Kodu The Tegu

[Kaelon]

Here are some pictures of Kodu and his enclosure. I dislike having him in this size enclosure at the moment and have plans to get him a large enclosure very soon, what size enclosure do you guys recommend I get for him? The lights are currently 1 reptisun 5.0 UVB 13watt, an exoterra UVB 150 26watt, and a exoterra sun glo 50w. The enclosure is 33"L x 20"w x 15"H How does Kodu's size look for his age? He's almost 6months now, 108 grams, and 39cm. He breathes quite hard when handled with a puffy/sneezy sound to it. Today Kodu seemed uninterested in the small dubias and banana chunks that I offered. I usually dust his food with calcium w/ d3 and reptivite but since he's been refusing his food I've been attempting to offer it without the vitamins, He's in shed now which I hope is why he's refusing his meals, noticed it today starting to come off around his chin. After putting him back into his cage with fresh water and a light spray. He's been basking under the lights for several minutes. After that, he went to the cooler side of his cage, and now he's back on top of the log hide underneath the light again.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Hi.... Sounds like Moscato is doing well.... Everything I read upon first getting Alpha led me to believe that a 6 X 3 X 3 is the minimum size for a colombian but I actually dropped an old wardrobe on its back and converted it which is 5 X 4 X 2 to give him more floor space.... Alpha only tended to eat bugs as a juvanile but soon moved onto all kind of meats and fish once bigger, he doesnt touch any fruit at all.

 

[Zyn]

Alpha is the go to person that’s active with Columbians. Looks healthy to me, might want to start offering whole baby rats or medium mice a day or two a week.

I’ve always heard columbians eat little to no fruits and veggies. Hell my Blue won’t touch the stuff unless I hide it inside the belly of a prekilled rat lol.

Edit: I see alpha already posted lol

 

[Kaelon]

Since I posted this I haven't seen him active and has remained burrowed. I haven't disturbed him from his hiding preference since the soak above. I think this further confirms that he's in shed. Just starting to understand there behaviors and I read that disturbing them while they remain burrowed is no a good Idea to build trust with them. I will be trying some earth worms, horned worms, mealworms, crickets I think offering more then just dubias will be beneficial to him. He tends to enjoy having the ocassional egg, and I've heard great things about reptilinks saugsages which I plan to have available to him also. Will report back when his activity levels increase again. Thanks for your help

 

[AlphaAlpha]

keep offering food and fresh water which will get him used to going in and out of his home also talk so he becomes used to your voice .... i never had any problem with getting Alpha out of hiding but Alpha alway has just hidden in hides and not actual burrowed but i wouldn't attempt to disturb him yet as he'll probs be still settling in.

 

[Kaelon]

He still hasnt been active as he used to be, so I inspected the cage today and found him burrowed underneath the silk leaves. I gave him some pedialite with a dropper and held a hard-boiled egg up to him to which he chomped down on. It seemed like he was trying to go after my fingers though since the chunk of egg he just kept it in his mouth. I kept trying to give him some pediatlite and space to help him ease into eating the egg, eventually he decided to eat it. I kept offering a variety of different things with feeding tongs such as tuna, sardines, chicken liver, more egg, dubias, potatoes. He seemed rather uninterested in most of them but would occasionally taste them and licked the tuna, and sardines but didn't want to eat much of anything. I let him soak in a mixture of water and a small amount of pedialite for about 20 minutes and then took him outside in a 20g with his food for some sunlight for about 20minutes it was about 87 degrees and cloudy outside and I relaxed in a chair beside the tank to make sure everything went fine the entire time. I'm worried about Kodu as he seems quite under weight and not very energetic. I'm going to keep monitoring the situation and his appetite doesn't recover in the next week or two. I'll feel inclined to get him some veterinary assistance. Edit - we decided to name Moscato, "Kodu" instead this happened about 3 days ago thought I should update to prevent confusion

 

[Kaelon]

Here are some new pictures of Kodu from just a few minutes ago. I put Kodu in this 20G with papertowels for the night, he's now in a whole different room away from the snakes and myself (was in my bedroom, now he's in the guest room) this should allow him to feel more relaxed with less foot traffic. Kodu's definetly still quite active, the first time I peaked into the room he was by the food dish, now he's under the warmerside by his waterdish. This enclosure is only temporary for the night while I get a new enclosure setup for him.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

This is Alpha at probably the same size, maybe even a bit bigger.....I don't think you have to worry about his size it looks good to me..... It was about that size I got Alpha though and he was bat crazy everytime I entered his home but I rescued him and was led to believe the previous owner hadn't done any taming.... Try not to worry too much he has to get used to a whole new life style, routine and family (its alot to take in) ..... Alphas favourite at this age was locust/Hoppers

 

[Zyn]

Alpha do the Colombians as a whole grow slower than the Args. I know they are a lot smaller didn’t know they grew that slow.

And like alpha, I’ve never had issues unborrowing my blue. Now it’s like he expects me to do it when I get home from work, then feed him. I don’t know if this is what happens, might be all in my head. But by doing this daily when I get home from work around 330. I believe it put him on my schedule. He’s about a year old now and in his 8x8x4 enclosure. It’s like “dads home, time to eat”

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Alpha do the Colombians as a whole grow slower than the Args. I know they are a lot smaller didn’t know they grew that slow.

And like alpha, I’ve never had issues unborrowing my blue. Now it’s like he expects me to do it when I get home from work, then feed him. I don’t know if this is what happens, might be all in my head. But by doing this daily when I get home from work around 330. I believe it put him on my schedule. He’s about a year old now and in his 8x8x4 enclosure. It’s like “dads home, time to eat”

Because Alpha came from a rescue centre I only got him from around 40cm.... He did seam to grow Quite slow for a good few months but then he went from eating solely bugs to soleley eating fish/meat and the occassional egg which made him rocket to 80 cm at 9 month after I got him and now hes kinda just slowly maturing I'd say now just over a year after I go him but I havent measured him in a while.....I also don't know his correct age

 

[Zyn]

Nice yeah I think you got alpha around the same time I got Sev last year. It’s been fun watching them grow. Sevs going through shed right now I’ll post some new pics when he’s done. Also have two litters of rats maturing to about the right size for sev which is like 5 weeks old so small to medium size. I’ll let him feast on them every other day for a few weeks and he’ll end up hitting another growth spurt.

 

[Teguixin.22]

Alpha do the Colombians as a whole grow slower than the Args. I know they are a lot smaller didn’t know they grew that slow.

They grow like weeds, but they are smaller than the argentines.