shes up and eating, can i change the hours she's awake?

[Guest]

Hey everyone,
After all my worrying it turns out my tegu is fine. She came out two weeks ago and has been feeding like normal and growing and already shed once. I do have another question. She is up at like 4 am. and is gone before i get back home at 5. I dont want to feed her mice or worms everyday and crickets wont stay in a bowl in her cage and i dont want to feed her in her cage either. I changed the timing on her daylight to come on at 10am and go off at 10pm but she still has those wierd hours. I dont have time to take her out and feed her in the morning so is there anything i can do to make her wake up later and stay out later? If i skip a feeding in the morning can i try to get her out of her burrow in the afternoon in order to feed her so maybe she will get used to this schedule? You guys have been a great help so far and im hoping someone knows what to do here. Thanks.

 

[tora]

I would stick with the schedule you're on, she'll eventually catch on. You don't really want to dig her up, it'll tarnish some of the trust you've been working for. Mine used to do pretty much the same thing, but we're on the same schedule now.

 

[Toby_H]

My lights are on from 4pm until Midnight... I feed only in the evening when I get home from work... My Tegu has learned when the lights are on and when food is available...

I would suggest changing the time gradually... changing it 30 minutes at a time once per week...

 

[Guest]

i will try the light thing. I would love to do the 4 to midnight lights so ill work at that. also are you saying i should still leave stuff in the morning or try to feed when i get home? i can time the lights gradually but i cant be home to gradually feed later and later, so should i always wait till afternoon or as i gradually change lights should have a switch point of feeding at 5 am to when i get home?

 

[Toby_H]

I would feed in the evenings when it's more practical for my schedule... which is also the long term goal's feeding time...


Either approach makes sense... to gradually alter the lighting schedule to be more compatible to yours... or change the lights all at once to the desired schedule and just get it over with...

While doing it all at once will put him off balance for a short period, it will instantly put him on a schedule that allows you to give him the best care. The 'slow and safe' approach is less 'shock' but puts off the compatible schedule...


A 'safe' way I've found to wake up my Tegu is to pour warm water onto his hide. This wakes him up slowly & peacefully while leaving him the decision to actually crawl out or not.

I would wake him up like this in the evening and then offer food. He'll probably eat and go back to sleep the first couple of times, but as the lights and food both promote it, I believe he will adjust to your schedule.