New tegu companion

[Misficat]

Hi, I'm Misficat. I recently adopted a year and a half old female black and white tegu. I've been in love with tegus for quite some time, and am blessed to finally have found one.

I have a few questions. I know eco earth is a good substrate for enclosures, at the lps I work at, we also have reptisoil. Would that be recommended or would the coconut fiber be better? She doesn't get fed in her enclosure.

I was also curious if anyone has had luck with "litter" training them to use a tub of water, and what were the steps used to do so?

Thank you in advance,
Misficat

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

To save money you might as well just go with a organic potting mix, and then if you want mix in some eco earth or cypress mulch. I once tried using reptisoil for my leopard gecko when I first got her... to say the least the stuff was a pain and super dusty and if you got it too wet it would grow mold quickly, so I doubt it would work with a tegu as they need high humidity compared to a leopard gecko so it would get moldy quite fast.

I personally have mine on a organic potting mix/eco earth/cypress mulch mix with a bit of moss and it seems to somewhat hold burrows and humidity well.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Welcome and hello....I also use a misture of substrates from the Pet store mixed with a bag of top soil from my local garden store to keep costs down...I don't know much about potty training but Alpha tends not to do any mess in his vivarium and does it in the shower when hes out roaming.

 

[Walter1]

Welcome!

 

[Skeep]

Welcome!

I'm just trying some eco earth now inside my girl's hide, dunno the results yet! I've always had good luck with coconut fibre, cypress mulch, and reptibark.

She WAS potty trained to go in the tub, until we moved, and at the new place it's not really practical right now. The approach that worked for her was to first learn her routine, place her in the tub during her usual potty time, and give a reward. For example, when I get home and first let her out, she likes to go to the bathroom and then starts looking for food. So as soon as I let her out, I would put her in the tub and not let her out until she went. In her case, she did not like the tub, so letting her out of the tub was reward enough. She learned to go as soon as I put her in so she could come back out as quickly as possible!