My new black and white Argentine tegu

[SamBobCat]

Hey all, sorry if this is in the wrong place but I just thought I'd share that today, I received my black and white Argentine tegu in the mail. He(or she) is very tame and calm and I got him a few hours ago. He is three months old and 11 inches long. 42 grams. I am so happy to have him and I am so glad that he is my first tegu. I named him Django, or if he grows up to be a girl, I will name her Juliet. I am so excited. Thanks for looking! I will post some pictures and I will keep everyone updated on her growing.

 

[Ralph DeMayo]

Very cute!! I've been enjoying my little guy since i received him back on March 11. He's out every day and couldn't be more tame. Good luck and keep us up to date

 

[SamBobCat]

Will do!

 

[SamBobCat]

Is it bad that he isn't eating? He ate some grape on his first day with me but ever since, it's day three and he isn't eating anything.

 

[SamBobCat]

Also does he look big enough to eat pinkies yet?

 

[MyLuvEevie]

You need to be feeding him meat! Chicken hearts, meal worms, along with a calcium supplement, VD3, and a multi V. They are carnivores remember fruit is great for them to just not what they need first at about a year old, is when they will be eating pinky, and mice

 

[SamBobCat]

I got an ice cube tray, and threw together some mini meals that each have raw ground turkey, grape, chicken gizzard, halibut, and vitamin powder

 

[SamBobCat]

Also, I feel awful for him because his previous owner didn't feed them every day because "they grow too fast when fed every day" so if I don't get him to eat soon, he might get MBD and I had a baby sulcata that died of MBD and I don't want to go through that again.

 

[SamBobCat]

UPDATE: he still has not taken to meat but he ate some soft boiled egg! I think if I can get some, I'll soft boil some quail egg too.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Congrats on the new Gu and don't worry yet, they don't have to or even need to eat every day. Tegus are opportunistic omnivores not carnivores so offer a variety of food from the beginning. Even if it doesn't eat it, what to eat is not all instinct they also have to learn which is where we come in. Rule of thumb size wise for whole prey, is to offer items that are the size, width of their head or smaller. Anything larger and they either won't eat it, too big to swallow or they just make a mess tearing it apart. I would try a rat pup and see how it does with that. I'm not a fan of offering eggs, if or when I do it's raw and not often. Eggs are seasonal and should be offered as a treat not a staple. They don't have to or even know what it's like to work for food since we bring it to them, on a platter so to speak, so they can afford to be and do become picky with certain foods and eggs are one of them.

 

[SamBobCat]

Thanks so much Bubblz. I am picking up some frozen pinkies really soon so hopefully he'll eat those.

 

[SamBobCat]

UPDATE: BABY'S FIRST SHED WITH ME!!!

 

[SamBobCat]

Hey there, another update here! Django is now 13" long! He grew two inches since I got him!!

you can see his tail shedding in the second pic of him on my dad's head

 

[SamBobCat]

I think we're bonding really well

 

[misterpc23]

Enjoy it while you can! I've had my tegu 1 year now and if I tried to put her on my head my neck would break, they grow up so fast! I don't even power feed her like a lot of other people do to get their tegus to grow fast. Just enough to keep her looking healthy and keep her from being nippy. I kind of miss having my tegu so small, then again its much harder to find a small tegu VS a 3ft one in a house. In one year my tegu has already outgrown her 75 gallon tank, building a 7x4x3 now to move her up to

 

[Ralph DeMayo]

He's looking good Sam

 

[SamBobCat]

Thanks Ralph?

 

[SamBobCat]

!*

 

[SamBobCat]

View attachment 8504
He's getting so big!!!

 

[SamBobCat]