Just starting out. Plz read and reply!

[johnyb]

Hey im john and im new here and new to owning tegus.
Let me start by saying i own two ball pythons a male and female, one is about 4 feet and they thrive and are very happy and very friendly.
I belong to a ball python forum and a few car forums so the thread thing is not a new idea to me.

I just received my first tegu (black and white) about a day ago for my birthday. I helped pick him out at a reptile store.. the very best on long island.
The tegu is not sex'ed yet and im not sure male or female.. But they said the tegu is about 2 years old.

I have not yet encountered any real issues or problems. I have held him and let him walk around on the bed so far. Hes very agreeable to being touched and what not.. He is alittle hard to hold onto at times.

This is a lot different then my ball pythons.. I have him in a 100 gallon tank, with a hide make out of wood and a huge water bowl. maybe about 5 to 6 inches of the recommended bedding.

Soooo..questions i have...
1.is this tank big enough (he is very into exploring every crevis of the tank and burrowing) the guy at the store said that was good for life
2.i fed him ground turkey and cut up baby tomattos. put the dish in the tank. He only ate the tomattos... lol should i use a separate tank or bin?
3.he can fit his body into the water he drinks but should i bathe him further? how?
4. Is it bad to wake him up and unburry him? also he wakes a huge mess when he burrows (even throws bedding in the water bowl, does that need to be cleaned asap?).. makes lines and uneven parts of bedding.. i always fix it back to flat.. is that bad?
thats all i can think of right now.. Please please please throw in any extras you think i should know! i wanna eventually train him to wear a leash and be able to come with me places.

if you have any questions for me just ask.. I can try to figure out how to post some pictures of my tegu, his tank.. i can do pics of the pythons if anyone cares lol.

 

[kim86]

What dimension is the tank in feet? Width and length are the most important parts, you want at least a 5 foot long tank by 3 feet.

Bathing in nice warm water is always good, it helps them poop!

Waking a tegu up and digging him out of his little substrate bed is not good to do, it's kind of like someone ripping the blanket off your bed while you're sleeping and then pushing you out of it onto the floor. Especially since you just got him recently, I would try to wake him up by the smell of food instead, as doing otherwise will break any trust you've built with him. (I say him, 'cause all unsexed reptiles to me are hims, just saying.)

High humidity is key, remember to mist frequently to keep humidity at 80% or higher!

Good luck, let's see some pics!

 

[Scott Hogge]

Welcome to the wonderful world of tegu ownership.

Please post some pics as soon as able.

Is (s)he an Argentine black and white? A well fed argentine B&W could be 4+ft at 2 years. If (s)he is a columbian, he should be significantly smaller.

Bathing him is a good idea. It will help his shedding process and is good for toilet training.... you can get them to always go in the bath and then you won't have to clean poop out of his enclose.

They love to rearrange things, including bedding. You can fix it or leave it be, but they will probably just do it again. No big deal either way.

As far as waking him up, the really depends on how he reacts. They usually freak out. If he has been woken up by people 5 times a day for 2 years now though he might not be startled. If you have to wake them up, I recommend you go slow and see how it goes. Move around the substrate a little until he starts moving and/or breathing faster. Then back off and give him a few minutes to fully wake up and realize what is going on. Don't try to pick him up right away because he will still be 1/2 asleep and not really knowing what is going on.

In many ways he is going to react to things the same way you would. The first time somebody yells BOOO at 4am, its probably gonna make you jump out of bed. Second time also. By the 100th time you would probably barely wake up & just raise your middle finger by instinct.

You should give him fresh water daily, and remove any substrate you see in the water dish whenever you see it.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

I just received my first tegu (black and white) about a day ago for my birthday. I helped pick him out at a reptile store.. the very best on long island.
The tegu is not sex'ed yet and im not sure male or female.. But they said the tegu is about 2 years old.

That made me laugh.
Welcome to the site and congrats on the new tegu at 2yrs old you (and the store) can tell if it's male or female. Take some time to read up on Important threads in the Tegu Article section,.. lots of need to know info over there.

 

[johnyb]

hey thanks for the quick responses!
i know exactly what your saying about waking him up and i will try to keep from doing that again. He was very nice about it.. but still.
How deep can the bath water be? do they swim in the tub?

heres a pic of my gu

 

[Logie_Bear]

Welcome to the forum!

