Sigourney's Thread

[Murkve]

Hey Everyone.

Keeping with the current trend, I decided that I wanted a place of sorts to log developments with Sigourney, my hybrid from Laura. So here it goes! (Hope you enjoy Laura!)

Sig is growing like a weed. Honestly, I've never seen a living 'ism grow this fast before. I believe that she started out at about 9" or so, and is now sitting pretty at about 19". This was in about 1.5 months. It really is a testament to the wonderful bloodline that she comes from. Have a look at these rather dramatic photos from the first day I got her, compared with a photo from a couple days ago.

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I've been working with her close to every day, and she is coming along rather nicely in the taming department. Previously, I was feeding her in a bin, and relied on handling her to and fro' in order to build up trust. I was able to do this with a single, landmark development about 3 weeks ago, wherein she started to walk into my hand if I put it in her enclosure while she was hungry. I have since changed my approach, as whenever she is in an area where she has room to run, she reverts back to being stressfully skittish.

After reading countless Varanus (Monitor Lizard) boards extolling the use of tongs and no forced handling, and Varnyard's popular "Put it in the bathroom and ignore it" method, I decided to combine the two. I made a fence of sorts out of scrap cardboard, and used it to fence off a carpeted area of my den. I put some things in there like empty glass bottles, cardboard strings, wadded up paper, a hose - just Tegu safe stuff that she hasn't seen before. I then got in the pen with her and proceeded to ignore her. When she came up to investigate me, I rewarded her with some food, and would continue to do so with each new investigation. I stopped feeding her just short of her being full. (The reason for this will be apparent shortly.)

After letting her roam in the pen for another 5 minutes or so, I moved to try and handle her, on my terms. I moved my hands slowly towards her, waited for her freeze reaction to finish each time (She was in a new, large, unfamiliar area, and was very skittish) and gently coaxed her onto my hand. As quickly as I could without freaking her out, I rewarded this behavior with some food from my tongs. I then handled her calmly for another 5 minutes or so, and out her back in her enclosure.

After just 4 days in a row, this method had yielded a Tegu that will literally jump onto my lap when she is in the pen and hungry, and will gladly come and investigate me and my hands when full. I was also able to coax her onto my hands, on my terms, with no huffing yesterday. I immediately rewarded her, and she was the calmest she has ever been. She wasn't "frozen" either - her eyes were open, tongue sniffing, head moving, evertything. She was just calm and relaxed in my hands. I truly feel like she is starting to see my presence as benevolent now, and she isn't even 3 months old yet. I can't wait until she gets bigger and more self-confident.

Please, enjoy some of her glamour shots :

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Also, I remodeled her enclosure 3 days ago. New substrate, gave her some new cork bark hides, and moved old things around. I also got her a new sleepy-time blanket.

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She is so active, you guys. She I have her on a 12 hour cycle, and I think she roams around her enclosure for what must be 7 hours. She digs, she jumps, she sniffs, she gets muddy, she eats rocks. I have to change her water out about 3 times a day. She is so much fun to watch, and pet - though I have to be careful because she will jump on my arm and clamber up, hoping to be taken out. Honestly, I wish I could let her free roam like MacGyver does. However, my house is definitely not Tegu proof, and I have 3 Cats. Not good.

Anyway, thank you for reading. I'll be updating more once I get a good video or two!

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

I love her colors it's a very nice contrast and she'll only get better with time.

 

[Murkve]

I love her colors it's a very nice contrast and she'll only get better with time.

Thank you very much! I like her colors as well - orange belly, peachish body, dark nose, red spots - very pretty. My Mother and Father, who dislike reptiles very much, commented on her beauty. They were also completely enamored with her active, inquisitive nature. Their mouths were just open, staring at her. Pretty amazing, I think Sigourney may have converted them!

Also, that damn Lizard took the biggest poop on her sleepy time blanket. I dissected it for rocks, and she passed a rock the size of a freaking garbanzo bean. Honestly, she gets me worried.

 

[Logie_Bear]

She really is beautiful! What sort of hybrid is she? I also wish I could get my gu to free-roam more but I am in a similar dilemma with a non-tegu-proof home and 3 cats. I did have Esmeralda out this morning for some closely monitored free roaming and she got to meet 2 of the cats. She actually went so far as to chase one cat out of her sun spot on the carpet and stole it for herself. Poor cat was pretty baffled.

