Meet Dino. Trying to Nurse to Health.

[CrystalLake]

Hi all. Thank you for this great site! I would like to introduce the newest member of my family:

Name: Dino
Adopted: December 2020
Current Age: 15 months
Type: 50% B&W; 25% Blue; %25 Red
Sex: Unknown

I am new to the reptile world. Started my journey in October 2020 with Rawr, a BTS, and adopted Dino a couple months later.

I know I am going to get some hate for this but Dino was a bit of an impulse buy. I saw her for sale on a local classified website while I was browsing enclosures for Rawr. While I did some research beforehand about tegu basic care needs, she is definitely a lot more costly and labor intensive than I initially expected. That said, I love my little monster and I am learning as I go.

I adopted her from a college student who told me that she was well-behaved and potty-trained. I was told that she had been kept in enclosure at night but usually free-roamed and that her enclosure had already been sold and we would have to build our own.

She was given to us in an under-the-bed tote filled with substrate along with two lamps, a heating rock, and a 4' x 4' dog fence.

It took significantly longer to get her permanent enclosure built and delivered than I expected. In the meantime, I kept her in the 4' by 4' dog fence with her lamps, heating rock, and bedding in a 20 gallon tank next to a little ramp I made for her.

I have begun to suspect that she never actually had a proper enclosure because her front arms are so floppy. She is also definitely not potty trained.

When we first got her she barely raised her body off the floor to crawl. Now her hind legs seem to have gained back there strength. He front arms are stronger but nowhere near healthy.

By biggest upcoming challenges are:
*Getting her healthy (figuring out her diet, getting her to exercise her arms)
*Figuring out how to keep the enclosure humid and setting up the vivarium to cancel out her very gross-smelling poop
*Training her (potty and otherwise)

I'm sure I will be posting a lot of questions so thank you in advance!!

 

[LizardStudent]

My main comment - please please get rid of the heated rock. Those things used to be popular, went away for a long time, and now for some ungodly reason have come back. They have a long history of burning and harming reptiles and are just no good, I would remove it ASAP and huck into the garbage.
Otherwise congrats on the new reptiles, you are definitely brave for getting an advanced reptile so early but I don't think it has to be a bad thing so long as you are willing to put in the work and much research. You will find a ton of good info on this forum. She definitely seems malnourished. I would recommend getting a temperature gun as soon as possible to make sure her basking spot from her lamps is good, they are inexpensive, and I would make sure she has good UVB and is getting lots of good food with calcium and multivitamins. Cool side around mid 70s, warm around 80 ish, baking spot at about 115 for her age, humidity should always be at least 60%. Good luck, and if you need help - ask!

 

[CrystalLake]

My main comment - please please get rid of the heated rock. Those things used to be popular, went away for a long time, and now for some ungodly reason have come back. They have a long history of burning and harming reptiles and are just no good, I would remove it ASAP and huck into the garbage.
Otherwise congrats on the new reptiles, you are definitely brave for getting an advanced reptile so early but I don't think it has to be a bad thing so long as you are willing to put in the work and much research. You will find a ton of good info on this forum. She definitely seems malnourished. I would recommend getting a temperature gun as soon as possible to make sure her basking spot from her lamps is good, they are inexpensive, and I would make sure she has good UVB and is getting lots of good food with calcium and multivitamins. Cool side around mid 70s, warm around 80 ish, baking spot at about 115 for her age, humidity should always be at least 60%. Good luck, and if you need help - ask!

Thank you so much for the input!

Hopefully you will be relieved to know that I removed the rock about a month ago. When I first got her that little rock was her..well... her rock. She would curl up on it even when it wasn't on and I didn't want to take it away until she got used to her new environment. Same went for the bedding that she came in. It had a LOT of the other girl,s hair in it so I figured in might have some of her scent.

As far as vitamins, I currentIy have 2 UVB lamps on top of her enclosure and I mix the Repashy calcium plus superior in with her food. I mostly feed her high-quality, grain-free canned dog food with occasional raw beef and/or fruit. I do need to take the time to do more research on how others feed their tegu's because I haven't been feeding her veggies at all and want to start diversifying her diet much more to make sure she is getting all the nutrients she needs. When I first got her, I added more, like a salad-type blend of leafy greens, but another tegu owner at the pet store said that I shouldn't be feeding her much of that. And her poops were not solid so I decided to stick with one staple for a bit
I just realized today that maybe that person had a Columbian which I think is supposed to have more protein. I am very open to improvements in the diet arena.

I am REALLY struggling with the humidity in such a large enclosure. We have a little fogger that does almost nothing and spraying the whole area down takes soooo long. We were in the process of installing a drip irrigation system last weekend but my fiance accidentally fell and broke a couple of the glass doors so that retailed the project. Hopefully I will get it set up this weekend. I will also spend some time looking at posts on here about humidity.

