GILGAMESH - my summary of tegu ownership thus far

[agv0008]

Got a Chacoan (male?) from Teguterra on Wednesday 8/8 and he is HUGE. A little over a month old (hatched 7/8) and Johnny said he was eating like a horse before he sent him.

I am pretty sure his setup is good, he seems to like it.

I have gotten him out a few times to try and feed him and he ate some ground turkey once and some egg yolk on a different occasion.

Every time I put him back into his enclosure, all he wants to do is hide. He just goes into his hide and digs the doors shut. I am pretty sure he is ready to hibernate. I took him outside in a cat carrier to get some sun a couple times (and to hopefully stimulate his appetite), but I can tell he would rather be hiding.

Should I just leave him alone for now and see if he comes out?

Is this behavior him just telling me to say "bye-bye" for months?

Should I start reducing the light timer from the 12/12 cycle it is on now?

I have been getting him out for at least 30-60min per day to try and socialize him and he is always calm (as long as the dog isn't around), but I am beginning to think I should just leave him in his hide.


First pic is him eating the day after I got him.
Second pic is the map of his enclosure.
Third pic is the play-by-play of his enclosure.

 

[bmx3000max]

I would never take him out his hide

 

[agv0008]

Yesterday, I moved his enclosure from the living room to the reptile room to help keep the temps up. I originally had him in the living room so he could get used to all the noises in the house and what not. My office/reptile room had the vent shut so that it gets about 80 in there during the day and only drops to 75 at night. I have been monitoring the cage temps often, but the substrate temp seems to have an effect on how often they come out.

When he was in the living room the substrate would get down to 70 (my guess) at night and he was probably freezing. He refused to come out on his own.

This morning, after having 75 degree substrate all night, the basking lamp clicked on and he was out and about 20 min later.
It made me so happy to finally see him un-burrow on his own. I stomped in there to give him some egg and ground turkey and I didn't even realize he was out. I started reaching in and we both scared each other. I put the food in as he was debating going to hide.

 

[Logie_Bear]

I absolutely love, love, love loooove the name Gilgamesh! Great name choice for a very cute lil gu!

 

[agv0008]

Thanks! I call him Gil/Gilly for short. I put his first pinky in the cage before I left for work. I hope he eats it...

 

[agv0008]

He actually ate two pinkies today. Go Gilgamesh!

 

[bmx3000max]

You should try a rat pup

 

[agv0008]

He seems to be settling in now. He much prefers pinky mice to anything else I have tried. He will take only the mouse from the food plate and leave all the other stuff I put on there. He does take the pinky mice with calcium on them. It is hard to tell if he is eating a bite of two of the ground quail, turkey, or rabbit that I got from hare today. I will try to monitor the amounts better because I know they shouldn't eat just one thing.

Is it bad to offer multiple food items and let them eat what they want? There are often up to 4 different food items on the plate. Turkey, Quail, Rabbit, egg, and pinkies are what he has been offered so far in the meat dept.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Hahaha weird he likes the mice most. Anyways I think he'll be fine eating a lot of mice. You should offer him alternatives but eating mice will not hurt him. Offering choices is good but I certainly wouldn't stop feeding him one effective item to try to eat another. Keep offering and he will eventually start eating other stuff. No reason to try a rat pup unless you want to. I really wouldn't be concerned that my tegu is only eating one of the types of food items. If he wasn't eating at all it'd be another thing entirely but as of now I think it's fine. On another note he looks great.

 

[bmx3000max]

Only reason why i said a rat pup is why would you give pinkys that are mostly cartalige and little calcium compared to more from a rat pup

---

And you can do what tegusrawsome says but i didnt feed mine for a few days and i felt bad but that made it that my tegus eat a veriaty and pretty much whatever i give them and they seem happy im just one of the few that belives in variety for my gu

 

[agv0008]

The pinky mice that I feed him are dusted (one one side) with the calcium without D3 supplement. The rat pups I can get locally are too big for him to eat at this point, I think. I think it should be up to him what he eats. If I put multiple types of food on the plate, then he can just eat what he wants. It's all good for him.

