I just got my little tegu from Bobby in the mail today!!

But, he is displaying some behaviors that I am not familiar with.

He looks like he is sleeping but his whole body is twitching. He will wake up a little bit and keep twitching. It looks like he is shedding some of his head scales so is it because he is shedding?


He is also breathing very hard and fast. and earlier he had his mouth wide open with his tongue flopped out.


Whats goin on?!?!?

I would call bobby ASAP

Was he stuck outside in the heat at all or did he have a heat pack in there? Definitely call Bobby immediately! He is your best source. Alternatively, go to a 24 hour ER for animals.

Twitching is sometimes caused by calcium deficiencies but I doubt that would be the case with Bobby's, but you never know. Did you try giving him some water?

I am pretty sure it was the heat.

Thanks guys!

This is common after the stress of shipping, it happened to my baby tegu and many other hatchlings received in the past few days. As long as it subsides in the next 24hrs it is not a concern.

@AlmostDVM - So what can you do for them if this happens?

The best thing to do is to let them acclimate to their new environment. The first thing we all want to do is play with our new tegu, but this is not ideal. Start by minimizing handling out of the box. They should be allowed to warm up (bask) and get comfortable in their new home. Once you notice they have calmed down, stopped shaking, decreased respiratory rate you can slowly work on gaining their trust.

AlmostDVM-

You're right. Cricket (the tegu), stopped twitching after the first day. Now he's just being a lazy lizard basking all day.

AND he is shedding !

Does anyone know when I can give him his first bath?

you can give him one now, just make sure the water dont go past his shoulders.

He started twitching again! all over his body. I have an appropriate UVB light anddd I took him outside today. But, coincidentally, when I was changing the bulb on the UVB, the light broke. So, he has been without it for about 12 hours (but it was at night) Could he just magically develop MBD in a day?

I am going to get a new bulb today but could he really have MBD at three weeks old?

He even ate a pinky mouse last night.

the temps in his cage are
109 basking spot
75 in the middle

WHAT DO I DO!?!?!??!?

I had a similar experience and it was diet related. After getting him back on feeding on f/t pinkies and fuzzies he was fine.

That is a good point Chris. Way too many people put so much emphasis on UV. All I ever read is "what kind of UV do I need" or "UV should cure that" but I seldom see anybody say diet is more important. In order to process calcium, calcium has to be provided in the first place. You sure aren't going to get that from UV!!

Try adding calcium to his diet. A quality UVB is essential for Vit D synthesis, but the calcium has to come from the diet or the skeleton. Low plasma levels of calcium can cause twitching because calcium is necessary for proper muscle contraction. Most diets of young tegus are naturally low in calcium and high in phosphorous, so frequent calcium supplementation is required.

It's not MBD per se, but could be a simple short term calcium deficiency. Bobby takes good care of his animals, so it could be a matter of the tegu not eating the meat that had the calcium supplement on it or perhaps hiding and not basking under the UVB light. I had a friend who had two tegus in the same enclosure eating the same diet. One began to twitch and the other didn't. Sometimes there are physiological differences between animals as well.

At any rate, I think you will find an easy fix for your new little friend. Nice warm temps, some calcium, and natural sunlight for about 30 min a day will work wonders.

Bwindi,

I would of course try what the others have stated in regards to diet/calcium, because that is important regardless of tremors. But I might also implore you to leave him alone completely for a day or so?

My Tegu (on arrival day) also had these muscle tremors (pretty severely; he could barely walk), and when I talked to Bobby he insisted it was stress from shipping and new environment.

That being said, I simply left him alone for an entire day and night...no touching, no rattling or bustling around his cage. I just let him be. The following day, the tremors had all but ceased. They would start up again (though less severely) whenever I got close to him to inspect, however. For me that confirmed that it was in fact stress and he was simply trying to adjust to both me and the major environmental change.

Have you given your Tegu enough time to himself to get acclimated?

Anyway, it's just a thought. My Tegu arrived this past Tuesday, and by Thursday the tremors had ceased completely. He is now a curious, energetic, hungry little guy!

Good luck to you! And keep us posted.