New owner

[dragonkeeper]

I have done my research on this lizard and finaly bought one at a reptile show in ohio. I have picked a nice healthy looking guy or female. He/she is now burrowing or sleeping under its substraight. I frequently check on him threw the day and he occasionaly pops out of his hole and eats. I havent yet seen him drink but he goes over there frequently. Idk if im missing any signs or gestures of somethings wrong but i feel its not. Im just curious of some more experianced advice. Plz and thanks

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Colombians can take awhile to adjust to changes so be patient with him hiding. W may be able to offer more advice if you tell us how you have the enclosure setup. What is your basking and ambient temps? How are you measuring them? humidity? diet you plan on offering, etc.
and lastly, congrats on getting your little guy (or gal!)

 

[dragonkeeper]

Colombians can take awhile to adjust to changes so be patient with him hiding. W may be able to offer more advice if you tell us how you have the enclosure setup. What is your basking and ambient temps? How are you measuring them? humidity? diet you plan on offering, etc.
and lastly, congrats on getting your little guy (or gal!)

Well i hsve him in a 29 gallon tsnk right bow with about 3 inches of reptibark with a hide out bout 2 inches down. I have been feeding him medium crickets and super worms. He seems to notice the water bowl when a cricket jumps in it but thats about it. I heard that Columbians dont hibernate or do they? I havr the temp around 90 degrees in the day and u switch it off at night the humidity im unsure of cause i dont have a gauge but i reguraly mist the cage and mix up the reptibark im doing everything im supposed to i just dont want to bother him if hes burried. Ive heard thats a bad thing to do. But when he is out i let him run around in his room with my supervision. I pet and play with him also giving him some water time in the tub. But for the past two days he hasnt came back up. I know nothings wrong but advise is always best.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

I'm not sure where you went for your research but several things should be fixed. A 29gallon, even for a hatchling is too small because you cannot provide a good temperature gradient in such a small enclosure. a 40gallon should be the smallest used. You need a basking spot of 115 for babies, higher for adults. You have to have a temp gun to measure the surface temperature of a basking rock. Digital or analog gauges only measure air temp. Air temp should be mid 90's on the hot side, and down to 80 on the cool side. Basking bulb should be artificial white light, not red and be sure you have a good UVB bulb. Good uv bulbs are mercury vapor bulbs which provide both UV and Heat in one bulb or zoo med reptisun florescent bulbs (tube bulb) The coil bulbs are no good. I would switch from reptibark to something that holds more humidity and can be burrowed in easier, like top soil, peat moss, eco earth, or even cypress mulch mixed with one of other options. Just mealworms or crickets is a very poor diet. Try adding in pinky/fuzzy mice, some fish pieces, shrimp pieces, other insects like dubia roaches, he just needs more variety. There is a food list on here you can check out. Feed daily too.

 

[AssassinExotics]

Highly agreed!

 

[dragonkeeper]

Vary good advise i will go with what you said. Like i said im new to a tegu but have other lizards. Its great that i got advice quickly. Im in the process of building the 8x4x4 enclosure so he will have more space. I know i have the bare minimum but im slowly getting the things needed. He is a sparky little guy when hes out he like to roam and squeeze between my legs and hide. Now that i have the setup advise. How about the way hes susposed to act. And what to look for in behavior.

 

[dragonkeeper]

This is my little guy

 

[dragonkeeper]

And why is he always burried.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Beautiful gold colombian you have there. His behavior sounds just like how it should be. Especially for babies and if you just got him he needs time to adjust and learn to trust you. Babies hide a lot, and remember burrowing is just what they do, as he feels more comfortable and when you get your temperatures up he will come out more.

 

[Lizard_boy]

Is there a bread of tegus that are smaller than the regular tegus??? I just downloaded this app cuz I can't find nothin I want to get a tegu and have been for a long time... They just get really big lol but if there isn't a smaller bread of them I'll just get a different one

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Is there a bread of tegus that are smaller than the regular tegus??? I just downloaded this app cuz I can't find nothin I want to get a tegu and have been for a long time... They just get really big lol but if there isn't a smaller bread of them I'll just get a different one

Colombians are the smallest tegus in the pet trade but still get 3.5ft

 

[Lizard_boy]

Ok thanks how big should the enclosure be??

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

6x3x3 minimum for a colombian.