I like your tegu pen idea. I will have to try that with Ezzy. She is really calm in the cage and when she is in my hands, but gets similarly skittish when put in an open and unfamiliar place.

 

[Scott Hogge]

Sig sure is a beauty.

Good idea with the pen area too, I recommend everyone does that... and carpet is much better than tile/wood because they are much more confident and less skiddish when they have traction.

On hard wood/tile, if they are startled and try to move quickly, they will lose all traction, which freaks them out even more & snowballs until they are totally thrashing around.


Grats on a lap-hopping gu!

 

[Murkve]

Thank you very much Logie and Tod. She is a B&W x Red. I really would recommend the "pen" thing. It's really helped me communicate to her that hands, and my presence, are beneficial. So much easier to accomplish positive reinforcement.

 

[DavidRosi]

Beautiful tegu and a fantastic looking enclosure !

 

[Steven.]

She is beautiful.. I love her colors

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[laurarfl]

Thanks for update!

 

[Dana C]

Very nice post Murkve.

 

[Murkve]

Thank you to all!

The last couple days Sig has been shedding like a champ. We upped the enclosure's humidity like a true team: I misted, and she dumped her water bowl. And put her blanket in the water. And put her dirt in the water. End Result: The last bit of skin came off her tail today. Whoohoo! Another 2 week growth spurt! I'm hoping she'll top the 2ft mark by October. She's calming down nicely, but I think she needs just a bit more size to really start to be more confident. Plus I'll feel more comfortable handling her as well. It's a positive feedback cycle - Exponential Growth really.

I'm happy to report that she's also started to use the cork bark as a burrow. When she goes to sleep, she plugs up the entrance with dirt. I think it's rather cute, actually. Almost like a little kid making a fort out of blankets and cushions.

She's also starting to "test" my pen. Today she noticed that if she pushes really hard on the cardboard, it flexes. NOT GOOD. (Note to self: DO NOT leave her unattended in the pen.) I may have to find a way to strengthen the barrier. Funny experience though, when I noticed her testing it, I immediately bent forward and pushed down on the cardboard, stabilizing the barrier. She immediately stopped what she was doing and just glared at me. I'm not kidding. It's sort of like that look you get when you stop a teenager from doing something stupid.

Speaking of teenagers, school starts soon. I have my Inservice this week, and next week I'll start teaching again. Because of the time commitment (It is my job after all), I'm thinking that I'll shift Sig's clock back an hour, putting her on an 11AM-11PM cycle. This will give her more time to digest, and give me more interaction time. I've noticed her slowing down a bit, but I'm hoping she won't go down completely. I'll leave that up to her, though.

 

[Scott Hogge]

What do u teach?

 

[Murkve]

I teach Mathematics at the high school level. More specifically, I teach Calculus, Algebra, Computer Programming, and Digital Electronics.

 

[Murkve]

I have been away from the forums for the last couple days, and this is primarily because something happened that I feel terrible about: Sigourney escaped.

Thursday night, I looked in her enclosure, and she wasn't there. She wasn't in her hides. Wasn't buried. No beans - she wasn't there. My heart immediately leapt up into my throat. This is a Tegu that is barely 20" long. She can still fit into a variety of small places. Plus, I have 3 cats.

Anyway, I quickly examined the enclosure to see what may have been her point of entry. If you look at this picture, you'll see that one of the lights sits directly on top of the mesh cover. This is my MVB. In order to provide more UVB, I cut a hole in the screen the size of the bulb at that point so that the light was unfiltered. Lately, she has been trying to jump out of the enclosure because she knows it's top opening. I have a feeling that she jumped at the bulb, hit it hard enough to move it out of the way, and climbed out that hole. Please note, that this would mean that she was just an inch or so from this 100 watt bulb while climbing out. Once I realized this, I became mortified that she was hiding somewhere with horrible burns. :s

You can understand my anguish now. This was no mere escape.

I had just seen her a couple hours prior, so I figured she couldn't have gone far, and the door to the really non-Tegu-Proof room was closed. I began looking in the den, where her enclosure is located.

