Tegu Owner newbie!

[Tiffany Lebel]

Hey Everyone. My name is Tiffany. I live in the northern part of New Hampshire, almost to the canadian border... lol. Yes there is civilization up here but not much. I am not very new to the reptile community. I have two bearded dragons. I also have 5 fire belly toads but those aren't reptiles... they still count though. I also have a hedgehog, 4 dogs, 1 cat and 2 dumbo rats (they're my older daughter's pets). I have 4 kids and they are so excited about meeting our newest family member next weekend. We are going to the reptile show in Manchester. Reptile shows are so much fun to attend and very educational. It was how I learned about bearded dragons and even attended the short seminar they did at the one in Birmingham. I have been researching Tegus and Frilled Dragons for the past year and finally decided that my next reptile should be the Argentine Tegu. Fortunately I met a wonderful lady who had 3 left and after messaging her with questions I decided it was time and I was ready. I cannot wait to get my hands on the little guy

Look forward to sharing my little guy with all of you and learning while I go, you can never be educated enough when it comes to animals.. or kids LOL.

Take care and hope to talk to some of you soon! Please feel free to message me as much info as you would like. So far I Have the food chart basics down, the type of enclosure (we are building one, it will be 8x4x3, hubby is excited for this task), it's the lighting and temps that I'm seeing mixed reviews on that I could get some help on.

Thanks in advance! Here are a few pics I have of him from the owner. We haven't named him yet, name ideas are welcome

 

[Josh]

WELCOME Tiffany! That's a sweet lookin tegu!

 

[marydd]

That is a cutie!

 

[Rhetoric]

Welcome. For temps you want to aim for a surface temp of 125-135*F. When measuring temps you always want to use a temp gun, they are more accurate and measure the actual surface temps vs the ambient temps that probes measure. Temp guns can be fairly inexpensive, I got mine at petsmart a few years ago but other keepers have gotten them off of sites like amazon.

For younger tegus UV lighting is an absolute must. Mega Ray is the most recommended bulb, Laura sells them (I think its laurarfl on here). Powersuns are nice as well. You should set up a basking area that has cluster lighting, 3 or so bulbs in a row, so that it covers most if not all of your tegu. Cluster lighting greatly lowers the risk of burns because the heat is more evenly distributed across the tegus body vs one tight beam of light coming down on the center of its back. For heat you can do 2 flood lights and one of the MVBs (like mega ray or powersun).

A good example of cluster lighting: http://www.savannahmonitor.net/housing/images/biker.jpg

 

[Josh]

Here's some affordable temp guns on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...ld-keywords=temp+gun&sprefix=temp+gun,aps,256

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

This is moose. He is about 7 months old and already wiggled his way into my heart. He had some raw turkey for dinner and a blueberry. I was shocked as he hasn't had either of those yet. So he ate like a king tonight. Now he's hiding behind the two bags of bagels on the counter asleep LOL.

 

[Josh]

Awww He looks great! How's he settling in? Eating well? Looks like his tail may have a bit of stuck shed?

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

Yes. It's gone today. Looks like he took care of it last night while digging to China ... Under his water bowl. We played "find the tegu" this am and my chicken hubby didn't want to search so I did, he's not a huge fan of the reptiles lol. But he will come around. He always does! Couldn't find him. Thought ok he's in there somewhere, in the mean time I'll give him new water.. BAM there he was. Curled up like a snake under it. Warmed him up, gave him bath, then he basked for a bit. When he climbed out of his cage we offered him food. He ate, basked, napped, played, now he's sleeping some lol. Busy day for him.

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

Dinner today he had a few dubias... Was still hungry so I gave him what he didn't eat of the raw ground turkey yesterday topped with raw egg. He had no interest in squash. Afterwards he went in his cage and looked like he did in the two pics I just posted lol. One happy tegu. Even left me a present.

 

[Josh]

Hahaha I can imagine what kind of present he left you!
Glad to hear the shed has come off. He looks so happy and content in that first photo. And the video is so cute!

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

Thanks! He is a happy quirky little guy. I need to get him a ramp for his temp cage so he can get back into it. He's mastered getting out lol.

Can you change the title? I tried. I wanted to take off soon to be, and leave the Newbie Tegu Owner. Thanks!

 

[Josh]

Titled changed! Congrats!

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

Awesome. You're the best! Off to finish my French class so I can spend time with the family before bed. Sigh. I'll be glad I be done with this class tonight. One week off and I start another college class. Boo!!

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

 

[Tiffany Lebel]

Tomorrow Moose will be having surgery. I took him Froday to a vet 3 hours south of me. And he will have surgery there tomorrow. Another snow storm to drive in of course but the little guy is so beyond worth it. Prayers for safe travels and steady hands for the surgeon and then quick healing! Thanks