Phoenix the B+W

[Qobrah_Ven]

Hello all, I am new to this site as well as new to tegus, I figured this would be a great place to get advice and learn about them. My tegu's name is Phoenix and he is an argentine black and white, I bought him in September of 2015 and the man I bought him from told me he was around 8 months old, he was 20 inches long (part of his tail was re-gen so he may have been longer before). I have always wanted a huge dog tame lizard to play with and after a bad experience with my first big guy (wild caught savannah monitor, wasn't told about the wild caught part..) Phoenix seems to be well on his way to being that awesome lizard I do have some questions/concerns however. My first question involves growth rate, now that he is around 1 year old, he is a total of 33 inches long, is that average? his growth seems to be slowing down at this point and he is much less active, also he doesn't seem nearly as interested in eating anymore. I have a feeling that he may be starting to hibernate but I was under the impression that hibernation would've started months ago if he was going to do it. I feed him lots of different things, f/t mice or rats, ground turkey, chicken hearts/livers/gizzards, fruits, I used to feed crickets but he lost interest in them. He is super friendly, I have always fed in in the enclosure and he knows the difference between my hand and food. Basically i just want to make sure I am on the right track to having a healthy giant lizard in a few years. Any advice/info/input would be greatly appreciated. here are some pics of him, the ones in the bathtub are current as they were taken today to show his size. Oh also I'm not 100% sure on sex, I just went by what i read about feeling two small bumps under his tail.

 

[Walter1]

Welcome and congrats on Phoenix. Where'd you get him.

 

[Qobrah_Ven]

I bought him from a local reptile store in my area, Dave's Dragons. I volunteer there once in a while and picked the little guy up cuz he was just too cute

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

Dave's Dragons in Manchester NH?

 

[Qobrah_Ven]

yes thats the one

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

Wow, so live in my area. That would explain why your gu won't eat much. Mine has been hibernating for nearly 2 months now. Has not eaten in 3 weeks at all. All he wants to do is sleep. I wake him up every week to give him a nice soak and to offer food. He seldom ever takes a bite. That of course slows down his growth. He has been 36 inches forever now, it seems like lol. I got him at the Redison expo back in March. Did you have a chance to visit the expo last Sunday?

 

[Walter1]

Dee-Dee- when he wakes up in late-winter-spring, you'll be feeding him with a shovel! Lots of shedding and growing.

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

I hope so, I can't wait. We miss him so much. My kids love playing with him, so the winter seems awefully long

 

[Walter1]

I know how it is. My three've been down since late October and in deep storage. 1x ea month I pull them out to see if they're thirsty. Won't be active til late March..

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

You got 3? Lucky!!!! I've been thinking about getting a second one, but since I'm not 100% sure of the sex of my baby, I'm worried. What if they fight? Do your get along well. Walter1?

 

[Walter1]

Thanks. A 1.2. No problems at all. Hang out a lot together. Two males would be a problem.

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

I'll wait patiently then to make sure not to let that happen. When I got Rocky in March, he was almost a year old (so they said) and 22 inches long. The gentleman I bought him from told me, he was 90% sure of him being a male. Rocky was 36 inches before he began to hibernate. I was never t able to feel bay BBs, but his jowls are getting bigger each time I see him. I took him to a place called zoo creatures and they tryed to sex him for me, but said his tail was too fat to tell. They offered to do an ultra sound when the owners is there, but by the time I made it back, he was resting for the winter.

 

[Walter1]

Enlarged jowls sound like a male. Send some pics and close-up of the vent.

 

[Jrock23]

Welcome, and your tegus look beautiful and nice and healthy

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

Thanx Jrock. And to Walter- I will as soon as figure out how. I'm new to this and mostly on an iPad, where I don't seem to be able to upload files from. So I'll have to try from my PC when I get to it
Thanx for all the help, it's nice to have some support

 

[Walter1]

DD- You're most welcome. As you have seen, tegus sure can be enriching. Most happy to help.

 

[Qobrah_Ven]

pheonix is definitely less active and less interested in food, but he doesn't seem to be in full hibernation, i still find him out and about a few times a week, he's been at around 32 inches for a few weeks now. Im hoping he will soon start eating lots again and have a growth spurt. He's around a year old and most likely male as i think i can feel some bumps under his tail. i have heard of people saying they have tegus that get over 3 feet in a year, but that seems huge to me. When i bought phonic at 8 or so months he was only 20 inches long which seemed average to me. My old savannah monitor reached 3 feet by his second year and he was extremely healthy, just not massive.

 

[Walter1]

Yup. The length and extent of burmation varies by lizard adn by environment. Mine are asleep in a large flat tupperware with some crumpled newspaper and a few holes in it. Very dim light during part of the day and a constant 58-63F.

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

Phoenix is a very hansome boy. I'm sure he'll make you a happy mom

 

[Qobrah_Ven]

Wow, so live in my area. That would explain why your gu won't eat much. Mine has been hibernating for nearly 2 months now. Has not eaten in 3 weeks at all. All he wants to do is sleep. I wake him up every week to give him a nice soak and to offer food. He seldom ever takes a bite. That of course slows down his growth. He has been 36 inches forever now, it seems like lol. I got him at the Redison expo back in March. Did you have a chance to visit the expo last Sunday?

yes i did go to the expo, i go to every one they have lol. i breed ball pythons so I'm always looking for new snakes to add ro my collection. I try not to buy monitors/tegus from the expos however because you really don't know what their temperament is until you get them home and warmed up and acclimated. One of my friends bought a nile monitor that was puppy dog tame at the show but a few days later once it settled in and warmed up the thing was a nightmare (but then again it was a nile, those things are always nasty). But I'm glad your tegu worked out from the expo, i guess tegus are just awesome animals no matter where you get them lol.