My first argentine black and white

[mertin1989]

This is my first argentine tegu and relatively new to tegus. Ive had many snakes etc but this is my first and i have been reading up for weeks before i made my decision to get one and wanted to make sure i fully knew how to get the best out of my tegu.

Its not been sexed and is around 5 month old i beleive (around 8 inches nose to start of tail) he has so far after 3 days shown no signs off agression what so ever but is very nervous and will run circles in his enclosure to avoid you. Once you do manage to get him into your hands he is relativly calm but when he sees a chance to leg it hes off! I will often sit for half an hour just speaking to him to get him used to the sound of my voice and have today placed an old t-shirt in with him to get him used to my smell. Ive also left a radio on quietly to get him used to some different noises etc. I started putting live food like locusts and crickets into his eclosure when he was in hiding and letting him hunt for himself which he seemed to do no problem but have now started feeding him in asmaller enclosure which i have only tried once so far and he ate nothing.

My point in posting this is there is so much confusing advice out there and one person telling you to do one this and another saying its the complete wrong thing to do. So can some one give me a push in the right direction when it comes to taming feeding and generally getting the best from my tegu. Thanks!

 

[got10]

Feed them outside of cage . Never feed live unless its bugs.Handle it whenever you think it seems to be inspecting the area . Dont let it associate your hand with food let it get used to you as being something that is NOT going to eat it

 

[james.w]

How long have you had him?

 

[mertin1989]

How long have you had him?

ive had him since sunday

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Feed them outside of cage . Never feed live unless its bugs.Handle it whenever you think it seems to be inspecting the area . Dont let it associate your hand with food let it get used to you as being something that is NOT going to eat it

thank you for your advice

 

[Diablo]

Yeah with feeding the rule of thumb I've basically come to see with everyone is have the food prepared already either in a food bowl or a small container and have it outside of the enclosure like in a box or on the ground or something. Make sure your hands don't smell like the food either from preparing it so he/she doesn't smell it on you. This way it doesn't associate its enclosure with feeding at all and it doesn't think your hands mean its feeding time

 

[james.w]

Moving a small tegu that is new to you from his home to somewhere else to eat can be very stressful. They will sometimes spend the time exploring and not eat. I never had any problems feeding in the enclosure, and recommend that others do the same.

 

[Dana C]

Like James, I have found that feeding in the enclosure hasn't created any problems. I do feed mine in the the bathroom as well. If you are going to feed in the enclosure, a substrate of clean dirt or a peat moss dirt blend is best, IMHO because the substrate they ingest, and they do ingest some, it is small enough to pass through them easily.