New Tegu what's on his lip?

[Shaun]

So I bought this guy from someone and he was housing it in a 40 gallon with another female is that scale rot on his lip the guy said he is in shed also looks like scarring on the top of his snout and on his back. Any advice? You can see the red scale on his snout where his mouth is. In the top picture.

 

[Shaun]

Here's another picture so you can see his size. He's now in a 5x3x2

 

[Shaun]

Here's full enclosure. Mixture is organic top soil Peat moss and a thin layer of pure cypress mulch is 4-5 inches deep two 100 watt basking bulbs and a 10.0 reptisun 18" T8 mounted to inside back of enclosure. Humidity is at about 60. Temps are still low due to the fact everything just got done an hour ago.

 

[dpjm]

The tip of the snout looks strange indeed. It sort of looks like dried blood underneath the scale. Does it feel fairly solid or spongy? I can see that developing if she was constantly banging her snout on the glass in that tiny 40 gal. Hopefully it will shed well, but it may not. On the other hand it might shed just fine and then appear much better, we'll have to see. I don't think it is rot but it's hard to say. Rot is usually spongy.

That circle on the back leg is also strange, I would normally say a thermal burn scar but the circular shape is puzzling.

Please post photos after she sheds.

 

[Shaun]

It is solid like the rest of the scales on his face. It looked like a burn to me also. I asked the previous owner and he said it will come out with shed. This is my first tegu. He is very nice once you go through the torment of grabbing him and letting him climb freely but while grabbing him he huffs and puffs he hasn't bit or whipped. He's also spending majority of his time burrowing if I have to spend time with him to tame him but shouldn't uncover him what should I do. He's very curious and will walk out the enclosure to do his own thing but he hates being grabbed. I want to tame him down the best way possible. He definitely has the ability to be puppy dog tame first day i had him he sun bathed on the dashboard in my way home and he crawled up my chest and into my hood and slept there until I had to remove him.

 

[dpjm]

I meant that the circle on his leg looks like it could be a burn, I haven't seen a burn manifest as redness like on the snout, but I also haven't seen everything so who knows. My guess is still bleeding underneath the scale from smacking his snout on enclosure walls.

But now that i have read your initial post again, I am thinking that the circle on her leg is a bite mark, that makes more sense from the shape of the injury. Though it seems that two females might get along, if one is producing eggs and nesting she can get very aggressive toward any cagemate. Either way, it looks like a very old injury that has healed fairly well.

Let him get used to the enclosure before you worry about taming. That could take awhile but she needs to feel like she has a place of comfort before you start any extensive handling.

 

[Shaun]

Yea the one I have is a male and his cage mate was as female and I thought it was a bite too. He hasn't eaten well but I think that's due to the new environment. He didn't have enough substrate to burrow before so he's loving that I really don't see him. And yea I'm going to give it a week and just spend time in the room with him and then start to handle more and more. Also the snout scale has started to peel a little but I didn't mess with him too much today to get a better look at it.

 

[Walter1]

Yea the one I have is a male and his cage mate was as female and I thought it was a bite too. He hasn't eaten well but I think that's due to the new environment. He didn't have enough substrate to burrow before so he's loving that I really don't see him. And yea I'm going to give it a week and just spend time in the room with him and then start to handle more and more. Also the snout scale has started to peel a little but I didn't mess with him too much today to get a better look at it.

A benefit in taming for you is being around and not always bothering or handling.