Need Help!!!

[Kingperez99]

I have been reading thru peoples problems with there tegus and the most common one i see is the mbd. My tegu ( Argentine Red) has just gone thru a shed but only shed her upper half. Her hind legs and tail are still dull looking an have yet to shed. I got her in october of last year not sure of her age but i would say about 7 or 8 months old. In december i noticed she burrowed herself and would never come out my first guess was hibernation. My other tegu all though was still out an about an eating great. So I decided to bring her out by doing so did i affect anything? Also shes been having that about to go into shed look since janurary an since ive had her shes only eaten pinkies for me an has only tooken chicken once. Im not sure if i should take her to vet but she wont eat anything other than mice an has recently stopped eating and her back bones starting to show. She walks fine and is still as strong as she was since day 1 any ideas????

PLEASE HELP!!!

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And as far as set up I have her in a 75 gallon tank with a glass top. Top soil dirt for beeding all natural no chemicals. I have a 150 watt bulb just a regular bulb. Basking spot temp is at 130f and coolside ranges from low 90s to high 80s. I have a big water bowl for them to submerge which is changed daily because they are constantly digging. I dont have a uvb bulb i take them outside for about an hour a day an let them soak in the sun. She is being housed with another red her size not sure if this has any affect. But the other ones is thriving eating everything and anything very active complete opposite of the other.

Her diet has been only pinkies,fuzzies, and hooper mice up untill shes stopped eating. I feed the other crickets,meal worms, dubias, gizzards, chicken hearts, mice, and ground beef.

 

[reptastic]

2 things; 1) her basking spot and surrounding temps are too high, since its so high she won't bask, 2) a regular bulb dosnt give off uvb or uva both of which is needed to promote a healthy appetite, as far as the shed goes if she isn't active much she isn't doing what she needs to get the shed off

 

[Kingperez99]

The basking temps have been picked up sicne about 3 weeks ago. The other tegu seems to bask just fine but i have noticed she will only bask for a couple of minutes and as far as uvb goes i have a little area i set up outside an let them catch natural rays. What wattage would you consider? Before I switched bulbs I use to have them between 95-100 degress an i thought that was to low.

 

[laurarfl]

Try a 100 watt bulb. The natural sun should be good as long as it isn't going through a fine mesh screen. When temps creep up, my tegu will bask, but gets antsy and hangs around the edge of the basking zone.

 

[Jbrew_Tegu]

Also UVB/UVA Cannot penetrate through glass. So if there is a window that will need to be opened. You can get a UVB 10.0 for under 20 bucks that will last at the least 6 months from of amazon.com.

 

[james.w]

It could be a number of things, stress from being housed with another tegu, parasites, impaction, or incorrect temps/humidity.

I would recommend putting her in her own enclosure, adjusting the temps to 110 basking and 75 on the cool end, and getting her to the vet for a fecal and overall check up.

I would also recommend getting some sort of UVB in the enclosure.

 

[Kingperez99]

What worried me most was mbd but it doesnt seem to be that. An there out door pen is just pretty much plastic shelves from wal mart that i had laying around. She did eat for me last night but only ate a fuzzy rat nothing else and only 1. I'll seperate her today in her own 40g but to be honest the new tegu seemed to make her more active. Any opinions on why she will only eat rats?

Thanks for the advice she will definately be going to the vet this weekend.

 

[james.w]

What was she eating before you got her?

 

[Kingperez99]

The people i got her from told me she was feeding great on pinkies and fuzzies never mentioned her eating anything else i figured since it was a pt store thats all she was offered so i thought she would easily take anything being a tegu but no luck. Is this bad for her health?

 

[james.w]

No its not bad per say, but variety is recommended. The problem is she isn't eating at all currently. Get her setup in her own enclosure and get the temps and humidity right. Provide uvb as well. Post up some pictures of the current setup, the new setup and of the tegu in question.