Hello. My name is Melanie and I am a reptile addict. (Insert room of people saying "Hello, Melanie").
I'm a new tegu owner in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and I figured I should stop in and learn more about my newest charge. I have had reptiles for about a decade now - mostly blue tongue skinks, but also fat tail geckos, monkey tail skinks, california kingsnakes, a dumeril's boa, and two new chinese water skinks. I've also had the obligitory ball pythons, leopard geckos, cresties, and so on, and I've spent years working in the community.
Anyway, the man of the hour is my Columbian Tegu, currently called Scaley Puppy. He's about 3 years old and came to me because his previous roommate decided to get hormonal, and Scaley needed a tank all to himself. His owners didn't have space for another large tank and so he ended up with me. I've had him now for about 6 months and while we're getting along quite well (I'm very lucky in that he's really well tempered already), I'm still not nearly as comfortable with him as I'd like to be.
Scaley is about 3' long and currently lives in a 6'x3'x3' bio-active enclosure, which is the same size he used to share, but still seems small to me. When I move the plan is for him to have at least half a room as a walk-in enclosure (when I decided to take him I decided I would give him the best life I can, even if he ended up being a demon-beast). Ideally I'd like him to be able to free-roam a bit in the house, and go for walks/adventures outside (for the few warms days we get in Winterpeg at least). For now we're still working on trusting each other, so that's all a ways off (if it even happens, if not, tis all good).
I'm here on this forum looking for diet tips (again, I got lucky - Scaley has been willing to try lots of new foods so far), handling tips (he is not good with being held, and I'm struggling to find a decent harness to fit him), training tips (it would be great if he'd go back into his enclosure on cue so I don't have to upset him by picking him up - any other training would just be a bonus), and other general information.
But I could literally talk about him for pages upon pages, so for now I'll just end by saying hello to all you tegu people, and of course adding some photos of Scaley.
Many thanks,
Melanie
Day 1:
First hangouts together:
Basking (note that all the grass from Day 1 was immediately killed):
Loves the tarp (the fail-harness not so much):
So majestic:
Current photo (he loves this "blanket" too):
I'm a new tegu owner in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and I figured I should stop in and learn more about my newest charge. I have had reptiles for about a decade now - mostly blue tongue skinks, but also fat tail geckos, monkey tail skinks, california kingsnakes, a dumeril's boa, and two new chinese water skinks. I've also had the obligitory ball pythons, leopard geckos, cresties, and so on, and I've spent years working in the community.
Anyway, the man of the hour is my Columbian Tegu, currently called Scaley Puppy. He's about 3 years old and came to me because his previous roommate decided to get hormonal, and Scaley needed a tank all to himself. His owners didn't have space for another large tank and so he ended up with me. I've had him now for about 6 months and while we're getting along quite well (I'm very lucky in that he's really well tempered already), I'm still not nearly as comfortable with him as I'd like to be.
Scaley is about 3' long and currently lives in a 6'x3'x3' bio-active enclosure, which is the same size he used to share, but still seems small to me. When I move the plan is for him to have at least half a room as a walk-in enclosure (when I decided to take him I decided I would give him the best life I can, even if he ended up being a demon-beast). Ideally I'd like him to be able to free-roam a bit in the house, and go for walks/adventures outside (for the few warms days we get in Winterpeg at least). For now we're still working on trusting each other, so that's all a ways off (if it even happens, if not, tis all good).
I'm here on this forum looking for diet tips (again, I got lucky - Scaley has been willing to try lots of new foods so far), handling tips (he is not good with being held, and I'm struggling to find a decent harness to fit him), training tips (it would be great if he'd go back into his enclosure on cue so I don't have to upset him by picking him up - any other training would just be a bonus), and other general information.
But I could literally talk about him for pages upon pages, so for now I'll just end by saying hello to all you tegu people, and of course adding some photos of Scaley.
Many thanks,
Melanie
Day 1:
First hangouts together:
Basking (note that all the grass from Day 1 was immediately killed):
Loves the tarp (the fail-harness not so much):
So majestic:
Current photo (he loves this "blanket" too):
