new and worried owner!!!!!!

[bsu66]

hello everyone this is my first time owning a tegu. i have a feeling like im doing everything wrong, all he will eat is crickets and he will only eat those in his enclosure. first off i have had him for about three weeks he is still showing the green tint so i know he is young, he lives in a 40 gal tank with one other b and w that we got at the same time we have two hides on the left of the tank with a small under the tank heater under the more enclosed hide they are using repti bark for substrate, have a water dish in there and have a 150 uv basking light on the far right and a red nighttime light closer to the middle. the top is a fairly open homemade screen top.

i have a few concerns and questions

my major concern is that he will only eat crickets..... the guy we got them from said the would eat iams catfood but we had no luck with that. yesterday i tried a mixture of soft -boilled egg and ground turkey sprinkled with vitamins. i have also tried f/t and live pinkies with no luck...

i am also wondering if it would be better if i just got my own 20 gallon tank and kept him by himself instead of having him in the 40 gal with the other tegu...

i really think these are amazing creatures and i want to make sure i am doing everything right for him to have a good life. any help at all would be greatly appreciated

i have also have some pictures but dont know how to post them...

<<<thanks again for any words of wisdom you might have>>>

 

[jim_m]

My advice would be to feed him outside his enclosure. Put the food in a separate feed container/tank prior to putting your tegu in. He prob eating ONLY crickets because that is all the previous owner fed him.
My tegu was the same way when I got him. All he would eat was live crickets/pinkies/super worms. What I did to sort of get a larger variety was, I just left him in his 20g feeder tank with some raw turkey sprinkled with vitamins. About an hour later he realized that it was good stuff and his dish was cleared.
Give him some time and keep giving him some variety. And from what I have read from many post is feeding your pet canned pet food is probably not a great idea. I have personally never done it BUT I believe it has to do with other chemicals that are added to dog/cat food. Don't quote me though, like i said i have just read from many people that canned food is bad.
Hope this helps. If not there are many other VERY experienced Tegu keepers here :-D

 

[bsu66]

i forgot to mention that i have tried feeding him in a different container and he wont eat i put the ground turkey and egg mixture in there and after a wile he wasnt eating so i threw some crickets in there and he didnt eat those either and today i put him in the different one again with just turkey and he didnt seem interested so i left him alone and went to the pet store and got a live pinky came back put it in there and he licked it a couple of times and then seemed to be un interested in that too... maybe im not giving him enough time ill put some turkey in there and just leave him alone for an hour and see if that works thank you for the advice and i will let you know if that works!

 

[Prussia01]

cat food is fine, just make sure you get the organic stuff at pet stores that has a low ash content.

 

[PinkPunisher]

As said before try and get them both into the habit of eating in a seperate container but thats not a big deal right now.

To try and trick the tegu stick a few crickets into some thawed turkey and dropped them over it so it more then likely get a chunk of turkey and will realize that its food. The tegu more then likely just doesn't realize that its food.

Don't worry about having the tegu's together unless you see one picking on the other by biting it, chasing it, keeping it off the basking spot, etc. I wouldn't worry about it though because many people have tegus together (mine are) and they're fine but thats not to say it doesn't happen.

Have you checked your temps with a DIGITAL thermometer? If not BUY one, you can get them for like $10 at Home Depot in Canada so they must be cheaper there. The other thermometer can be as much as 20 degrees off! Not something you want to just guess on.

I wouldn't recommend feeding cat food or ANY canned food.

Have you read the care sheets on this site? If not then I highly recommend it.

You might also want to exchange your red bulb for a normal house hold bulb of the same wattage. One more question, do you have a UVB bulb? Which could be a fluorescent tube or a MVB (Mercury Vapor Bulb) If you don't have that then buy one but don't buy one with a super high wattage 160+ that will be to hot for your cage more then likely, unless you live in Alaska

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask, thats why this forum is here!

Spencer

 

[bsu66]

hey i did see the bigger tegu bite mine once... i am really worried about him he didnt eat again today besides maybe a couple of bites and i left him in there for almost 2 hours. i do not have a uvb light but i do have a uv light could this be a problem

if i moved him into a 20gallon long by himself could this help and if so how long can he live in one until i he will need a bigger one

thanks everyone for the help and i will keep updates coming

 

[PinkPunisher]

Deffinately move the one thats been bitten to a different cage, that probably has a big role in the lack of eating. The uv light that you have should say that it produces UVB and UVA if not then you need to get a bulb that does, which could be a fluorescent tube or MVB (make sure the fluorescent tube is made for reptiles)

Moving him should help and is recommended, depending on its length the time in the cage can vary greatly.. I'm going to assume its around 14"s, which means your probably better off just buying a new 40 gallon. It will be fine through hibernation if the tegu goes under, if it doesn't then your going to need to build the adult cage because when they don't hibernate they get big quick.

Spencer

 

[bsu66]

hey thanks for the reply i just moved him yesterday but the only thing i have is a 10 gallon tank. i have made a lot of improvements though...

i am now using cyprus mulch with a repti glo dessert terrium lamp that is 10.0 uvb and 26 watts along with a 40 watt zoo med daylight blue reptile bulb that emits uva. i put a large rock under the lights for a basking spot.

i put him in the separate container for feeding today and put some ground turkey in there that i warmed up in warm water while it was in a ziploc bag...... still no luck so i put him back and went to pets mart and got some super worms and crickets..... put a super worm and some crickets in the separate container and put him in there and again no luck...

so i put two super worms in a dish in his tank and threw some crickets in there. he might have eaten some crickets but i don't know(i put three in and only see one now).

the first night i put him in there he was out almost all night i woke up at 4 and checked on him and he was sitting on top of his hide... but now he is always burrowed under his rock. will he come out if he is hungry or should i dig him up and take him out to try and feed him like i have been?

