HEY EVERYONE! NEW HERE WITH NEW TEGU!

[chasehelschien]

Hey guys, so I'm new to this forum and new to having reptiles. 17 years old, live in South Florida. I was thinking about pets and visited Ben Siegel Reptiles near where I live, and I decided to get a pet tegu! It's a baby black and white x red tegu hybrid. I'll post some pictures later. I also have some questions. Anyways this site is awesome :-D and I'm very happy with my new tegu!

Chase

 

[Lexi]

welcome !! lets see some pics of the baby!

 

[chasehelschien]

alright here we go

 

[Lexi]

oh its freakin adorable!! what are you keeping it in?

 

[chasehelschien]

right now hes about 12 inches long and in a 20 gallon tank (i know ill have to be gettin a bigger tank soon :-D)

also i had some questions

1. hes really calm and relaxed and curious once i get him out of his cage, but i always have a hard time getting him out, he acts very scared and runs away from me as quickly as he can when im reachin to get him out, and the second hes out of his cage he becomes completely calm and relaxed, any ideas why this is happening and if it will get better?

2. and secondly ive had him for a couple weeks now and ive been feeding him canned tegu food, sliced turkey, and eggs (all with calcium sprinkled on) and he likes all those, but he hasnt wanted to eat any fruits that ive offered him yet... will this diet be okay for him or do i need to start doing the crickets, worms, mice etc. ?

 

[Lexi]

Do you Grab him when you try to get him out of the cage? When trying to take him out..you should place your hand in there and let him come check you out, without grabbing at him.
You shouldnt feed canned tegu food! Turkey,chicken,Beef,Beef Heart, Hardboiled eggs are all great foods, Somtimes as babies they wont take fruits..it might take awhile to get him to eat them..try mixing the fruits with his turkey or what your feeding that day..You should have him on crickets and mealworms, even some pinkies.. But i would keep him off the canned foods.

 

[chasehelschien]

thanks for the advice! just wondering... whats bad about the canned food?

 

[Lexi]

Its said to lead to liver problems in tegus and montiors. I personly would feed any reptile anything canned.
He is a beautiful little guy tho!! I have a RedxBlue Hybrid...Hybrids have awesome colorations and patterns

 

[chasehelschien]

oooh wow thanks for lettin me know!!! and thanks for the complements!

 

[PuffDragon]

Great looking tegu. Very unique. Stick with fresh foods and your good to go.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[jor71]

yeah that one is a keeper. I was at Ben's last weekend and was going to buy one of them, but need to wait before I get another one!

You can pick up some frozen pinkies, mealworms and crickets from Ben. I just picked up 10 fuzzies for my little guy and it was under 10 bucks.

I mix the fruit with the ground turkey and he eats them up.

BTW, welcome to TeguTalk

 

[chasehelschien]

thanks every1!

 

[COWHER]

I know its a little late but....... WELCOME!!!

 

[tupifan]

welcome great patern on him

 

[VARNYARD]

Welcome to the TeguTalk community, glad you could join us!!

And I agree with these guys, great looking tegu!!

 

[chasehelschien]

thankseveryone... hes starting to go into hibernation now but i wanna play with him! haha guess ill just have to wait