Tegu Just Arrived!

[John McLaughlin]

Hello, my name is John, I live in Indiana, and Teegs ( His name ) just arrived today. It was a bit scary because he was due to arrive yesterday... but he is fine and healthy! I purchased him from TegusOnly, Rodney Irwin. Rod was extremely nice to deal with and was very helpful throughout the whole process. The terrarium is almost finished, it just needs sliding glass doors to be completed. The dimensions are 8x4 ft x40 inches tall. I thought this would be plenty big, but as you can tell by the attached picture, after a 16x24 basking rock, a 30x32 hide box, and a water dish large enough for him to soak in, not a lot of room left. I am struggling with flood lamp fixtures getting too hot with 150 watt basking balls. I am now trying ceramic medium based bulb extensions to see if this resolves the problem.

 

[Josh]

Welcome John and Teegs! Congrats on the new addition to your family!
Glad to hear you had a good experience with TegusOnly.
Let's see some pictures of the little guy!
You can try 100W bulbs too. The ones you're using are spotlight bulbs so they do tend to focus the heat a bit more... What are your basking temps as-is?

 

[John McLaughlin]

Hello, my name is John, I live in Indiana, and Teegs ( His name ) just arrived today. It was a bit scary because he was due to arrive yesterday... but he is fine and healthy! I purchased him from TegusOnly, Rodney Irwin. Rod was extremely nice to deal with and was very helpful throughout the whole process. The terrarium is almost finished, it just needs sliding glass doors to be completed. The dimensions are 8x4 ft x40 inches tall. I thought this would be plenty big, but as you can tell by the attached picture, after a 16x24 basking rock, a 30x32 hide box, and a water dish large enough for him to soak in, not a lot of room left. I am struggling with flood lamp fixtures getting too hot with 150 watt basking balls. I am now trying ceramic medium based bulb extensions to see if this resolves the problem.

Welcome John and Teegs! Congrats on the new addition to your family!
Glad to hear you had a good experience with TegusOnly.
Let's see some pictures of the little guy!
You can try 100W bulbs too. The ones you're using are spotlight bulbs so they do tend to focus the heat a bit more... What are your basking temps as-is?

Without glass on its hard to say what the temps will be. the 2- 150's where to maintain ambient temp. I have a 250 basking and 2- 46" reptisun 10.0 t5s arriving tomorrow. Its the floodlight fixtures that are getting way to hot. I installed ceramic bulb extensions and it seems to help a little, I'm still afraid to leave daylight and or infrared's on unattended.

 

[John McLaughlin]

As far as pics go, that's actually him in my avatar pic my son pulled that from un- boxing video, right when he first stuck his head out of bag. After that he was in his hide and we have yet to see him come out. I will post pics as soon as he's ready.

 

[John McLaughlin]

Welcome John and Teegs! Congrats on the new addition to your family!
Glad to hear you had a good experience with TegusOnly.
Let's see some pictures of the little guy!
You can try 100W bulbs too. The ones you're using are spotlight bulbs so they do tend to focus the heat a bit more... What are your basking temps as-is?

 

[John McLaughlin]

here is Teegs

 

[Josh]

He looks good!
Keep us updated on how he settles in!

 

[N8bub]

Please tell me you didn't steal the boys sled for the new gucage looks good and enjoy your new amigo!

 

[John McLaughlin]

Please tell me you didn't steal the boys sled for the new gucage looks good and enjoy your new amigo!

Not allot of snow this year, thanks

 

[marydd]

Good looking gu! So glad you're happy with your new friend!

 

[BigJay8232]

Where are you located John. I was thinking of getting a Gu from Rodney but it is so freakin cold here I didn't want to have it shipped.

 

[Josh]

How's the first day been, John?

 

[John McLaughlin]

Where are you located John. I was thinking of getting a Gu from Rodney but it is so freakin cold here I didn't want to have it shipped.

Noblesville, Indiana he was a day late got down to 28 degrees no problems though he was fine. there was still a little warmth in the 2 heat packs even after 48 hrs. I would recommend calling your local post office (Rod ships USPS) and have them hang on to him/her until you can pick up. The only real risk in cold weather is out on a delivery truck.

 

[John McLaughlin]

How's the first day been, John?

Good Josh thanks for asking, haven't seen him, though he did manage to come out of his hide and pull the food bowl back into it when I wasn't around to see. Doesn't look light he ate any but he does have it in his hide.

 

[John McLaughlin]

Good looking gu! So glad you're happy with your new friend!

Thanks

 

[John McLaughlin]

Well, its been a little bit since I have shared. Teegs is coming along great. I noticed as he was running around the room that he really seemed to be looking for something. By the 3rd week of Feb I knew by the way he was acting that he wanted a girl friend. So I called Rodney. March 4th Mrs. Teegs arrived. They hit it off great. I went on Craigs list and found a used wine chiller. I wanted a wine chiller because I liked the idea of seeing through the front glass. I gutted it, went on line and found the bean farm. I purchased some 11" heat tape, clips and a herpistat. set up was a breeze. I'm a home builder buy the way, 35 years in the trades. Found some clear plastic containers at the container store that fit perfect. Purchased 16lbs of hatch 'em. this is the same product as super hatch just less expensive. 16lbs is what you need for 2- 153/4 x 13 x 6 containers. I placed containers in diy incubator and waited and waited. I have been spending as much time as I could on this site reading every thing I could about this new endeavor. That's how I came up with incubator. I waited a couple of weeks and put soft hay and oak leaves in the terrarium. Only took her a couple of days to have it all in the hide. 3 days, 10 days, oh no 2 weeks nothing. I thought well she seemed small maybe not this year but she is fat and not eating maybe. Then Easter Sunday believe it or not I checked up on them and through the cracks in the hide I saw them. 27 perfect little white eggs. I will tell you the extra time was very useful. Setting up the incubator is anything but plug and play. You need the time to find the right spot for sensor and the right temp setting for proper temp inside containers. I uploaded some pics. Hope you enjoy and wish us well. we've already started counting the days, 1.

 

[N8bub]

Awesome man! Make sure to post pics of the little green guys when they pop!

 

[Walter1]

Egg temps?

 

[BigJay8232]

Your female does look small John? 27 eggs is awesome. What is her length/weight?

 

[John McLaughlin]

Length I'm guessing 26" weight no idea