Questions from a Tegu Noob

[burnd4life]

#1. IÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢m having some trouble getting my 6 month old Tegu to eat daily or anything other than frozen pinkies. Is there any harm (other than to my wallet) for feeding him these so regularly? IÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢ve tried kingworms, crickets, mangos and papayas so far. I have only had him for a week so far and have only got him to eat 3 pickies and one kingworm the entire time. I have been moving him to another tank for his daily feedings so I donÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢t know if him just being stressed from me moving him may be playing any part in his finicky eating habits. He is still getting used to being handled, as the place I got him from feeds all their reptiles in their enclosures and never really touches them unless showing them to a perspective buyer.

#2. IÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢m currently keeping him in a 3Ã?¢ââ??‰â??¢ x 2Ã?¢ââ??‰â??¢ x 2Ã?¢ââ??‰â??¢ wooden enclosure with a glass front/door. It has a 150 watt ceramic heating element attached to a thermostat (cuts off at a little over 100 degree F), and a 15 watt UVB Bulb on a 12 hour timer. His substrate is good deal of cypress mulch. My problem is that IÃ?¢ââ??‰â??¢m having a really hard time getting his humidity up to 60-70% it stays around 35% and I mist the tank daily. There are 4 4Ã?¢ââ??¬Ã?Âx6Ã?¢ââ??¬Ã? screened openings on the sides should I tape up 1 and see if it helps keep some of the humidity in? Any suggestions?

 

[CaseyUndead]

Well, the young ones usually wont take fruit until they get older.. So you can probably hold off on the mangos for awhile if he isn't interested. You could try raw ground turkey, or various other raw meat items(there's a list on here somewhere), usually tegus like that. Cooked eggs(with the shell) are good too. Also, since you just got him, he might just need a few days to settle in.

And, yes, i'd say that taping a couple of the screen sides would probably be helpful. pouring water over the substrate to dampen it a bit helps too(don't flood it or anything, just enough for the mulch to soak some up).

 

[txrepgirl]

Hi burnd4life. It's good to hear that he at least ate something. A lot of Tegus don't eat anything for a few days or a week if they get to a new home. It is very important for him to have a variety in his diet. If you want to you can try some hard boiled eggs. The only way I would give the Tegu the shells is if you crunch it up until its like powder or very fine. The shells have some very sharp edges and I don't want him to get hurt when he swallos a big piece. You also can try to give him some fresh fish filets from your local super market. Please make sure you ask the sales person for some fish that has no growth hormones in it ( most farm raised ones has that in it ). You can give him some cat fish, cod, tilapia, salmon or tuna. They also like cut up chicken hearts, gizzards, liver, ground turkey, ground beef, chicken/turkey breast. You can put the solid meat in some warm/hot ( not boiling water ) water to get it to room temps. Don't worry if your Tegu is hungry enough he will eat the other foods, too, .

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[burnd4life]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try some other food this week.