New Tegu, I could use some advice and help please

[Guest]

I just got my new black and white on Saturday ( 2 Days ago), Sunday he seemed fine eating a few crickets, but didnt show any interest in the meal worms. Now today I came home from work, he doesnt appear to have eaten at all and is very lethargic, am I doing something wrong, he is very young only 8-9" long. Does anyone have any suggestions, I am in need of some advice badly.

He is set up with UVB and a heat lamp, excellent substrate, a hide, plants, water/soaking bowl with fresh water twice daily, and a small food dish

 

[Guest]

Hmmm, well first off, what are the temps like in the little one's enclosure? The basking side as well as the "cool" side...

 

[txrepgirl]

Hi stormbringer74. I have a few questions for you if you don't mind.

1. What kind of substrate are you using ? If you use pine or cedar PLEASE take it out right away. It's toxic to Tegus.

2. What kind of UVA/UVB light are you using ?

3. What are the temps in the enclosure ( cool end and the basking spot ) ?

4. Do you have any real plants in the enclosure that could be toxic and you didn't know ?

5. Do you feed him inside the enclosure ? If you do I don't recommend doing that, because he can get impacted.

 

[Guest]

Beside the answer already given I can add this...

It can be stressful for a reptile to move into a new home. Many reptiles do get more or less lethargic the first time after moving in to a new enclosure. They eat less, sleep more, hide a lot etc.

I would give your tegu a bit time to settle in. I am sure it will come around once it get used to it's new surroundings

 

[Guest]

Basking side between 90 and 95, cool side around 80

UV light is a Reptisun 10.0 desert lamp

The substrate is a mix of "Coco Fiber" and Cypress Mulch (both provided and highly recommended by the reptile store owner

The real plants were also provided by the store owner and are only labelled tropical foilage

Yes I feed him in his enclosure, it is currently the only place I have for him to eat, what do you mean by "impacted" and what do you suggest I do, I cant really have crickets loose in the apartment

 

[txrepgirl]

I would get the basking spot up from 100 to 105 some have it up to 110. He could be moving a bit slow because he might be to cold. I bet if you higher the basking temps you will have a little wild one on your hands lol. Here are some videos of mine so you can see how I feed my babies and how a impacted Tegu looks like. A Tegu can get impacted if he gets some mulch stuck on the food ( like the ground turkey ) and he eats it. Sometimes if they are impacted they also can get a prolapse.

How to feed a Tegu in a bin :

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How a impacted Tegu looks like when it's trying to poop. They also look very bloated. She was impacted because she ate a rubber cap of the metal srping of a door stopper lol.

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[chelvis]

Feeding bins can be stressful for a tegu that is still adjusting to his new home, especailly to one that has never been feed in a feeding bin before. I tried with my baby blue when i got her and she never ate. I find that live foods like crickets don't get mulch stuck to them and i have never had an impaction. But stuff like ground turkey does get mulch stuck.

just my two cents. Oh ya just give the little guy time to adjust and remember a meal for a tegu is about 30 crickets for a baby tegu so they'll eat alot and offer about two meals a day.

 

[DMBizeau]

I would wait a week or so like chelvis said just to give him some time to settle in. Increasing his heat at his basking spot should help some as well.

Is you tegu imported? Seeing as you got him on a saturday I am assuming you got him at a reptile show which tells me he is most likely an imported farm bred tegu. I would give him some time to get used to his new enclosure and warm up, he is most likely still hibernating or trying to come out of hibernation.