New to this please help...

[tegugirl]

Hello, I got my daughter a black and white tegu this past Sunday at a reptile show. I brought her home and got her some Cypress Mulch as told and a wood hideaway spot and a huge water bowl. We also got her a pinky and some crickets but she has not ate really anything since I got her. Also today i picked up some worms and she wants nothing to do with them either. Her tank is set up so that on one side where her water is there is a heating pad underneath and a bulb on top and the other side is where the wood piece is for her to hide and get cool. i also covered part of the tank with towel and sray it down twice a day to make it humid in there. Is this correct? What else do you suggest i get for her? Is it normal that she is not eating? HOW do you know when she is in hibernation, should you not hold her then? PLEASE HELP ME i am clueless....lol

Thanks

 

[Harveysherps]

They are pretty well getting ready to hibernate. If it has good body mass . It will be fine. Just keep an eye on it. If it starts burying up and sleeping a lot. Then it's going to hibernate. So don't freak out just yet. It may need to adjust to the new surroundings. Everything should be alright. Just keep watch on it .

 

[leoares27]

hey...

make sure there is enough mulch for him/her to bury herself in!! If you are trying to hold her a lot, that might be stressing her out since you just brought her home. Also, this IS the time where they start hibernating so...that might be it too... if she is going under a lot, leaver her be, she is probably "slowing down" to hibernate. If she is doing this, then she shouldn't be eating anyway....If she isn't then she might just be stressed out...
do you have pics of her and/or her set up??

there is a topic in this forum about hibernation...its VERY informative!

 

[ashesc212]

How old is your tegu and how big? If you have cypress mulch in there you may not want to feed her in the cage as she could ingest it and become impacted. The towel thing seems okay but I'm still a newbie too. I have a little tupperware container with a wet papertowel as backup that the tegu seems to like to crawl in and roll around on.

It took my tegu a day or two to eat. They need to feel secure and comfortable. Do you have any part of the enclosure blocked off with a background or anything? That might help make her feel secure. I can't say on the pinkie - I haven't tried feeding mine one yet. The crickets are good. Do you dust them with calcium and multivitamins?

How deep is the water dish? If the tegu is small she may drown if the water level is too high.

What are you using for lighting? What is your basking spot temperature? What is your temperature on the cool side? What are you using to take the temperature? What are you using for UVB? How close can she get to her UVB light? Are you tracking the humidity in the cage? What are you using for a hygrometer?

One thing you might want to feed is ground turkey with cod liver oil. I learned that from DaveDragon. He also brought up a good point about the under tank heater when I was going to use one. Tegus like to burrow and therefore could get too close to the heater and burn themselves. However, if it is just under the water bowl and for the purpose of evaporating water in the air then that is probably a good idea.

What type of worms are you using? They like superworms and such although I cannot get mine to eat worms yet.

 

[jumanji]

Hello tegugirl, I purchaced a red tegu which arived last friday through overnight UPS. When I opened the box he was quite cold due to the weather conditions. I have his tank set up right and I have a temp gum to check that the temps. are good throughout the cage. Mine is also not wanting to eat and stays in his hide box all of the time. I had the same question, could he be wanting to hibernate due to the time of year and him getting cold during shipping? Or is he scared because the UPS guy tossed the box around? I have a black and white that I have had for about a year now and have not had this problem. I wish I had an answer for you and I hope someone can help both of us with some ideas.

Jumanji

 

[tegugirl]

I dont know what a hidebox is and how do you make one...She is out and about some but hides alot to. Also how do i put pics on here? She is about 1 yrs old and not very big. I got some wzx worms today as told to but petsmart and she still will not eat those. I have a bulb over her water and on the sme side of the tank i have heating pad underneath. She is also shedding so we gave her a bath to help but she is very dry.

 

[Harveysherps]

Hello tegugirl, I purchaced a red tegu which arived last friday through overnight UPS. When I opened the box he was quite cold due to the weather conditions. I have his tank set up right and I have a temp gum to check that the temps. are good throughout the cage. Mine is also not wanting to eat and stays in his hide box all of the time. I had the same question, could he be wanting to hibernate due to the time of year and him getting cold during shipping? Or is he scared because the UPS guy tossed the box around? I have a black and white that I have had for about a year now and have not had this problem. I wish I had an answer for you and I hope someone can help both of us with some ideas.

