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New b&w arg owner would like more advice

Jesse1781

New Member
Messages
5
Location
Buffalo
Hello and thanks for taking the time to educate me a bit more on my tegu.
So it's been 2 days now since I received my tegu in the mail. He is a yearling maybe 16 inches with his tail. Maybe slightly smaller I'm not good with judging length lol. I got him from Florida (it took about 16 hours in transit from Florida post office to my front door) from a gentleman who catches wild tegu and tries to home them so they are not destroyed. I talked to him on the phone he was a good guy and answered all my questions and concerns. Now I see alot of people having issues with their captive breed tegu but let me tell you this guy is a baby. I left him the first day (he was super calm taking him out of the box n bag from mail) and brought him out the 2nd and he just explored a bit then layed under my shirt against my stomach soaking up the heat before exploring again. Other then that he has been submerged under his substrate. Everything seems like a fairy tail for the most part... I got the lizard of my dreams I saved his life he's super Melo has great colors etc... . My question is when should he eat? He has shown no interest in crickets, fruit, scrambled eggs or ground beef. Now maybe since he was not captive breed he might only want live prey idk. Should I wait? Also here in buffalo it's winter here so maybe it is a hibernation thing? Well I hope to hear from some of you experts in this area and appreciate your time. Ty and look forward to hearing from you.
 

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Griffin

Member
Messages
85
Do you have a temp gun? I don’t think that branch is big enough for basking and you have a plastic leaves on their which definitely are not getting to 105-120 degreees.
 

Jesse1781

New Member
Messages
5
Location
Buffalo
I got my temp gun this morning and was surprised by the readings. Apparently it's registering up to 130 at the very top. The bulb has a narrow stream so the temp gun shows a 20° + difference in and few inches away. It's about 10 inches from the basking branch and I guessed there's about a 10 inch diameter of extreme heat then it rapidly tapers off down to 105. That being said now that I've been able to directly check the exact area I'm confident the heat is perfect if not maybe a little high I might lift the light or get a lower log.
All tho the heat would have been a normal issue I don't think it has much to do at this time. Not once has he even tried to bask he just goes directly underground. I dug him up this morning to feed him some stk but he wanted nothing of it. So I took a ride to the store got my heat gun n a few other things and come in and he's under again. He DID poop in his water dish but that's it. Hope my mind's not getting the best of me. Some ass even cut his front nails so he can't climb well.
 

Griffin

Member
Messages
85
Awesome! Just let him/her relax and don’t bother to much, thats what I did with mine and now she fully trusts me, as in handling is easy, I can pet her and what not.
 

Jesse1781

New Member
Messages
5
Location
Buffalo
That's the weird part this wild caught tegu is super melo already. I'm just worried if I let him hibernate being so thin he won't wake up.
 

Ambriel

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Kalispell Montana
Hello Jesse1781,
I recently purchased a tegu from Rodney Irwin at tegusonly in florida. I believe he is the same fellow that you got yours from. Mine was 20" when he first arrived and was also extremely tame and easy going from day one. I take him out for baths regularly, which he loves, but I too have questions about feeding. So far my boy has shown only regular interest in crickets and roaches. I have only gotten him to eat one egg, a small piece of chick, and a single grape in the two weeks that I have had him. Not that he is getting skinny, he is fattening up on the crickets and roaches and has grown and gained weight since I got him. But I am a little concerned as everything I read says they should be eating a lot at this age and size. He shows little to no interest in anything I offer him, but delights in hunting down the crickets and roaches that roam his enclosure. I decided to just keep offering him small amounts of food and not to worry as long as he gains weight. I did notice that he has more of an appetite after a warm bath. Those were all the times I got him to eat from the dish. Gave him a bath and placed him in front of his dish. Perhaps try that with your little guy?
 

Griffin

Member
Messages
85
Hello Jesse1781,
I recently purchased a tegu from Rodney Irwin at tegusonly in florida. I believe he is the same fellow that you got yours from. Mine was 20" when he first arrived and was also extremely tame and easy going from day one. I take him out for baths regularly, which he loves, but I too have questions about feeding. So far my boy has shown only regular interest in crickets and roaches. I have only gotten him to eat one egg, a small piece of chick, and a single grape in the two weeks that I have had him. Not that he is getting skinny, he is fattening up on the crickets and roaches and has grown and gained weight since I got him. But I am a little concerned as everything I read says they should be eating a lot at this age and size. He shows little to no interest in anything I offer him, but delights in hunting down the crickets and roaches that roam his enclosure. I decided to just keep offering him small amounts of food and not to worry as long as he gains weight. I did notice that he has more of an appetite after a warm bath. Those were all the times I got him to eat from the dish. Gave him a bath and placed him in front of his dish. Perhaps try that with your little guy?


I don’t think you need to worry about him not eating as much, its winter and that means time to slow down for them! Also, from the research I gathered and through personal testing, younger Tegus, definitely prefer insects/bugs then ground turkey or whatever it may be.
 

Ambriel

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Kalispell Montana
I don’t think you need to worry about him not eating as much, its winter and that means time to slow down for them! Also, from the research I gathered and through personal testing, younger Tegus, definitely prefer insects/bugs then ground turkey or whatever it may be.

