My Sweet Esmeralda

[Logie_Bear]

So FINALLY, at long last I got my little baby extreme giant from bobby. She arrived on Tuesday morning around 11am (sorry for the delayed post!). I almost hugged the usps lady at my door I was so excited. I really liked the idea of having a thread for her like some of the other members have been doing. I'm sorry if it gets a little long-winded. Any questions I'm having, I'll highlight in case it becomes a Tl;dr.

So my little baby was born 6/13 from a pairing of Snow x Slate. In case you are wondering, she is named after this song (specifically the part around 7:10): Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda

When I unpacked her from the box, she was very tame from the get-go. I let her crawl around a little and smell me and everything around her. While she was exploring I plated some ground chicken to see if she was hungry. She dove right into it and then proceeded to devour the yolk of a quail egg and 1 pinky mouse. Shipping must have worked up an appetite! I figured this was all a good sign that I'd have no problems with feeding, but boy has that been wrong (more on that in a moment). So after all that, I put her in her cage to spend the day basking.

Btw, her cage is as follows:
40gal breeder with a 120w Solar Glo MVP plus a 5.0 UVB tube on the back side of the cage (I figured that it'd be nice to still have a little uvb rays around the cage even when she's not under the basking spot). There is a large piece of driftwood on the hot side of the tank, with a branch that allows her to pick a temp variant on where to bask. My reptile room stays around 79-80 deg, so the cool side of her cage hovers around 81 and on the warm side its around 95-98 on the bottom, and on the basking branch the hottest spot is 110. She spends most of her time basking in the 98 range. On the cool side she has a log hide that I put my used sleeping shirt in, which is where she has slept each night.

So, fast forward to day 2.
Her lights are on an auto timer to run from 8-8. I get up around 1030 and she's already out basking. Taking her out of the cage was a little touchy. She huffed a little bit and was a little twitchy, but as soon as she's out she calms down. I take her over to the tub which has about 1/2 warm water in it and she makes her first ever tegu poopie with me. What a proud mom I am! Following the routine of the day before, I offer her a plate of ground chicken. She barely even sniffs it and walks away. Well, she ate a lot yesterday, so I'm not too worried. I return her to her cage and also leave the plate in with her in the hopes she'll eat later. Unfortunately she did not.

That night I mixed up the Varnyard baby tegu diet. Ground turkey, liver, and a little cod liver oil. I have never eaten liver before... and now I'm thoroughly convinced I never will. Geeze, that stuff stinks! I portioned the stuff in the ziplock baggies and threw all but one baggie back in the freezer.

Day 3-

So day three follows the same basics as two. She pooped in the tub again but a much smaller poo than the day before. This time I try feeding her the turkey/liver mix. Same as before, she shows no interest whatsoever. Since some folks have suggested feeding in a separate tub, I decided to try that and left her alone for about 45 min. All that accomplished is that she walked thru the food repeatedly and made a huge mess. So, as I did the day before I left her with the plate of food back in the cage for the day. I checked back on her around 630 and still no food had been eaten. So, I decide to switch it up a bit and offer some cal/vit dusted crickets. Well, there's nothing like food that runs, and that def caught her attention! For the second cricket I decided to try an experiment. I smeared it in the ground turkey before offering it to her on the tongs. This time she sniffed it a bunch, and seemed pretty skeptical, but finally the flailing of the cricket won out and she gobbled it up. All in all she ate about 7 or 8 crickets and a wee bit of turkey that was on them.

Day 4 (today)

So this morning she still looked a little plump around the belly from eating last night. We had our morning bath routine and today she only had some urates, not really any poo. I'm wondering if I should be concerned that she didn't poop today, on top of the fact that her tummy is still so full? Today I offered her some ground rabbit from Hare-Today. Again, she show's no interest whatsoever in the meat. And again, I've left in in the cage for her in the hopes she eats some later. I would really love to hear any suggestions on feeding or if based on the above, if you feel I've done something grievously wrong. I know that rodents should be a once a week treat, but what about crickets? Is it ok to offer her crickets daily if that's what she wants to eat? I would love to hear from some of the other new Extreme owners and see if anyone's had similar experience with their new babies. Right now I'm just a neurotic mommy!

Here are some pics of my baby (sorry for the cell-quality)

Cage (with lights off)

Fresh outta the box!

Sleeping on my tummy:

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OH, and almost forgot-

Here's a vid of her eating on that first day:
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Edit:

Well that link didnt work at all. Lets try this:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151981428135276

Vid is public, so hopefully there's no issue in seeing it.