We looked under the couch, behind a few pieces of furniture, and the TV. No beans. I then remembered reading of a few escaped on Tegu Talk, where each time they found their Tegu hiding in a pile of laundry. We had a blanked stashed in the corner of the room by the couch. I removed it, and there she was. I thanked whatever Gods there are. She quickly bolted under the couch, and I coaxed her back out with a piece of cardboard, where I was able to convince her to climb onto my hand.

After a quick examination, miraculously, I found no burns, no blisters, no wounds, she was walking fine. I put her back, and the next day I made sure to note any changes in her behavior. There have been none. She's still super active, eating like a champ, and pooping. (Albeit a bit watery, but still well formed with urates and not significantly different than poop from before.) I only lost a bit of trust from her in this episode, as I didn't have to grab her to capture her again. Yesterday marked the third day since the event, and during our "Tegu Pen" time, she was back to where she was before.

That night I made sure to shore up my defenses. I have since weighed down the MVB bulb, put soft blankets underneath the mesh so as to provide a visual barrier and cushion her nose when she launches at the top, and I also put a few inches of duct tape around the side of the tank, for a visual barrier. These changes, together with more cage furniture, seem to have made a difference in how comfortable she is in her tank. She still has the wanderlust, but it's not nearly as dangerous now. She attempts a jump maybe 2 times a day, as opposed to 10+ from before.

Lesson learned. I've only ever kept Corn Snakes and Gargoyle Geckos before. Keeping an animal as intelligent and strong as a Tegu, even a 20 incher, is a whole different ball game.

 

[laurarfl]

Ok, my heart sank. Then lifted. They are sneaky little devils. Glad it all worked out OK

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Glad to hear she's okay and everything worked out.
Just one recommendation, use something non flammable around those lights as a visual barrier like foil or something. You put the blanket there to cushion her nose but as hot as those lights get, nothing flammable, that'll easily catch fire, or even melt should be around them.

 

[Murkve]

Glad to hear she's okay and everything worked out.
Just one recommendation, use something non flammable around those lights as a visual barrier like foil or something. You put the blanket there to cushion her nose but as hot as those lights get, nothing flammable, that'll easily catch fire, or even melt should be around them.

Thanks Bubblz and Laura. I'll definitely put some foil there as well.

The blanket is secured underneath the mesh by the tight-fitting nature of my lid. The nearest blanket to that bulb is about 3" away at the nearest, and duct taped in place. Seeing as I never open that side of the tank, that blanket will never move. It is literally secured in place, well out of range of my bulb. Now that you brought it up though, I may consider replacing it with the foil, as it would seem that all she needs to stop jumping is that visual barrier.

I'll try it and see.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Also consider the fact that if she can reach the lid then she can reach the blanket. Her claws won't have a problem with catching and holding on to it. Once she figures it out, it can turn into just another tool to help her escape.

 

[Murkve]

Update: I know I've been gone for a while, but that's what happens to Teachers in the fall.

Sigourney is about 22" now, and I have plans with my Father in Law (a carpenter) to begin building her permenant home. I've become doubly motivated because not only is she growing like a weed still, with no hibernation in sight, but she's gotten in the habit of nose rubbing on the glass. Hence, the skin around her nostrils is lighter than the rest of the scale. I don't like that. She doesn't seem affected by it, but still.

From her prior escape, she seems to have sustained a couple minor burns and scratches that are now healing. A couple scales on her face seem to be rebuilding, but she don't care - she's like a honey badger. Especially since her last shed 4 days ago, her scales seem to be rebuilding nicely. She's also pretty much stopped jumping, from what I can see. This is good. I'm hoping she'll completely stop once I get the front opening cage built.

Otherwise all is good. Pictures to follow.

 

[Murkve]

OK! So Sigourney escaped AGAIN! Just now, I go to feed her and her light bulb was knocked over. She must have hit it, and pushed her way out past the weighed down mesh barrier. She is ridiculous. Luckily I'm beginning her new cage this weekend.

Don't worry. I found her in a couple minutes - underneath the washing machine. My wife tipped it, and I swept her up. She's pretty angry and stressed right now. It sucks that I'll have to regain that, plus monitor her health again. God Damnit. She seems fine though from a cursory glance.

What really sucks is that she'll begin jumping again - now that she knows there is/was a way out. Ah well, time to redo the Cage.

Updates to follow.