**is it possible that he could be hibernating? if so what are the signs and or how do i make sure he doesn't just die when i think he is hibernating?



also my friends tegu that was biting mine wont stop biting him... he came to my room today and had several bloody bite marks on his hand from his tegu... but his tegu is eating so i don't know who is worse off me or him...anyways he was wondering if anyone had any tips that could help him as well.

thanks again for all your help.

 

[PinkPunisher]

Hm.. well it's getting kind of late here and I have school tomorrow so you will have to excuse my spelling/grammar errors because I doubt I will proof read this.

The 10 gallon isn't the best but it will work for a week or so at tops. If you can't afford a glass tank then don't bother with it, buy a buy rubbermaid bin. Try and get a clear one so it can kind of see out side of the cage a bit. I bought a big 4'x2'x2' tub for $20 over the summer. Just keep trying with the food in the other bin, don't worry about him not eating much he's probably just a bit stressed from the move. If he hasn't eaten in 3 days I would recommend PMing Bobby ( Varnyard Herps ) He's very knowledgeable about tegus and can help you with almost anything, he's helped me a few times.

I can't help you too much with the hibernation because this is my first year going through hibernation with my tegus but you will notice them slowing down on there feed, sleeping a lot more, not being out all that much..those are all pretty clear signs. Theres also a whole forum on the site dedicated to hibernation.

NEVER dig up your tegu unless you need to, it will never learn to trust you if you dig it up in its only place of safety. Just wait for it to come out or just don't feed that day.

For your lighting, watch out with the 10.0 those things pump out a dangerous amount of UVB if there to close, I believe the recommended distance is at least 12 inchs with those and MVBs. I would also switch your blue bulb for a normal house hold bulb, the only difference is the colour on them. You will say a lot of money knowing that. To be more specific about the dangerousness if your tegu is forced to stay close to them for to long is that it could get what I believe is called Photo-conjuntive-ite-s (not sure of the spelling) but basically your lizard won't open its eyes anymore because it hurts them to much. It will also become expensive quick with vet bills and medications.

To try and help you out with any UV questions you might have. All bulbs produce UVA which is the light we can see (except ceramic heat emmiters, they don't produce light at all) Only special bulbs will produce UVB though which are usually the expensive ones at the pet stores. UVB is invisible to our eyes but not to reptiles, I think they can see it some how. The BEST form of UVB is to just take your tegus outside for the day, even for a few hours. One days worth of unfiltered natural sunlight is worth 1 week of artificial lighting. By unfiltered I mean, no glass, window screen, plastic, mesh, etc. Glass and plastics block out the UVB from passing through while meshs block out some but not all.

To your friend, ask him how he is approaching the tegu, is it in a slow, calm way or is he rushing in and chasing after it full speed when it runs away? Tell him to take his time trying to get it and when he does lift it up by sliding his hand (flat) under the tegu and just lifting it up. If he is being calm and its just the tegu being frightened tell him to just place his hand in the cage and leave it there while he reads a book or something to occupy himself from boredom, it shows the tegu that he isn't a threat and the tegu will learn that your friend won't hurt him. He could also try putting a piece of clothing (ie t-shirt) in the cage that he has worn for the past day or so (so it has his scent) and just leave it in there for a week so it gets used to his smell.

He might also want to just try some thick leather gloves as well though lol

Also sorry if your friend happens to be a girl, the only females in our household is my mom and dolly one of our dogs the rest of us, all eight of us are males (that includes pets) lol

Spencer

 

[bsu66]

Ok I think what I'm going to do is get that 4'x2'x2' rubermaid container and cut the lid so I can put a wire mesh top on it, take back the 10.0 repti glo bulb and get the 2.0 full spectrum one these lights don't put off heat though so what type of bulb should I get to go with it?

Ill put him in there and just leave him alone and see if he comes out and then try to feed him. I think I will also leave some worms in a dish just in case he comes out and I am not around.

Let me know what you think, thanks again.

 

[PinkPunisher]

Don't bother taking it back if your tegu can't get closer then 12"s and to go with your coil bulb just use a normal house hold incandescent bulb for heat, they are the exact same as the pet store bulb but half the price.

The feeding plan sounds good

Spencer

 

[bsu66]

hey sorry it has been so long i have just been busy with zeus and with other things

thanks for all the info and i have an update for you

zeus is now in a custom built rubbermaid container/cage complete with water, dish cyprus mulch, basking rock w\ a 150w basking bulb above it, and digital thermometer. he still has wanted nothing to do with ground turkey but he has been eating plenty of dusted crickets and a has now eaten two pinkies with a day in between each

he is also very nice and has even jumped into my hand a couple of times

i do have one question though..... is there a limit to feeding him pinkies or could that be a stable every other day diet for him

thanks again!

 

[PinkPunisher]

You might even want to go up to fuzzy's if you think Zeus can handle it, they're better for them ( More calcium, proteins, fat, etc. ) As with any diet variety is the key, try and mix it up with whatever you can thats healthy like maybe try some chopped up fruits and berries.My Alice goes skitso over Blueberries and Grapes. I don't think it would be harmful for the tegu though, but like I said try to mix it up you can include these as well:

cooked/boiled eggs, raw turkey, fish fillets, raw shrimp, meal worms, super worms, silk worms, horn worms, butter worms, wax worms (not a lot in close intervals, very high in fat), fruits/berries...etc. There is a ton you can feed these dumpster so try not to make him into a picky eaty

Spencer