 

[Logie_Bear]

I figured I'd pop in with a update for today and share a few more pics.

This morning, we had our morning poop in the tub, and no issues there. I attempted feeding her the ground rabbit again today, unfortunately to no avail. We had a minor break thru when i dangled the rabbit meat from the tongs and wriggled it around like it was alive. I tricked her into eating about 3 small bites this way, but as soon as she stops to actually smell it, she loses all interest.

So, instead I went to the petstore to get some feeder insects. Came home with a new bag of crickets, some waxworms, and some superworms, plus three small (f/t) pinky mice. The crickets are her favorite, hands-down. She ate several crix, 3 waxworms, and one superworm (I dont think she much liked these either- will try again tomorrow tho). I also got her to eat one of the pinky mice, and after that she seemed pretty full and lost interest in food.

So, basically my lil gu seems to be telling me that she is only interested in whole foods atm. I'll keep the rodents in moderation, but to reiterate a question from yesterday- is it ok to feed her insects on a daily basis if she continues to refuse meats for the time being?

As always I really appreciate any advise/ feedback! And I'd love to hear from the other keepers who got extremes from the second clutch.

[attachment=4788]

[attachment=4789]

 

[tayrocksyoursocks56]

I am having a similar problem. when betelgeuse actually lets me pick him up i place him in a feeding bin with some crickets supers and ground turkey with cod liver oil. betelgeuse was afraid of the one cricket i put in there. he ate the super worms and a little bit of ground turkey. my question is, i know it says hatchlings eat everyday but at what point should i worry, hes eaten twice now since the 2nd making it 6 super worms and a little bit of ground turkey. is this bad?

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also, a lot of threads are saying they waited a week to feed so im not that worried but he doesnt poop everyday either. which makes sense if hes not eating. think hes still getting use to his environment?

 

[larissalurid]

Very cute!! Also, hopefully that is only a temporary enclosure. A screen topped cage can't hold enough humidity. They need 60% humidity at all times to be healthy and shed properly without losing any toes or tail tip.

 

[bmx3000max]

People when first getting their gu let them go without eating for a week so itl eat when fed, just saying...

 

[larissalurid]

Yea not eating for a while is normal, I went almost a week and just fed mine and he ate a little, but usually they need at least a week of sitting in the cage being left alone to calm down and settle in.

They don't poop all the time, and if she hasn't eaten then yea that is another reason why she isn't. I really wouldn't be worried about her not using the bathroom unless she has been eating in her cage and ingests substrate, then stops eating all together for a long time and has troubles going to the bathroom, you will see her trying then nothing comes out and stuff. thats impaction, but otherwise they don't poop all the time. sometimes lizards can go a week without using the bathroom or more.

 

[Logie_Bear]

I am having a similar problem. when betelgeuse actually lets me pick him up i place him in a feeding bin with some crickets supers and ground turkey with cod liver oil. betelgeuse was afraid of the one cricket i put in there.

Have you tried tongs to keep the cricket from running around, and just wriggling in one place instead? That worked really well with my Gu.

And what others have chimed in about not feeding for a week. Its hard to -know- that they have slower metabolisms and are fine without food for awhile when at the same time I want to see them getting big and strong and eating lots.

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Very cute!! Also, hopefully that is only a temporary enclosure. A screen topped cage can't hold enough humidity. They need 60% humidity at all times to be healthy and shed properly without losing any toes or tail tip.

You keep the humidity at 60% day and night? Currently I mist really heavily in the morning and again at night (when all the geckos are getting their mistings) that way it has a chance to dry out a little during the day (oh, plus I live in the south and its not too hard to hold decent humidity in my room).

The reason I've been doing it this way, is because in some of my research I read how keeping the humidity too high constantly could cause a RI.
Another question- if you keep your enclosure with a constant 60% humidity does this make your substrate moist at all times? Are tegus susceptible to scale rot if their substrate is too moist?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Logie_Bear]

Esmeralda was watching me this evening while I was feeding the tokays who share a room with her. I thought I'd let her say hi (behind glass, of course) and thought it made for a really cute pic.

[attachment=4800]

 

[Logie_Bear]

Hi all! I figured it was about time for an update!

