I’m struggling with heat

[StellaEnthusiast]

I am getting a new baby black and white Argentine Tegu and we have a terrarium 36”x18”x16” and we have a 75 watt reptiglow bulb over the hot spot. The basking spot gets to 100 degrees, and the cool end is 70 degree which is too cool from what I understand. I have a mesh top that will be covered by plastic partially to hold humidity. How do I get the cool side warmer without losing humidity?

 

[Tizzay89]

Replace the 75 to a 100 or 150. Add in ceramic heater 100 or 150 both sides desert uvb center of cage follow chart to hang at right distance. I say desert not jungle bcz over the course of a few weeks the uvb will lose some of the uvb and will need to be adjusted anyways. Jungle will put it very close while desert gives u more height. On cool side place a nice hide and under hide have 3 to 6 inches of substrate very moist. Your tegu will burrow in this under the hide. Now on cool side under tank below hide place a multi temp heating pad. Your tegu will love this at night as it will be warm and humid . During the day your tegu will sped most the time on the hot side either way so a 70 cold side in my opinion is fair. Low 80s is best though. But your tegu will move if it gets cold. By baby I assume you mean hatchling or green. In this case add live or fake plants strong enough to hold the tegu. Baby tegus climb and hide in this during the day. Hot side being 100 is nice but i assume you mean ambient air temp not basking platform temp. Most will say you need a temp gun but the back of your hand works just as well. Needs to be hot but not hot enough you cant touch. Or invest in a temp gun. Keep in mind temp guns just like Tds or ph meters can be off. Gun may say 110 or 100 but it maybe 120 or 90. Encloser should be side open not top. If you have a top open encloser your tegu will run from you every time. Birds come above and birds are tegu eaters. Also wood encloser with plex glass view point or doors will allow you to reg your temp n humidity far better than a screen top glass cage. Also a fogger will keep it nice n humid along with moss. Entire cage doesnt need 80 humidity just 1 side tegu will seek this out during shed. Mine atm burrows in moss not dirt as it is starting shed best of luck

 

[StellaEnthusiast]

Thank you so much! You’re reply helped with my question plus more. We just got our Tegu today and were wondering about how long we should leave her alone and do her thing? She seemed to be adjusted well and when we got her she was super cuddly and loved being petted. We tried taking her out because she looked like she was hunting and we tried feeding her, but when we picked her up out of her cage, she freaked out and ran away every time we tried to pick her up. We tried running her in our hands and petting her, but she was persistent and we didn’t want her to drop her tail so we put her back and put the food in her enclosure instead. I’m not sure if this was the right thing to do. I don’t want to stress her out.

 

[Walter1]

Let her settle undisturbed for two weeks with worn shirt in her hide. Sit near her enclosure and let her hear your voice. Then, begin interactions. Takes them a bit to settle in.

Nearlyvalways they're perfect when you first get them, then they freak because they suddenly realize they're no longer home.

 

[Tizzay89]

Walter is right. Unfortunately with a top open cage things will be hard. Greens yearly and even juvs fear birds. So a hand coming from above looks like a bird. Even with mine I show it my hand flatten it slowly move body level and set it down then I begin to pet. The shirt and hearing you seeing you is passive taming and most default to this style. I have mixed the 2 and can hold my tegu within 3 months of owning. Not saying my method with work for all because every tegu is different. The shirt method I'm un sure about. Simply bcz i own dogs and pet them to. So my hands smell like dogs or other things. Isnt a bad idea but may not be the fastest way. Being an open top makes things like feeding and watering harder. Doing these things for any tegu will let them know you provide water and food. Honestly you wont be able to touch your tegu for a long time. You can do this but most say dont and that is at night dig up your tegu and move into a plastic tote or a tall container with a shirt. Let the tegu sit for a bit and then introduce your hand flat near them. Slowly moving your hand to them be ready for bolting and whipping. After a bit of this the tegu will stop then just hold the tegu in the cage for some time. Once you are done move tegu back into encloser and repeat every other night at the same time. This is what I did and it worked for me. Until it hit juv stage and well they all get a tude lol lots of work very slow and steady. Just never ever chase your tegu.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Let her settle in for a couple of weeks its being a big change .... Although I agree with Tizzay reasons for not having a top opener I don't believe them to be a big enough reason NOT to have a top opener if thats what you have.... If you talk to your tegu and let her know you are there before you enter and slowly build trust by not going to annoy or capture her everytime you enter, Sit with your arm dangling in let her become comfortable with her enclosure and then comfortable with your hand and then build overtime.