Thank you again from Dino and I!

 

[LizardStudent]

Thank you so much for the input!

Hopefully you will be relieved to know that I removed the rock about a month ago. When I first got her that little rock was her..well... her rock. She would curl up on it even when it wasn't on and I didn't want to take it away until she got used to her new environment. Same went for the bedding that she came in. It had a LOT of the other girl,s hair in it so I figured in might have some of her scent.

As far as vitamins, I currentIy have 2 UVB lamps on top of her enclosure and I mix the Repashy calcium plus superior in with her food. I mostly feed her high-quality, grain-free canned dog food with occasional raw beef and/or fruit. I do need to take the time to do more research on how others feed their tegu's because I haven't been feeding her veggies at all and want to start diversifying her diet much more to make sure she is getting all the nutrients she needs. When I first got her, I added more, like a salad-type blend of leafy greens, but another tegu owner at the pet store said that I shouldn't be feeding her much of that. And her poops were not solid so I decided to stick with one staple for a bit
I just realized today that maybe that person had a Columbian which I think is supposed to have more protein. I am very open to improvements in the diet arena.

I am REALLY struggling with the humidity in such a large enclosure. We have a little fogger that does almost nothing and spraying the whole area down takes soooo long. We were in the process of installing a drip irrigation system last weekend but my fiance accidentally fell and broke a couple of the glass doors so that retailed the project. Hopefully I will get it set up this weekend. I will also spend some time looking at posts on here about humidity.

Thank you again from Dino and I!

If you have a screen top enclosure, to help with humidity you can cover some of the screen with plastic wrap, pictures would help for suggestions

I would not feed a tegu any dog food if you can help it, no matter how high quality, it really just is not good for them. Raw beef not so good either, and I would say she should be having more veggies than fruits because fruit = sugar for reptiles. The best thing you can feed them is whole prey like mice, rats, quails, chicken chicks, etc or bone- in meat. Lots of keepers feed their tegus reptilinks which are specially blended for tegus (and skinks can eat too!) and have veggies, whole prey, and fruit in good portions if you're interested in something like that, it tends to make it easy to make sure they are getting the diet they need. Its what I feed my girl along with occasional whole prey, and I have not had shedding or diet issues since I started

The only other thing, remember that too much UVB is just as harmful as too little, so be mindful of the index she's getting with two bulbs. Knowing you have the correct basking spot temperature will also help her digestion and poops

 

[ToadHallBetty]

Try a humidity box. Make it out of a run or container. Fill with damp cocoa fiber, moss.... and keep it damp.
Tonks, my adult tegu , has a box made out of a storage tote with about 6 inches of damp cocoa fiber and a heat mat underneath. She loves her humidity box and will sometimes completely burry herself in the damp warm substrate.

 

[IrieRogue]

Thank you so much for the input!

Hopefully you will be relieved to know that I removed the rock about a month ago. When I first got her that little rock was her..well... her rock. She would curl up on it even when it wasn't on and I didn't want to take it away until she got used to her new environment. Same went for the bedding that she came in. It had a LOT of the other girl,s hair in it so I figured in might have some of her scent.

As far as vitamins, I currentIy have 2 UVB lamps on top of her enclosure and I mix the Repashy calcium plus superior in with her food. I mostly feed her high-quality, grain-free canned dog food with occasional raw beef and/or fruit. I do need to take the time to do more research on how others feed their tegu's because I haven't been feeding her veggies at all and want to start diversifying her diet much more to make sure she is getting all the nutrients she needs. When I first got her, I added more, like a salad-type blend of leafy greens, but another tegu owner at the pet store said that I shouldn't be feeding her much of that. And her poops were not solid so I decided to stick with one staple for a bit
I just realized today that maybe that person had a Columbian which I think is supposed to have more protein. I am very open to improvements in the diet arena.

I am REALLY struggling with the humidity in such a large enclosure. We have a little fogger that does almost nothing and spraying the whole area down takes soooo long. We were in the process of installing a drip irrigation system last weekend but my fiance accidentally fell and broke a couple of the glass doors so that retailed the project. Hopefully I will get it set up this weekend. I will also spend some time looking at posts on here about humidity.

Thank you again from Dino and I!

I recently purchased a Crane drop humidifier for my boy, and it is great at pumping out fog! I have that and a reptifogger at the other end of his enclosure (8×4×6), which I plan to replace with another crane drop. I just jammed a silicone tube inside of the hole (10 mm) and voila! The best part is the tank is a full gallon, so I only have to fill it every couple days. Sounds like the poor cherub wasn't getting the proper care. I'm so glad to know it is in your care now. I'll keep your baby in my prayers. Btw, when my boy Pubba was refusing fruit and veggies, I blended them into a puree and stuffed his quail chicks, chicks, and rodents with it. Now he will eat them blended into his protein. I still offer whole prey as well, however. I would use a syringe and inject through the mouth. It isn't the most pleasant activity, but it is effective. I also added Mazuri carnivore diet to his meals, and it has really improved his sheds and gives him a gorgeous hue.