Since my last post in this thread, Esmeralda (who's been nicknamed Ezzy for short) has grown a tad. She had her first full shed 3 days ago! Per larissalurid's comment, I've now covered the top 3/4ths of the screen cage with saran wrap (taped down) to keep the humidity up higher and more consistent. Since her first shed came off without incident I think we're good in that aspect. Per a suggestion on another thread I read, I also now keep the MVB light and blacklight/nightlight on at the same time while she basks. Before, the hotspot (from the mbv bulb only) of 110 was only when she climbed to bask on her branch. Now it gets closer to that temp on the floor-level and she doesnt have to climb to get a higher basking temp if she doesn't want to. I'm also happy to report that Ezzy and I have pretty much gotten a poop-in-the-tub routine down pat and she's made nice stinky poops for me each morning outside her enclosure.

There are a few questions I am still having tho. So, to date, Ezzy will NOT eat ground meats. I've tried turkey, chicken, lamb, goat, rabbit and blue crab meat and she has turned her nose up to everything. All she wants is whole prey items. I've been giving her pinky mice on the weekends (f/t) and during the week its bugs, bugs bugs! The staple so far is crickets, and each feeding they get generously coated in calcium powder (w/o d3) and repti vitamin powder. The question remains- at this young age is it ok for her to have bugs everyday/ as a staple to her diet?

I've actually devised a pretty nifty trick of wrapping the cricket in ground turkey (which has been blended with liver and some whole eggs w shells) and letting her sniff the cricket. As soon as she goes to chomp it, I turn it slightly so she gets a big mouthfull of meat. Which, she then eats just fine, but I've had 0 luck getting her to eat it without tricking her into it. The cricket burritos have been pretty successful tho. Anyone else having similar issues with getting their babies to eat more than just insects?


As always, I would love to hear some feedback. Here's a few updated shots of Ezzy sunspot bathing on my bed this morning.

 

[bmx3000max]

lOoking good...and as to ur.bug question its all about variety....yogi was the same until i let him not eat for a couple of days and then he ate ground foods fine.

 

[Logie_Bear]

I think I'm gonna try ordering some hornworms and see how she likes them . I really wish I could get dubias, but TN is a real b**** about roaches

 

[james.w]

Insects are fine as a staple. Try to get some sort of roach, they are more beneficial than crickets. What are the ambient temps now that you are keeping both lights on?

 

[Logie_Bear]

Insects are fine as a staple. Try to get some sort of roach, they are more beneficial than crickets. What are the ambient temps now that you are keeping both lights on?

Roaches are illegal to have in both TN and FL. So sadly, I can't have any shipped. I've been longing to start a b. Dubia colony for months but finding a source in-state has proven difficult to say the least. I'll grab the temp gun tomorrow morning and get you some exact numbers in the morn. Stuck at work currently. D:

 

[Logie_Bear]

What are the ambient temps now that you are keeping both lights on?

Ok, took some temp readings today (and last night)
At night it is a steady 77-78 degrees. During the day the cool side stays right at 80 and on her basking branch, at the highest point , it was 125. On the ground level below the lamp it was 98-101

 

[Logie_Bear]

So, I figure it's about time for an update post on Ezzy.

As of today, I have had her for exactly 1 month. She has already shed 2x for me, and all of her baby greens are gone. I feel like she's about doubled in size, but I don't have a true measurement (really need to find some measuring tape and use it on her...). On Thursday (2 days ago) we had a real break-thru! After almost a month of her snubbing her nose up at her ground meats, she ate a whole plate of ground turkey. Yay! I am excited that we can start branching out and trying lots more foods now. Insects are still her favorite without question tho. This morning my order from Great Lakes Hornworms came in. Holy crap, she LOVED the caterpillars! They are a tad pricy, but definitely worth it, in my book.

I also wanted to add that we got Ezzy one of the little T-Rex lizard leashes and she has been out to meet-and-greet at our local petco, plus she likes to go outside and sniff around in the grass (I dont really trust her being outside without a leash). I took a little video of it, and will post it as soon as I can figure out how to upload it off of my phone.

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Someone let me know if this works or not....

 

[Logie_Bear]

Trying this again:

Here's the video of Esmeralda exploring in the grass:

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq_F9mSWTIo&feature=plcp[/video]

 

[Logie_Bear]

Really crummy cell quality, but I still thought it was an adorable picture:

Esmeralda's new favorite spot in the whole house. The super tegu-warming device!

Also, I would like to add she's taken a real shining to my BF. I think she likes him more than me. Spoiled tegu.

 

[HeatherN]

man she looks exactly like Tarot to me, im lucky he hasnt discovered my laptop, id never get anything done!

 

[Logie_Bear]

man she looks exactly like Tarot to me, im lucky he hasnt discovered my laptop, id never get anything done!

That's what I've been thinking too! What's Tarot's hatch-date?

 

[HeatherN]

july 13th