Enclosure and lighting?

[Guest]

So everyone I've talked to said I need a UVB for my little guy, but he always stays buried under the substrate unless he's eating. I've had him for about a week now and he's basked once or twice. I use a heat bulb and it keeps the temperature around 95-100 on the hot side and it stays around 85-90. I just want to make sure I do everything right with him. He won't eat crickets, so I've been giving him mealworms mixed in with his other food. I was giving him canned dog food and canned tuna and scrambled eggs, because that's what the breeder told me they ate but now I'm going to start mixing in other stuff. (Really glad I found this forum!) So if I give him beef and turkey ground up does it need to be cooked, and if so, how? And UVB, if necessary, how long should I leave it on him?

 

[Pikey]

you should run the light 10-12 hours on. once he get used to his new home he'll be out more & more.
& i wouldn't feed him the dog food, lots of chemicals (unless you get some all natural) but they are all high in fat
& no dont cook it, it should be raw and at room temp. (they will have a hard time digesting anything cooked, other than eggs

 

[Guest]

Thanks so much. He ate a pinky mouse today which I gave him for a treat and also some scrambled eggs. I figured dog food wasn't that healthy for them because of all the crap they make it out of. Thanks a lot!

 

[Guest]

What about bedding? The guy I got him from told me aspen works well, but I don't think he knew what he was talking about. Is Plantation Soil okay?

 

[AlbatrossTrevelyan]

Aspen is okay, but doesn't hold humidity as well. A lot of people suggest Cypress Mulch, on here, and a few other sites that I have visited: it's cheap, and holds humidity well. Just make it deep enough for them to burrow well.

 

[reptastic]

cypress mulch works great, i recently switched all of my tegus to it and it worked out much better than the repti-bark i was using especially finacially! i spend about $4 for 2 huge bags walmart and its enough to last a month or 2!