Definitely post some pics ASAP. If your gu really is 2 years of age, we should be able help figure out the sex. And... we just really like pics.

Also, I would suggest not feeding the tomatoes very often. Good for a rare treat, but not frequently.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

It looks female, check to see or if you can feel one bump on each side just under the cloaca.
Yep they can swim, for baths the water should come up to about mid back at the front of the tub where the faucet is. For a full body soak I give mine something to rest their head on so they can relax, go to sleep and keep it above the water.

 

[Logie_Bear]

B'aww, she's beautiful! Lucky you! <3

 

[johnyb]

lol the gf snapped this REALLY flattering picture of me.. lol just ignore me.. but try to get a size refference

I have a pic of the tank.. should the bedding be deeper? This pic has my (girl) inside and fully burrowed.

(working on pic)

 

[johnyb]

 

[Murkve]

There's no really good way to tell, as we don't know the dimensions of the Tank or the Tegu, but it should probably be bigger.

That Tegu looks like it is at least 3 feet long. This would mean that she would require an enclosure that is at the least 6'L x 3'W. There exist precious few glass Tanks with those kind of dimensions.

My advice: Look for a custom enclosure on craigslist, or better yet build one. This will be what I'm doing this fall. An 8' x 4' wood enclosure.

 

[chitodadon]

Nice did u get her from jungle Bob's

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[johnyb]

Yes I did. I'm gunna try to measure the tank today. I'd say it's about 4.5 or 5.
I plan on building her a custom soon but there is an issue of space.

 

[johnyb]

some times my girl(recently named eva).. wont eat.. is this normal? i just offered a plate of tuna lol and no interest.

 

[sylvie]

Hi I would say your tegu looks like a girlie :0) At 2 years old you should be able to tell.

Min size for Viv really should be 6' x 3' x 2'........ ours at home 5.5' x 3.5' x 3' and built into 2 layers so he gets the extra space. We have around 4 - 6 inches of cypress mulch and mist 3 times a day to keep humidity up.

Not all Tegus will eat fish, mine wont touch it..... try another food type and see if thats better. Also she is only new so a few hiccups in the early days while she settles is not unusal

 

[chitodadon]

Yea I got.my.baby Tegu from.there great place

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[johnyb]

i just measured. Its 4 feet long and only a foot and a half wide and another two feet tall... that seems smaller then i thought... but i was deff told it was 100 gallons.. I guess maybe i should start working on a custom enclosure? any idea of where i can find blueprints or instructions and a price range of how much it would cost?

---

the tank really doesnt seem small on her though.

 

[Rodney]

You can check in the housing section of this forum and thetegu.com housing section also has some good threads. It doesnt have to be anything special, just make sure if you use all wood to seal it. Anything else you can find in threads people have started about thiers.

 

[bmx3000max]

1.is this tank big enough (he is very into exploring every crevis of the tank and burrowing) the guy at the store said that was good for life....

..no needs a minimum of 6-8 ft

2.i fed him ground turkey and cut up baby tomattos. put the dish in the tank. He only ate the tomattos... lol should i use a separate tank or bin?..

..id give him a week to get used to being in its encloser without being tuched and just place food in the encloser before the lights turn on and let him eat at its on dision when it wants just for that week

3.he can fit his body into the water he drinks but should i bathe him further? how?...
...not now after some time you can bathe him and all it is filling up the tub and letting him soak in somewat warm watter

4. Is it bad to wake him up and unburry him?

...never unberry them or take them out of thier hide

also he wakes a huge mess when he burrows (even throws bedding in the water bowl, does that need to be cleaned asap?).

...not really just change the water daily or two days

. makes lines and uneven parts of bedding.. i always fix it back to flat.. is that bad?

....up to you..

thats all i can think of right now.. Please please please throw in any extras you think i should know! i wanna eventually train him to wear a leash and be able to come with me places.

"just dont rush it, give it time and everything will happen, people rush thiers to much and thats why people say why is my tegu still not tame"

"and jungle bobs is cool, i live in the same town so im thier often ive seen ur tegu and its good they took it out infront of me before...goodluck with your new bud and any questions just ask"

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Only difference between the advice above is that I personally think it is okay to unbury him as long as you do so gently and don't just yank him out. I see no issue with it but that is just my opinion.