Some Tegu Questions from a Newbie

[Tosh10]

Hello everyone, I just received my Tegu about 6 days ago. She is so great. At first I wanted to get another green iguana as I have owned them and housed several rescues in the past. I always thought they were great. However, after only 6 days of owning a Tegu I am fairly confident that I chose a better pet. It would take months to get an iguana as tame as this Tegu was when I received her.

She is super healthy looking and very active. My only concern is that she does not seem to be eating much. I have tried feeding her fish, mealworms, scrambled, boiled and raw eggs, various fruits and berries, and a ground turkey and ground chicken mixture but all she has been interested in eating is the ground turkey and chicken mixture. She only eats about a thimble sized portion of this a day, which does not seem like enough. I only take her out to feed her and have been leaving her alone the rest of the time so she can adjust to her new surrounds. I just wanted to know if anyone has any other suggestions to increase her appetite? Maybe all she needs is time but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask

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Sorry, I forgot to mention she is 6 months old and about two feet long

 

[laurarfl]

Can you post a photo and describe her set-up including temps, etc to the detail?

 

[Tosh10]

Can you post a photo and describe her set-up including temps, etc to the detail?

I have attached some photos of the enclosure. The room is fairly small so it was hard to get a good photo. There is a cover on the right end similar to the left end, I just had it removed as I was making some adjustments inside the enclosure.

The temperature ranges about 95 to 105 at hottest spot and about 85 at the coolest end. I am trying to keep the humidity at a minimum of 75% by misting frequently but I am not always maintaining this level. I am going to purchase a misting system today to fix this small issue.

Either way I think she is fairly healthy looking. She is very active. I just can't get her to eat anything other than small amounts of a ground turkey and ground chicken mixture lol. I have been mixing some other things in this but, I would like to get her eating other food items without the ground turkey and ground chicken. Do you have any suggestions on other foods or methods that I could try?

 

[james.w]

Have you tried rats or mice? Roaches and crickets usually work well also. Being winter they will slow down and not eat as much as well. Your enclosure looks good, a free things though, try lowering the cool side to about 75. Your humidity issues I'm sure have a lot to do with the height of the enclosure. What size/type bulbs are you using?

 

[Tosh10]

Have you tried rats or mice? Roaches and crickets usually work well also. Being winter they will slow down and not eat as much as well. Your enclosure looks good, a free things though, try lowering the cool side to about 75. Your humidity issues I'm sure have a lot to do with the height of the enclosure. What size/type bulbs are you using?

Thanks for the reply. I have a 160 watt MVB bulb, a 75 watt UVB light which probably has little benefit at the distance it is situated but it provides some more light regardless, and then a 100 watt basking light. I'm guessing if I lower the wattage of the basking light I can get my "cool end" a little cooler.

 

[james.w]

What are the dimensions of the enclosure. Seems like a lot of wattage for a cage. What are the ambient temps of the room the enclosure is in?

 

[Tosh10]

The width x height is approx. 2.5 x 3 feet and the length on the one end is 6 feet and the other end is roughly 4 feet. It is a fairly large enclosure. I am in Calgary, Alberta where it can reach bitter temperatures of -30 outside, the average temp of the room would be roughly 20 degrees celsius so I don't think my temps are too high inside the enclosure? Please let me know what you think.

Thanks