How long is too long?

[Zilch]

Hey guys and gals. I got my second tegu (a red) from Bobby last Tuesday, the two seem to get along fine, they bask and sleep together and I've never seen them have any sort of spat. My black and white, whom I've had a week longer than the red eats like a pig, and has since the second day I've had him, however the red is still refusing food. I've seen him nibble a little piece of turkey/beef liver mix, he completely snubs mice and opts to hide under his plate in the feeding bin rather than eat.

I realize these guys can go a long time without food and that some are slowing down for hibernation, but both of my guys still seem very active and seem to search the cage for food daily. I was just curious as to whether there are any suggestions for inspiring an appetite in the little guy, or whether I just need to have more patience and keep trying and whether going a week without eating more than a nibble is cause for concern.

 

[Zilch]

Anyone? I even tried giving him eggs today... still no real interest =/

 

[Meg90]

Have you posted any pictures??

Cleo is still a bit picky as far as I am concerned. She doesn't eat nearly as much as I would LIKE her too, but she does eat.

I would say, remove some of the variables. Maybe the red doesn't like ONE of those meats. Try feeding straight turkey, or straight beef liver. Find out which meat it prefers.

You can also try fish (tilapia, shrimp) raw chicken breast, live insects-

Also, I think you will have GREAT results with soft boiled egg--so the yolk is still a bit runny. Not real firm--Cleo went gaga for it. She was lapping it up like crazy.

 

[Herplings]

I might be a little concerned.

The activeness you are seeing might be stress related. I know Tegus co-habituate well, but there are exceptions.
I would try separating them for a few days, or maybe a few weeks and see what happens.

As far as feeding goes, you might want to ask Bob what he was feeding the Red before it was sent, and how well it was eating. He should be able to give you this info, I don't think he had many red clutches this year from what I read in another post.

Good Luck....

 

[Zilch]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, as for pics:

Most the time it's the red on top

I've tried turkey, turkey/beef liver, eggs, dubia roaches, pinky mice, and fuzzy mice so far, the little guy is a lot more flighty than the black and white, however last night I had a lot of luck with him just wandering around and crawling on me, seems like he's not as worried about me anymore so I'm hoping that's an indication of reduced stress. Also he doesn't completely avoid food... he takes a small bite and then snubs the rest, his tail is still fat so I was kind of hoping it was just stubbornness.

I'd considered that maybe the red was stressed by the cohabitation, but they're fed separately in opaque bins so they can't even see each other at feeding time. I was hoping to avoid separating them, as I don't have another enclosure available at the moment, but the thought had crossed my mind at least until their sizes are a bit closer. Bobby told me they'd be fine together and the size difference wasn't too large, but I'm starting to wonder.

Thanks for the suggestions again though guys, and if anyone else has anything for me I'd love to hear it, this is my first time cohabitating tegus so if anyone has any experience with it that can help me I'm all ears =/

 

[Meg90]

I say split them up. When an animal is not eating, and they are not living by themselves, and the diet is correct, and the husbandry is correct, its usually the other animal.

The littler one is obviously MUCH smaller than his cage mate. He's prolly scared to death of the bigger guy, and that amount of stress would wreak havoc even if you're feeding in a seperate bin.

I would do a trial separation, and see if that helps. I know you don't WANT to split them, but that is the risk you took, getting two.

 

[Zilch]

Getting a second one wasn't really planned, that's why I didn't provide for a second enclosure, however I'll see if I can't get a used 20 long that I can keep him in until he gets a little more size on him then reintroduce them once the larger enclosure is finished.

Guess I'm lucky my Megaray is coming in today so I'll have the extra light fixture.

 

[Zilch]

Just an update:
I gave Bobby a call last night to get his take on the situation. He suggested that I perform a little experiment to see if the red would eat inside of his enclosure. I went about my normal routine of putting them both in the bins, the black and white as always sucked down everything in his path, but the red snubbed it, so I placed his plate back into the cage and moved him into it. Before he even touched the GROUND he had the biggest chunk of turkey in his mouth. He only ate two generous sized pieces and he still looks a little deflated, but I suppose if I went 7 days without food my stomach would atrophy a bit too.

I guess from now on I'm going to continue trying the bin, but moving him back to the enclosure if he refuses it, hopefully someday he catches on, but at least this way even if he doesn't I won't have to worry about cage aggression.