 

[Tizzay89]

Let her settle in for a couple of weeks its being a big change .... Although I agree with Tizzay reasons for not having a top opener I don't believe them to be a big enough reason NOT to have a top opener if thats what you have.... If you talk to your tegu and let her know you are there before you enter and slowly build trust by not going to annoy or capture her everytime you enter, Sit with your arm dangling in let her become comfortable with her enclosure and then comfortable with your hand and then build overtime.

If it's all you got it's all you got. Gonna be harder to build when you hitting that primal wall of fear of birds though. Just in a few years when you gotta build a custom cage OP for the side open n post some pics of that green. I miss mine being green lol

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Alphas forever home. Just thought I'd show you a comparison to the norm enclosure design

https://www.tegutalk.com/threads/whoop-whoop-finally-done-alphas-new-forever-home.19379/

 

[Zyn]

Nothing wrong with a 70 degree cool side as long as the heat gradient through out is correct. A 115-120 surface temp is ideal a 100’degrer ambient is to high.

Also be ready to build a bigger 8’footish enclosure in 6 months

Also she’s not a gecko she won’t drop her tail without serious physical trauma

 

[StellaEnthusiast]

Thanks everyone for the reply! I figured out the temps and Stella is enjoying the hot side, basking on and under her platform and burroughing under it. She has moved to the cool side for a minute, but goes right back to warm. I am running 75 cool side with the water, 107 basking and 80-85 warm side. We got her yesterday and she is actually 4 months old. I guess I missed the breeding season because there were only 3 3-4 month Tegus at the Cin City Reptile Show. I wasn’t going to feed her in her enclosure, but I guess I will have to? We will be building her 8-4 front open in 4 months when we move.

 

[StellaEnthusiast]

Another pic of Stella

 

[Zyn]

Looks good she might be a wild caught. a lot of Florida’s wild caught find their way to reptile shows. I’ve grilled a few “breeders” and by the end they admit they didn’t breed them and bought them off a whole saler via Florida. Which isn’t a bad thing a lot of beautiful wild caughts make great pets, there is also Tegusonly, that rehomes to the best that they can Florida’s invasive population.

But some actual breeders might be in your area. The hatching season actually just started for the most part on the captive breeding side.

Lots of happy healthy wild caught Tegus are on the site for sure. I think Walter has three from Tegusonly

Feeding in the enclosure is fine, it’s more about learning their body language, knowing their ques and going with them such as. “I’m hungry, Don’t touch me, scratch my head, FEED ME!!!!!!!!”

They may seem pretty food aggressive at first but they learn the difference between food and the hand that feeds them.

My sevy was very food aggressive, still is but I can feed him from the back and my hand and he knows the difference between my hand as the thawed rat.

They are hardy smart animals just treet them that way and you’ll be fine. Don’t always expect a puppy because some days you might find an alligator lol

 

[BKing]

Replace the 75 to a 100 or 150. Add in ceramic heater 100 or 150 both sides desert uvb center of cage follow chart to hang at right distance. I say desert not jungle bcz over the course of a few weeks the uvb will lose some of the uvb and will need to be adjusted anyways. Jungle will put it very close while desert gives u more height. On cool side place a nice hide and under hide have 3 to 6 inches of substrate very moist. Your tegu will burrow in this under the hide. Now on cool side under tank below hide place a multi temp heating pad. Your tegu will love this at night as it will be warm and humid . During the day your tegu will sped most the time on the hot side either way so a 70 cold side in my opinion is fair. Low 80s is best though. But your tegu will move if it gets cold. By baby I assume you mean hatchling or green. In this case add live or fake plants strong enough to hold the tegu. Baby tegus climb and hide in this during the day. Hot side being 100 is nice but i assume you mean ambient air temp not basking platform temp. Most will say you need a temp gun but the back of your hand works just as well. Needs to be hot but not hot enough you cant touch. Or invest in a temp gun. Keep in mind temp guns just like Tds or ph meters can be off. Gun may say 110 or 100 but it maybe 120 or 90. Encloser should be side open not top. If you have a top open encloser your tegu will run from you every time. Birds come above and birds are tegu eaters. Also wood encloser with plex glass view point or doors will allow you to reg your temp n humidity far better than a screen top glass cage. Also a fogger will keep it nice n humid along with moss. Entire cage doesnt need 80 humidity just 1 side tegu will seek this out during shed. Mine atm burrows in moss not dirt as it is starting shed best of luck

Dude..so much helpful info in this paragraph! Thank you