialize with her, even in the smallest and most patient of ways, but I'm hardly seeing her in the first week and I typically work 11 am to 7 pm shifts.
2. Temps. The solar light I was recommended seems to be working well. The hot side can get to around 90-95 degrees and when I switch to the red bulb, it goes down to about 85 degrees. With nothing on, the cage is naturally at about 75 degrees. Her basking spot is about 100+ degrees, but I'm touching a probe to it (don't have a temp gun). I'd like to say how warm her hide is on the other side, but I've had no real chance to even check yet since she's practically always in it. Do I even need the red bulb on at night?
3. The seemingly low humidity bothers me. On average, it's usually around 50% with the bulbs on. With them off, it rises to 60-70%. I mist frequently (2-3 times a day) and it raises the humidity nicely, but then it goes right back down in about five minutes. I'm thinking of purchasing a Reptifogger machine so I can just put this to rest and not have to worry so much about it.
4. Raw meat. This might be an incredibly dumb question, but I've never had to handle raw meat before for any reason. Should I be fridge thawing the meat to feed her, freezing the rest, and repeating this cycle? I know I can't leave it in the refrigerator for days on end. Just need some reassurance on this and I'm willing to sound stupid on my end for her sake, haha.
Sorry for writing so much and I hope that somebody takes the time to read this over. I'm just ever so concerned for her well being; whether she's comfortable and adjusting or not. It's even been affecting my sleep. I truly want the best for this beautiful girl. I know she needs time to be a lizard doing lizard things as she gets used to being here, but... well, I still worry immensely. I feel like a first time parent having adopted a kid, haha.
And now I have my Argentine black and white tegu. Her name is Moxxi and she's roughly three months old. I've only had her four days now. She was sold to me by a breeder I networked with at a reptile convention who said he'd been doing this for 28 years; although he said I should be feeding her Pedigree beef/liver/chicken combo? Which seemed odd to me since I'd rather be feeding her higher quality food and raw meats.
Of course, now that I've jumped in, I'm terrified that I'm doing this or that wrong. I already love her to death and any little thing is making me sick with worry. I believe all I really need is a little reassurance or advice so I know I'm on the right track. And I'd like to be active here, too. Attached is a picture of her and her enclosure. I'm a terrible do-it-yourself person, but money isn't an issue to have an experienced enclosure builder make her a larger one when the time comes.
I'd like to document my first four days of experience.
Day One
She had burrowed herself into her hide the night before (she was given to me late the night before). She hadn't come out that morning, so I left her some food. She did emerge later that afternoon. I saw her a bit when I came home and she was naturally wary and flighty. I talked to her while cleaning things up in her cage, took her bowls out to clean, and she was burrowed back in by the time I returned.
Day Two
The best day. Roommates let me know she was out in the afternoon again, basking and mostly active. When I came home, she was still there. I once again evened out her bedding, did some cleaning, prettied her bowls, and even touched her tail a bit. I managed to directly feed her some ground turkey before she retired into her makeshift burrow about a half hour later. My heart soared!
Day Three
She was still hiding in the morning. Roommate reported she was out in the afternoon again, but she was burrowed away by the time I got home and that was that.
Day Four (today)
I once again return home from work to find that she's already hidden away. It appears she's been out by the looks of her dirtied water bowl, but I believe she's already done for the night. I've left some raw ground turkey in her bowl.
Day five will be my first full day off work and hopefully some real progress can be made. I'd like to attempt some touching/handling, but of course I'll let her decide the pace of that.
Questions / Concerns
1. Is this a normal sleep cycle? I've made it a point to turn her sun bulb on at 8 am and switch to a night (red) bulb at around 7-9 pm. But she never seems to be up in the morning and spends a large amount of time in her hide. I'm dying to socialize with her, even in the smallest and most patient of ways, but I'm hardly seeing her in the first week and I typically work 11 am to 7 pm shifts.
2. Temps. The solar light I was recommended seems to be working well. The hot side can get to around 90-95 degrees and when I switch to the red bulb, it goes down to about 85 degrees. With nothing on, the cage is naturally at about 75 degrees. Her basking spot is about 100+ degrees, but I'm touching a probe to it (don't have a temp gun). I'd like to say how warm her hide is on the other side, but I've had no real chance to even check yet since she's practically always in it. Do I even need the red bulb on at night?
3. The seemingly low humidity bothers me. On average, it's usually around 50% with the bulbs on. With them off, it rises to 60-70%. I mist frequently (2-3 times a day) and it raises the humidity nicely, but then it goes right back down in about five minutes. I'm thinking of purchasing a Reptifogger machine so I can just put this to rest and not have to worry so much about it.
4. Raw meat. This might be an incredibly dumb question, but I've never had to handle raw meat before for any reason. Should I be fridge thawing the meat to feed her, freezing the rest, and repeating this cycle? I know I can't leave it in the refrigerator for days on end. Just need some reassurance on this and I'm willing to sound stupid on my end for her sake, haha.
Sorry for writing so much and I hope that somebody takes the time to read this over. I'm just ever so concerned for her well being; whether she's comfortable and adjusting or not. It's even been affecting my sleep. I truly want the best for this beautiful girl. I know she needs time to be a lizard doing lizard things as she gets used to being here, but... well, I still worry immensely. I feel like a first time parent having adopted a kid, haha.
. I put my portions of raw meat in plastic bags, one days portion per bag. SInce you have a baby, you can use ice cube trays to make the portions. I set all of them in the freezer and on feeding days just thaw it in room temp water. I want to add that since your feeding raw meats, look up the san diego zoo diet, closest recipe to a whole animal out there. Though I definetly would not recommend it, there was a group of ackie monitors raised and bred completely on this diet alone. 