 

[TheTeguNovice]

Hi all. Thank you for this great site! I would like to introduce the newest member of my family:

Name: Dino
Adopted: December 2020
Current Age: 15 months
Type: 50% B&W; 25% Blue; %25 Red
Sex: Unknown

I am new to the reptile world. Started my journey in October 2020 with Rawr, a BTS, and adopted Dino a couple months later.

I know I am going to get some hate for this but Dino was a bit of an impulse buy. I saw her for sale on a local classified website while I was browsing enclosures for Rawr. While I did some research beforehand about tegu basic care needs, she is definitely a lot more costly and labor intensive than I initially expected. That said, I love my little monster and I am learning as I go.

I adopted her from a college student who told me that she was well-behaved and potty-trained. I was told that she had been kept in enclosure at night but usually free-roamed and that her enclosure had already been sold and we would have to build our own.

She was given to us in an under-the-bed tote filled with substrate along with two lamps, a heating rock, and a 4' x 4' dog fence.

It took significantly longer to get her permanent enclosure built and delivered than I expected. In the meantime, I kept her in the 4' by 4' dog fence with her lamps, heating rock, and bedding in a 20 gallon tank next to a little ramp I made for her.

I have begun to suspect that she never actually had a proper enclosure because her front arms are so floppy. She is also definitely not potty trained.

When we first got her she barely raised her body off the floor to crawl. Now her hind legs seem to have gained back there strength. He front arms are stronger but nowhere near healthy.

By biggest upcoming challenges are:
*Getting her healthy (figuring out her diet, getting her to exercise her arms)
*Figuring out how to keep the enclosure humid and setting up the vivarium to cancel out her very gross-smelling poop
*Training her (potty and otherwise)

I'm sure I will be posting a lot of questions so thank you in advance!!

Welcome to the forum, Love the fact that your willing to make any changes needed to help Dino. Your enclosure looks great btw! super nice! I think your taking the right steps with building Dino's health back up. Whole prey is going to be your best friend in doing this.

In addition you can feed lean ground turkey, mix in veggies with it and fruits and insects. Add some Calcium to emeril lagasse your dish and Bam!! you got a good meal prep going for him. To address your humidity, whether the enclosure is large or small the key is sealing your enclosure. If you have too many open area's try to seal them off.

 

[IrieRogue]

Thank you so much for the input!

Hopefully you will be relieved to know that I removed the rock about a month ago. When I first got her that little rock was her..well... her rock. She would curl up on it even when it wasn't on and I didn't want to take it away until she got used to her new environment. Same went for the bedding that she came in. It had a LOT of the other girl,s hair in it so I figured in might have some of her scent.

As far as vitamins, I currentIy have 2 UVB lamps on top of her enclosure and I mix the Repashy calcium plus superior in with her food. I mostly feed her high-quality, grain-free canned dog food with occasional raw beef and/or fruit. I do need to take the time to do more research on how others feed their tegu's because I haven't been feeding her veggies at all and want to start diversifying her diet much more to make sure she is getting all the nutrients she needs. When I first got her, I added more, like a salad-type blend of leafy greens, but another tegu owner at the pet store said that I shouldn't be feeding her much of that. And her poops were not solid so I decided to stick with one staple for a bit
I just realized today that maybe that person had a Columbian which I think is supposed to have more protein. I am very open to improvements in the diet arena.

I am REALLY struggling with the humidity in such a large enclosure. We have a little fogger that does almost nothing and spraying the whole area down takes soooo long. We were in the process of installing a drip irrigation system last weekend but my fiance accidentally fell and broke a couple of the glass doors so that retailed the project. Hopefully I will get it set up this weekend. I will also spend some time looking at posts on here about humidity.

Thank you again from Dino and I!

I forgot to mention grow tents! They are super cheap, excellent at retaining humidity (as they're made to keep plants alive and thriving) and reflecting UV light, easy as pie to hang lights from, perfect for bioactive and holding substrate (both Pubba [tegu] and Ouroboros [retic] have fully bioactive enclosures), and best of all, they're relatively cheap! I got my 8×4×6 enclosure for no more than $130 on Amazon. Also, the vents provided at the top and bottom can be sealed, and the lower vents double as an entrance/exit for your baby. The others can be used to feed through cords and fogger tubing. Pubba leaves his enclosure for 2-4 hours every morning so he can crawl into bed with me and snuggle. Best part of my day by far. I love how affectionate and loving they are!!!