New tegu from petshop, afraid gonna hurt himself!!

[Guest]

We just got a new tegu from a petshop that didnt know much about tegus at all. They didnt know what kind he was, or how his cage should be set up. They had a fake group of vines that he needed to climb just to get to his light, and they had a heat rock (it wasnt plugged in). Somehow he must of gotten his tail stuck in the vine and broke off some of his tail, which is still dangling there. And the lady said that everytime she would go to feed him or anything, he would open his mouth. My bf even had to try and give her advice on how the cage setup should be! :doh
Anyways, getting back to my ?, eversince we got him home and setup a temp. cage for him, he freaks out whenever we walk past the cage. He constantly runs into the glass and we are afraid that he is going to hurt himself. :shock: Now he is just peeking out from behind his hide, and just looks so freaked out. Any ideas on what to do??
Sorry so long,
Alyssa

 

[isdrake]

That's a horrible story. It's so sad then petshops doesn't care or know of to care for their animals. :O Anyway, I hope you will give your Tegu a good home. And congratulations btw.

As far as your little problem. It's normal that young Tegus are skittish. Just make sure that he's got plenty of hides so that he can move around in the enclosure knowing that a good hiding place isn't far away. And just let him be so he can adjust to his new home.

 

[lilgonz]

Congrats on the new Gu! I agree that it is sad the pet stores get animals have no idea how to care for them. As previously stated just give the new little guy some time to adjust to the new cage, they will start to calm down once they figure out that your not a threat. Good luck and post some pics when you get a chance.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your input! I will get pics up as soon as he/she is calm enough. Its fairly young yet, even younger than our other one was when we got it from Bobby. I know that its gonna take some time for it to get used to being in a new environment and what not, but we have its cage in the same room as our other reptiles, because we dont have a spot that it wouldnt be getting tormented by our cats and dogs. And we have to go in and feed our other reptiles, and everytime we even walk next to his/her cage, it freaks out. So I dont know what to do about that whole situation. How long do you think we should wait until we feed?

 

[fireimp141]

One thing you could wanna try until he gets used to you guys walkin by is to get one of those fake environment wraps to go around 3 sides of the cage so he knows his boundaries on where he can run so he isn't running into the glass. One thing about monitors is they can't figure out glass, don't know why.

And on the feeding thing, if your worried about him not eating because of your presence, drop a food bowl in at night when he is burried so he doesn't see your hand, and remove it the next night.

 

[Guest]

That is an excellent idea thank you! The weird thing is that we can touch him and pick him up just fine when he's in his feeding bin, he doesnt even squirm. And we just tried feeding him a cpl hrs ago and he ate some which was good to see. I just didnt know if we should wait until he felt a little bit more comfortable b4 we took him out to feed.

 

[Beazer]

I agree with fireimp, visual barriers almost always help with that problem. I either use the backgrounds or stuff inside the cage like hides,wood, corkbark, etc. Also, how big is the tank? Best of luck to you and congrats on your new tegu.

-Jon DeLong

 

[fireimp141]

Well atleast he is eating in his bin already. That's good. And he's right, if the cage is too big it usually presents problems on young one just cause of the size of their domain. But atleast your asking questions and heading down the right path.

 

[isdrake]

Well atleast he is eating in his bin already. That's good. And he's right, if the cage is too big it usually presents problems on young one just cause of the size of their domain. But atleast your asking questions and heading down the right path.

I don't think it has to do with the tank being to big. I think is has to do with big empty spaces, which isn't quite the same thing. Then I moved our Tegu to her big enclosure it was huge compared to her size. I was expecting her to freak out because "everyone" was telling that young Tegus have problems with large tanks. But she never showed any signs of that, despite the fact that she used to be pretty skittish. I think that is because we have alot of decoration and hiding places in there, so there where not so many scary open spaces.

Now this is just a guess but I don't think the tank size is the problem then Tegus freak out, I think it's the lack of decoration.

 

[Guest]

Heya-

You might find that Pop-up-dog carriers work well as an enclosure.

http://www.sportpetdesign.com/dogkennelsandcarriers.html

The red and blue pop-up carrier pictured is what we use for both of our 'gus.

The nylon/mesh design is extremely durable and easy to clean. Since your little guy is still skittish, you can rest assured if he's going to boink a wall, he surely won't hurt himself on the nylon or meshing.

At 20$ for a large pop-up, it's an amazing deal on a great foldable carrier that works well for sleeping quarters/housing and also for transporting 'gus to the vet or park.

I got mine at Target.

Anyways...Hope this helps you out some. I'm guessing you have a columbian black&gold. As the most common tegu on the market, I'd be surprised if you had something else.

Columbians take a little more time to calm down, can be very hyper, love to jump and like all tegus, loves to burrow. It took my columbian almost a complete year to stop jumping on things...Plants, our bed, my computer chair...anything his felt he had to 'conquer'. He also tamed down very nicely - actually he's extremely tame.

Part of the taming process was simply holding him for as long as he would allow every day - multiple times - and a daily shower where he learned to go potty. He still gets the same treatment today.

I don't want this to be long winded but, if you can replace your bedding (whatever it might be) with towels, clothes (shirts), pillows, pillow cases and blankets you will have one happy tegu.

I know many people like to try and emulate a tegus natural environment which is perfectly fine, but I went the opposite direction with mine. They're spoiled beyond belief...Have never seen dirt or wood chips and as a result, have incredible skin and have never had impactions.

They sleep in their carriers and roam around my room when I get home from work. I know people want to treat them as reptiles but, if you treat them more like small dogs you will be giving your pet a much better life then if you attempt to treat them like an average lizard. As intelligent as tegus are, I can assure you they know the difference between a soft blanket and wood chips or gravel.

Whatever you do, hope you end up enjoying your new friend and remember to shower him with UVB from a mercury vapor lamp and make sure he gets plenty of calcium in his diet.

Cheers.

 

[tora]

The above post is good, but, I disagree with the towels as substrate. They can get their claws stuck and hurt themselves.

 

[Guest]

The above post is good, but, I disagree with the towels as substrate. They can get their claws stuck and hurt themselves.

That is true. However, we try and keep their nails rounded off as much as possible to avoid snags. Mainly we use blankets and bed sheets and both are preferred over towels, but we have used towels in the past.

Oddly enough, they both love to go into pillows. They'll both go right inside the case and rest under the pillow itself - I think they enjoy the weight of the pillow resting on top of them because they'll fidget around if it isn't.

Something like a 'security blanket'.