I just don't want to get into a situation where I have to starve the animal in order to get him to eat what I want him to eat...

 

[bmx3000max]

Oh the rat pups by me come small enuf for mine....and A tegu not eating for a day or two to get thier hunger up isnt starving, plenty people on here will agree and i agree with wanting vareity but my tegu didnt ever like eggs even with other things...but when i did it he finally tried them and has loved them ever since...let us know how it goes wirh offering the vareity.

 

[Logie_Bear]

I don't see how a newborn rat has any more nutritional value than a newborn mouse. They're both gonna be cartlidge. If your gu is large enough for a rat pup, why not feed a hopper/ small adult mouse instead?

 

[bmx3000max]

Im saying that the rat pup shouldnt be the same size as the mouse cause the rat pups i get are usually bigger but found this so this should help everyone with the facts

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_03.asp

 

[agv0008]

UPDATE:

Gilgamesh is growing every day. His tail is fatter and just in general bulkier. He still :heart: s pinky mice like no other. He just buries the other foods I try to give him. I am sure he will get used to other foods eventually.

I know he gets out of his hide during the day, because I can see the tail tracks throughout the cage after I smooth it over.

My schedule doesn't really allow me to wait for him to come out, so I just take him out every day, whether he is in his hide or not. He doesn't seem to mind. I don't get any heavy breathing or tail whips at all. I was worried about doing this at first, but the tegu trusts me and has shown no signs that he is upset about this. I can just pull him out of the cage, yell at the dog to go away, then he can explore at will.

He is always curious. Laptops, phones, the TV, pretty much anything that has a moving image on mesmerizes him.

He eats plenty, but I can't get him to eat anything out of my hand. I think he is just a closet eater.

TLDR: We're totally bros!

 

[agv0008]

Latest mishap

I was sitting outside yesterday (with Gilgamesh) just soaking up some rays. I had him on my lap and then he decided to sit next to me in the grass.

Something spooked him and he TOOK OFF.

He definitely can run faster than I can. We had a classic roadrunner vs. coyote moment and I finally got him cornered. I got as close as I could, then dove at him to catch him. Once I had him in my hand, I notice two pieces of his tail on the ground wiggling. I am not sure if I hit his tail when I dove, but it's missing nonetheless. About 3-4 inches worth.

Now Gilgamesh resides in a paper bag lined enclosure, with daily iodine baths, and ointment on his tail. I guess it could have been worse... He could have been lost forever.

Lesson learned: No more outside time unless he is in his pet carrier or until he is big enough for a leash.

I am pretty sure he hates me now.

On the bright side:
He has been up from hibernation for the last few weeks. Eating a TON of turkey and pinky mice. Just had a nice shed a few days ago.

 

[bfb345]

tht really sucks I had the same sort of situation chubbs was roaming my room which is tegu proofed except for one shelf and he got spooked by who knows what and of course ran under the friggin shelf an hour and a half later I had a very angry tegu clawing at my arm but he doestn hate me so that's good I was really worried for a bit lol good luck though

 

[agv0008]

UPDATE:
Growing really fast. Eating tons of food. His tail healed back pink (at first) and has almost completely turned black. My wife and I have been handling him a ton and he seems to enjoy it. Whenever I put my hand in the cage and he just runs up my arm and hangs out. He is shaping up to be quite a cool tegu. He still has such a curious personality. I cant wait until he gets large enough to free roam in the house without losing track of him.

Excuse the poop in the photo.

 

[bfb345]

wow he has grown looks super good

 

[agv0008]

I moved Gilgamesh to his "adult" enclosure. I converted a 6x8 closet into a tegu room. He has a basking area with fresh Reptisun 10.0 bulbs and all his other amenities. He loves to eat, as you can see by the photo. My wife and I have been handling him every day and he shows no signs of aggression. Tong feeding works! He gets very excited about the food on the tongs and we can get him to chase it around on the floor before he gobbles it up.