Nose Rubbing?

[Kelsey]

Hey everyone! I bought a young tegu a few weeks ago at the Kansas City Reptile Expo. He (or she, I don't know) is a pretty neat little guy! Right now, he is in an exo-terra equivalent in size to a 40 gallon breeder tanks and on cypress mulch. I heat the tank by using a 100 watt heat bulb, and I also have the appropriate lighting for him.

I just have a question about his behavior. Whenever I put him in a seperate bin to feed him (there is no substrate in it) he starts rubbing his nose everywhere. It's not like a dog who puts his nose to the ground to smell something...he's just rubbing his nose all over the place, sometimes tilting his head to the side to do so. It almost reminds me of a snake trying to shed, but I don't think he has to shed, because he has been doing this for weeks. I am in college, and so my mom takes care of him on the week, and I do on the weekends. She says he does this every feeding time, and she thinks it's adorable. I just wanted to make sure this isn't a sign of a health problem or something. I spray his tank a couple of times a day to help keep the humidity up.

Also, I should mention that it looks like the very tip of his tail is a little black & shriveled (it was like this when I got him, I just didn't notice it until I got home). I'm not too concerned about it...a long time ago my snake shed weird and it pulled some scales off the tip of his tail, and though I put neosporin on it and such, it still fell off. However, it healed perfectly. I'm wondering if this happened to Zeke, or if it got jammed in a cage door. He is also not eating too much. I kind of hope he's not going in to hibernation, because I don't know much about that and I'm afraid I will starve him or something. He eats maybe every other day, and sometimes it's only a pinky. Today he seemed pretty active and was trying to get out of his cage, so I put my hand in there, he crawled right out to me, and I put him in his feeding bin. He did the weird head rubbing behavior right when I put him in, and ate a pinky when I put it in front of him. After that, I put in some boiled eggs & ground turkey, but he didn't seem interested and only rubbed his nose and tried to escape to return to his cage.

So, what do you guys think of this nose rubbing behavior? Thanks!
Kelsey

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Hi Kelsey, welcome to the site and :-D congrats on the new Gu. What kind of Gu do you have? Because not all of them hibernate.

After eating they usually wipe their mouth when they're done. But since you said it does this all the time and the tip of its tail is black. It sounds to me like it has some stuck shed its been trying to get off. Even though you may not see it, try giving it a warm bath and let it soak. Some Gus' don't like it but as long as the water is warm enough my crew loves it. You can do this in the bath tub, the sink or in its feeding bin. Just make sure you rinse the tub and the sink really well before starting to fill it.

Depending on the size of your Gu the water should come up to their shoulders (up to their 2 front legs) or mid back. I like to add something to rest their head on if they decide to go to sleep (which mine does). You can also add more water so that they can swim around for a little while. Which will also help loosen the stuck shed. Once again have something inside that they can climb on to and rest, when they get tired. So it won't drown and just in case you have to step away for a min. After bath time use a dry or damp towel, wrap it around (or hold it snugly) and let it walk through.. Any loose shed will be removed.

If this doesn't work I think some people use Olive Oil. I could be wrong, I've never tried it so I'm sure someone else will verify or correct me if I'm wrong.

As for the tip of its tail,.. the black part will fall off in due time and it'll be fine.

I hope this helps and let me know how things work out.

 

[Kelsey]

Thanks for the advice! I will go ahead and give it a try. Zeke is a B&W Argentine. I'm not sure of his age, and he's still pretty little, like hatchling size, but he has no green head. I'm not sure how he was cared for before, or if he was given enough food, so maybe that's why he's still a little guy. I hope to fatten him up soon. I think I might try to get him some fish or beef liver. We'll see! He seems pretty active today so that's good. Thanks again!