Thank you for the response : ) I was wondering about the winter thing, but his enclosure stays at a regular temp of 94 degrees on hot side and 78 degrees on the cool side. Is that normal? For them to slow down even when their enclosure temps are up? I don't know if he can still sense the weather outside or not. He doesn't come out and roam around hardly at all, unless he is doing it at the times I am at work. He stays in his burrow that he dug as far as I can tell. I take him out for baths like I said and he will spend a little time hunting crickets and roaches then bask before he burrows again. I never see him come out on his own though. I do work a full time job so it is possible that he comes out while I am gone. Either way, he is gaining weight and noticeably growing so as long as he is happy eating bugs I am fine with it.
 

Griffin

Member
Messages
85
Yup, its a natural process they have developed through evolution, so in other words its just natural instinct for them to slow down and hibernate/brumate.
 

Ambriel

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Kalispell Montana
Yup, its a natural process they have developed through evolution, so in other words its just natural instinct for them to slow down and hibernate/brumate.

I understand a natural reaction to the environment. But in all my years of owning reptiles I have never had one try to hibernate when the conditions weren't right. My tortoise, snakes, and skinks all would conform to the environment I kept them in. I would let my tort cool down and he would go into a natural hibernation, but I never let my snakes or lizards do so and they ate regularly. I have a hard time believing a lizard would stubbornly choose to hibernate when the conditions he is kept in aren't the same as the natural triggers it would normally need. That's why I worried about him not being so active, but I keep reading and researching and I am finding that these guys all have very different personalities and that largely effects their behaviors. Perhaps my little guy is just lazy or shy. It has been interesting so far. My other reptiles weren't so uniquely different to such a degree within the same species. Tegu's are rapidly becoming my favorites!
 

Zyn

Well-Known Member
Messages
609
This is normal behavior after being transported and relocated to a new environment. Just make sure he has proper heat, uvb, and water and you’ll know when he’s ready to eat.

Tegus will brumate even if the temps aren’t changed. This is due to them sensing environmental barometric pressure changes. If he does go down and stays downs even with high temps I’d suggest lowering them you don’t want them burning through fat stores due to high temps. Brumation is important to the health and natural life cycle of Tegus. Black and whites and reds both brumate but will come in and out of it at different times due to their slightly different localities. Blues might have a short brumation or none at all. They were orginally imported from Brazil by Ron St Perrie and didn’t brumte in this climate naturally.
 
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Ambriel

New Member
Messages
17
Location
Kalispell Montana
Thanks for the response. He has everything he needs. Complete enclosure set up. I will look up more about brumation and what temps and how long and what not. He is definitely gaining weight so I am assuming that he is active at some point when I am out of the room. I will look into it more.
 

Smokie66

New Member
Messages
6
I got my temp gun this morning and was surprised by the readings. Apparently it's registering up to 130 at the very top. The bulb has a narrow stream so the temp gun shows a 20° + difference in and few inches away. It's about 10 inches from the basking branch and I guessed there's about a 10 inch diameter of extreme heat then it rapidly tapers off down to 105. That being said now that I've been able to directly check the exact area I'm confident the heat is perfect if not maybe a little high I might lift the light or get a lower log.
All tho the heat would have been a normal issue I don't think it has much to do at this time. Not once has he even tried to bask he just goes directly underground. I dug him up this morning to feed him some stk but he wanted nothing of it. So I took a ride to the store got my heat gun n a few other things and come in and he's under again. He DID poop in his water dish but that's it. Hope my mind's not getting the best of me. Some ass even cut his front nails so he can't climb well.
 

Smokie66

New Member
Messages
6
I got mine from same guy and yes he was great guy to deal with. I unlike you have kinda been hesitant to pick it up and get it out but it's not really been aggressive other that the first time i tried petting it. It flew off into is hide and i didn't push it but now like i said petting seems to be fine with it but I've not tried holding or getting it out and than having a tegu go bad and go to biteing and all so I'm just waiting her out. I figure she will come when she's ready. now as far as feeding i couldn't get her to eat at all and now she is a pig...lol all i done any different than my other reptiles is spent more time and being more persuasive with the forceps. And she still won't eat a bite of nothing without me giviing it to her. You would think it would be the other way around but it's not. She loves being fed and even that took alittle doing but now she will eat as long as you give it to her and i tried giving her everything i give in a plate, bowl and it just never happened. She doesn't even seem agressive taking the bites now as she actually takes her time and goes easy. Good luck to you and it might be worth a try to do that just wait out alot longer than you normally would
 
Last edited:

Smokie66

New Member
Messages
6
I got mine from same guy and yes he was great guy to deal with. I unlike you have kinda been hesitant to pick it up and get it out but it's not really been aggressive other that the first time i tried petting it. It flew off into is hide and i didn't push it but now like i said petting seems to be fine with it but I've not tried holding or getting it out and than having a tegu go bad and go to biteing and all so I'm just waiting her out. I figure she will come when she's ready. now as far as feeding i couldn't get her to eat at all and now she is a pig...lol all i done any different than my other reptiles is spent more time and being more persuasive with the forceps. And she still won't eat a bite of nothing without me giviing it to her. You would think it would be the other way around but it's not. She loves being fed and even that took alittle doing but now she will eat as long as you give it to her and i tried giving her everything i give in a plate, bowl and it just never happened. She doesn't even seem agressive taking the bites now as she actually takes her time and goes easy. Good luck to you and it might be worth a try to do that just wait out alot longer than you normally would
 

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