Jumanji

The cool temps more than likely put yours into hibernation mode. It may not eat until spring. If it was fed good it will be fine. This is the main problem with buying a tegu. People don't research them well enough before buying. If so then they would buy them in the warm months instead of winter. These problems are to be expected this time of year. You made a bad choice in buying one this time of year. Both of you did. I've done the same thing. But I have learned from my mistakes. I hope you both have learned something from this. On another note. Your Tegu may be sick. From the cold. I doubt it but maybe. My guess is your gonna have to enjoy it when it wakes up. If you do feed it now. You put it's life in DANGER . Plain and simple. So stop trying to feed it and let mother nature take it's course and supply the proper hibernation techniques.

 

[tegugirl]

Well, I didnt know it was wrong to buy one, when the breeders at the retile expo were selling them. Also i have read many care sheets and says nothing about not eating, i called the breeder and he said shell eat when hungry not to worry. What is proper hibernation techniques, she has plenty of Cypress mulch, resh water, and we leave her alone when she is hidden so just hold her when she is up and moving around?

 

[tegugirl]

Howdo you make a hidebox? do you put that in the heated side of the tank?

 

[ashesc212]

Well, I didnt know it was wrong to buy one, when the breeders at the retile expo were selling them. Also i have read many care sheets and says nothing about not eating, i called the breeder and he said shell eat when hungry not to worry. What is proper hibernation techniques, she has plenty of Cypress mulch, resh water, and we leave her alone when she is hidden so just hold her when she is up and moving around?

The thing is, she may not be hibernating but just scared...if you leave food available for her then she'll eat when she's ready. So what about your lighting? What type of bulb is it? You may be missing out on a UVB strip light which is ESSENTIAL to allowing the tegu to properly digest calcium (which he needs as a supplement to his food). Do you have a mercury vapor bulb? In that case it's okay. Anyway, the tegu needs access to the basking spot. The water is not blocking it is it?

A hide box is really just anything that it can sleep/hide in like a rock cave .

 

[ashesc212]

The bath is a good idea. Your humidity still may not be at an ideal percentage if the tegu is dry, however. What are you using to measure it?

 

[Harveysherps]

Don't get all huffy. Why buy something and not know how to take care of it? You should have done your homework and we could be having a different conversation. Who was the breeder you bought it from? He should have atleast told you some of the basic care. If not he just wanted to make a sell and you fell for it. So now your here looking for answers. I'm sorry if I offended you. But I merely stated the truth. I will be happy to try and help. Now that your in the situation. Hibernation has been expalined several times in the past week right here on this site. I myself have explained it many times. This site has the best care sheet on the net. Try giving that a read first. Then you might give Agama International's site a read. It's no longer in operation but the site is still there. It has loads of info. I don't agree with everything but the most I do.

 

[tegugirl]

No the water is not blocking the bulb the water is on one side, the light covers whole end of tank. The only other thing in tank is a log thing that has an opening underneath that she crawls under and hides...Does she need a hidebox?

 

[ashesc212]

No the water is not blocking the bulb the water is on one side, the light covers whole end of tank. The only other thing in tank is a log thing that has an opening underneath that she crawls under and hides...Does she need a hidebox?

So you just have one bulb? What type of bulb is it? Sorry to be asking this so many times...I just want to make sure she has UVB and UVA.

The log could probably work as a hide...otherwise just get anything that provides a sheltered spot.

 

[tegugirl]

Its a UVB light ...How do i post pics on here then i can just show you her...and her setup...and tell me what you think?

 

[tegugirl]

Yes, i only have one bulb on one side of tank, as told to do by the breeder and the heating pad on same side. Then the other side is cool as it should be.

 

[Harveysherps]

To post pics . You need to have a PhotoBucket or something like it. You can also load them through the reply button. The quick reply you need PhotoBucket or something.

 

[ashesc212]

Its a UVB light ...How do i post pics on here then i can just show you her...and her setup...and tell me what you think?

You need a Photobucket or Flickr account. For Flickr (I don't know about Photobucket because I use Flickr), you upload the picture on your account and then right click on it. Go to properties, then click on image location. From there you will see a url address. Copy that and insert that between the "img" brackets provided on this site with the img buttons.

 

[tegugirl]

Here are some pics of my new TEGUs setup

Hope this helps and let me know what you think she is hidding right now so i left her be....
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=148573525&albumId=2344114">http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.c ... Id=2344114</a><!-- m -->

Go to this link and tell me what you think i cant figure out how to get pics on here....[/url]

 

[Harveysherps]

The set up looks fine to me.