Help! Tegu Won't Eat!

[gcd312]

My Arg. b&w hasn't eaten in about four days. He had two little bites of ground turkey yesterday but thats all. He's about 3 months old.

I heard that shedding could have something to do with this. He just finished shedding about a week ago ( i thought) although i am seeing little bits of shedded skin in his cage. Anyways, what i heard was that sometimes lizards don't eat during shedding - but he's done shedding. I'm really worried, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Aardbark]

Hi

Im deffinitly not a tegu expert. I only just got one myself. But my sugestion would be to try a variety of different foods, and see if he eats any of them. Also I heard that when they are going into hybernation that they dont eat anything.

 

[Piercedcub32]

was your tegu an import? my colombian sometimes goes 3 days without eating, but then will chow down until he is about to pop! How is you lighting? and temps? Humidity? and substrate?

 

[gcd312]

was your tegu an import? my colombian sometimes goes 3 days without eating, but then will chow down until he is about to pop! How is you lighting? and temps? Humidity? and substrate?

No, he isn't an import. humidity is 60-70, temp: hot side about 95-97, cool side about 90. orchid bark. everything is standard. he still hasn't eaten. or defecated (obviously, cause he hasn't been eating).

 

[adam1120]

you should probly bump up your basking spot to around 105ish or 110.

 

[kellen.watkins]

You should probably find a way to cool down the cool side, low 80's is max of what it should be, there is a forum from bobby around the time this website was created expressing the importance of the cool side cause peoples babies were dying in 10 gallon tanks cause they couldn't cool off, I don't know if that's why its not eating though, if your watching your baby eating that might also be why my tegu I had last year for the first month or so wouldn't eat if he knew I was watching

 

[corruptphantasm]

ya your cold side is too hot but try some different foods out too

 

[gcd312]

Thanks, does anyone have some suggestions on how to make the cool side cooler? Also, i think when he's hot he just digs under his hide spot which is probably a lot cooler.

---

By the way, he's in a 20gal long tank. He's still small so i figured that would be fine until he's big and i have to build one.

 

[kellen.watkins]

Try a screen fixture instead of a dome and move his basking spot up appropriately, what kinda basking light are you using?

 

[got10]

he is roasting . Just like we dont want to ea when it gets too hot , neither do they

 

[Strange_Evil]

I agree with everyone, reptiles often will not eat when something is wrong with the care, and in this case things are to hot. To cool things down you could switch to a smaller wattage bulb and go with a raised basking plat form, increase ventilation or mount the light further away.

Do you have something covering your screen top? A pic of the set up would be good.

 

[james.w]

Get a bigger cage.

What are you using to heat the cage? What are you using for UVB? Where did you get him?

 

[gcd312]

Try a screen fixture instead of a dome and move his basking spot up appropriately, what kinda basking light are you using?

What is a screen fixture? and i think its like a repti-glow or something.

---

I agree with everyone, reptiles often will not eat when something is wrong with the care, and in this case things are to hot. To cool things down you could switch to a smaller wattage bulb and go with a raised basking plat form, increase ventilation or mount the light further away.

Do you have something covering your screen top? A pic of the set up would be good.

I have foil covering the screen with spots open for the repti glow basking bulb and the UVB bulb - don't know what kind, but it's from like petsmart or something. If it's cooler though, won't the basking spot not be hot enough? And i can't figure out how to get pictures up. Also, theres a wood cave thing that he lays on top of that is right below the basking lamp (when on the wood, he is closer to the light).

 

[james.w]

What size bulb are you using? Is really hard to help you if you don't even know what you are using.

 

[gcd312]

Get a bigger cage.

What are you using to heat the cage? What are you using for UVB? Where did you get him?

I answered the first two below and i got him from a breeder.

 

[james.w]

Get a bigger cage.

What are you using to heat the cage? What are you using for UVB? Where did you get him?

I answered the first two below and i got him from a breeder.

Well it says you are using a repti-glow or something. What size/type/brand bulbs are you using??

 

[gcd312]

Get a bigger cage.

What are you using to heat the cage? What are you using for UVB? Where did you get him?

I answered the first two below and i got him from a breeder.

Well it says you are using a repti-glow or something. What size/type/brand bulbs are you using??

Sorry about that. I just got a new bulb today - 75watt exoterra. I also have a Repti-glow 26 watt 10.0 UVB bulb. The first one was the basking bulb. i used to have a 100 watt basking bulb and he was eating fine. It seems like everyone is saying that i need it to be cooler in the tank though. Do you know any ways i can make it cooler on the one side but still about 95 or so degrees on the basking side?

 

[james.w]

First if your UVB is a coil type, be careful with them, they are known to cause eye problems.

To get it cooler on one side but get a 110 basking spot, raise your basking spot closer to the bulb.

 

[gcd312]

Ok, but is all that really going to help him eat? i had a hotter bulb and it was 110 in the basking spot and he wasn't eating. Also, i don't know how to make one side cooler.

I don't think it is a temperature thing, because last night i put his food in his cage and he ate every bite. Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[james.w]

Ok lets start over, how long have you had him?

Husbandry is probably one of the top reasons a new reptile doesn't eat, stress from being in a new place being pretty equal.

If you haven't had him long, let him get used to his new home for a few weeks before bothering him. Only go in the cage to spot clean, feed, and change water.

In order to get the proper temps, you really need a larger cage. In the one you have you can try using a smaller wattage bulb to get the cool side correct and then raise the basking spot to the bulb to get the proper basking temp. You will probably have to use a tube type UVB bulb because they don't make a MVB small enough for a 20G tank, and the coil bulbs cause eye problems and I feel they don't provide enough UVB.