Baths?

[PuffDragon]

Hey guys,
How often, if at all, do you guys give your Gu's a bath?

 

[mdmtmm]

I do it about twice a week. I may up it to a couple more while he is shedding.

 

[Dragon_girl]

gu???

 

[PuffDragon]

tegu!

 

[VARNYARD]

Yea, they seem to love baths, I also noticed in the summer outside mine love to be misted by the hose too. They will sit there and lap up the water, they do seem to really enjoy it.

 

[teguboy77]

I bath my tegus 3 times a week for 45 minutes,i dob't know if mine really injoy it but they get it anyway lol.

 

[dorton]

I dont soak mine near enough evidently. But I just gota large tub so I can shoot for 2-3 times a week.

 

[DaveDragon]

We just finished giving 3 of the 4 their baths. They get them every weekend. They're usually not up when we get home from work during the week.

 

[COWHER]

Every day for 20 minutes

 

[PuffDragon]

Fason got his first bath. He's starting a shed and I could notice a difference right after the bath!

 

[greentriple]

El Che gets a soak 2xweek and a misting every time he's basking in the sun, which is nearly every day.

 

[Mike]

I don't soak mine often, if at all. I just let them do it whenever they want, by providing it in their cage. I do notice that they like to be wet down on a hot day.

 

[Nero]

So is it okay to spray mist on him while hes basking?? I just dont wanna tick him off, hes finally starting to like me lol

 

[jose2187]

maybe once every other week , if you keep humidity up they don't really need it, my tegu's shed melts off like butter so I don't feel the need to give them a bath and they have a large water dish they can soak if they get hot.

 

[angelrose]

is there such a thing as bathing a tegu too much ?
(shedding concern)

 

[shiftylarry]

I agree, tegus like baths, but I have problems with them in certain instances:

1. You are bathing your consistently to assist them in removing bad sheds. If this is the case, you ought to be providing them with more humidity.

2. The tegu doesn't like being handled. This is just unneeded stress. Let the tegu get used to you, before you start bathing them.

Other than that, there ain't nothin' wrong with a good old bath.

 

[AB^]

I think too many poeple consider baths a needed part of husbandry for tegus. I have seen this idea passed around on forum after forum. Tegus do NOT need baths. The only reason I would soak my tegu is in the case if bad toe sheds (as the circulation can be cut off and the animal can lose a digit and possibly get a bad infection) AS stated above if you need to regulalry bath your tegu due to shedding issues then solve the real problem (humidity)
It is apparent from this thread that people (not the tegus) like to give baths, something I find rather ridiculous. If you offer a large enough dish for them to soak in and they use that is fine, forcing them needlessly into water on the other hand just isnt needed

 

[shiftylarry]

Couldn't have put it better myself AB^.

I was having an issue explaining to someone on another forum the dangers of bathing their iguana as a substitute for poor humidity. Now, reptiles are designed to live in a specific environment. They have adapted to accommodate the different temps/humidity in the area. So, when you keep your animal in captivity, your goal should be to replicate that to the best of your ability. My house regularly has humidity levels of about 38%. That's too low for a tegu and definitely too low for an iguana. If I put an animal in a screen top enclosure, with hot lights, those levels would decrease even more as the water vapor evaporated and escaped out the top. Simple physics, and yet a lot of people don't understand how to humidity works. So, I ask all of those people with screen top enclosures or completely screened indoor enclosures who regularly bathe their tegus to check your levels with a reliable humidity gauge (not one of those dinky plastic things from petco). I think bathing everyday is too often, especially consider a tegu would not bathe everyday in the wild.

My rule of thumb for almost every aspect of herp keeping is: if your methods somehow divert from the animal's natural environment, there has to be a legitimate reason behind it back by some significant data. In most cases, nature knows best. Of course, this philosophy excludes predators, parasites/diseases, and other natural hazards from the equation.

-Chris

 

[shiftylarry]

One more thing to consider:
Take a look at this black roughneck monitor's tail (not my roughneck):

Notice how it is tapered (flat) all the way down. Consider that these animals live near mangrove swamps and are known to hunt for crustaceans. With that in mind, it makes perfect sense that they would have this type of tail to aid them in their daily hunting activities. I can tell you from personal experience that these monitors are very capable swimmers and can glide effortlessly like a crocodile.

Now, look at a tegus tail. It is not even slightly tapered. it's completely round all the way down. This would lead one to believe that it primarily helps the animals balance. With this information in mind, you can start to see that a bath is not essential. Not to say it isn't pleasurable for the animal from time to time but it isn't necessary and tegus aren't avid swimmers.

 

[AB^]

Yup, I agree with that.


Here's the tails of 2 tegu species (merinae and teguixin) to show they are not flat and paddle like but round.