I picked up an older hatchling Argentine tegu from a friend of mine back in May. Just about all the green was gone from it. He resells animals and got it from a wholesaler so I'm fairly certain that it's an import. This is an insanely tame tegu.
When I got it it had been fed crickets only. I tried for two weeks to get it to eat anything. It had only eaten 1 dubia roach and 1 cricket over the initial two weeks of owning him. I tried chicken liver, scrambled eggs, ground turkey, crickets, dubias, and even a pinkie mouse. The two times it ate it attacked the bugs aggressively but then failed to eat any more after the first.
Two weeks into owning him he escaped from a fairly secure cage. Still scratching my head on that one. I do have kids and perhaps one of them had a hand in its escape. I have two cats that love to hunt and feared he had little chance to survive them. A couple days later I smelled something dead in my garage but couldn't find the source and assumed it was him.
To my surprise I located him today. Somehow he made it into a cabinet beneath a built-in book shelf in our living room. It appears he has been in there the whole 2 months he's been missing. No food source and no water source. I heard him scratching on the door today and when I found him my wife said she had heard the same thing a couple days after he escaped. She emptied the cabinet but didn't see him. We've both heard the scratching from time to time but we assumed it was mice since this wall is also part of the garage wall.
Anyway, he looks bad. I soaked him and he drank a lot. I have brought his temps up to acceptable tegu temps. He still will not eat. I have offered crickets and scrambled eggs. The crickets did nothing for him but the eggs got his attention. He licked them a lot and nudged them around with his nose and just when I thought he was going to eat he walked away from them.
His body has completely shed except for the legs so he has this baggy skin suit on. It's actually pretty wild I've not seen anything like it. It looks like someone put a complete shed skin from a bigger lizard on him and sealed the edges. I'm keeping him in high humidity to help finish the shed.
He is walking around and seems alert.
What can I do to get this guy to eat? This is the coolest reptile we have owned (and we've had a lot) and it is our mission to help this guy pull through. Any ideas are appreciated.
When I got it it had been fed crickets only. I tried for two weeks to get it to eat anything. It had only eaten 1 dubia roach and 1 cricket over the initial two weeks of owning him. I tried chicken liver, scrambled eggs, ground turkey, crickets, dubias, and even a pinkie mouse. The two times it ate it attacked the bugs aggressively but then failed to eat any more after the first.
Two weeks into owning him he escaped from a fairly secure cage. Still scratching my head on that one. I do have kids and perhaps one of them had a hand in its escape. I have two cats that love to hunt and feared he had little chance to survive them. A couple days later I smelled something dead in my garage but couldn't find the source and assumed it was him.
To my surprise I located him today. Somehow he made it into a cabinet beneath a built-in book shelf in our living room. It appears he has been in there the whole 2 months he's been missing. No food source and no water source. I heard him scratching on the door today and when I found him my wife said she had heard the same thing a couple days after he escaped. She emptied the cabinet but didn't see him. We've both heard the scratching from time to time but we assumed it was mice since this wall is also part of the garage wall.
Anyway, he looks bad. I soaked him and he drank a lot. I have brought his temps up to acceptable tegu temps. He still will not eat. I have offered crickets and scrambled eggs. The crickets did nothing for him but the eggs got his attention. He licked them a lot and nudged them around with his nose and just when I thought he was going to eat he walked away from them.
His body has completely shed except for the legs so he has this baggy skin suit on. It's actually pretty wild I've not seen anything like it. It looks like someone put a complete shed skin from a bigger lizard on him and sealed the edges. I'm keeping him in high humidity to help finish the shed.
He is walking around and seems alert.
What can I do to get this guy to eat? This is the coolest reptile we have owned (and we've had a lot) and it is our mission to help this guy pull through. Any ideas are appreciated.
