New with questions

[Badblood]

Hi. I got a Blizzard Blue Tegu 3 days ago. Believe it is one week old. It has not ate yet. Has not went to basking spot. It burrows like she wants to hibernate. It is too early for that right? Have her in a 40 gallon breeder tank. 160 watt powersun bulb. 12 hours on.115F basking spot above hide. Heat pad under hide. Incandescent heat bulb at night. Heat but no light. Am I doing anything wrong? Thanks for any advice.

 

[rantology]

You don't need an under-tank/hide heater - just the basking spot with the 115 temp should be good. They need the hide to be cooler and moist, 75-80 with very high humidity (sphagnum moss works great for that). The heat bulb at night is usually not necessary unless temps would fall below ~65. Other than that the temps sound great.

What are you feeding her? It's not uncommon for them to take a week or three to really settle in after a move and during that time they are very prone to hiding a lot and refusing food. Don't let that discourage your efforts though.

 

[Badblood]

You don't need an under-tank/hide heater - just the basking spot with the 115 temp should be good. They need the hide to be cooler and moist, 75-80 with very high humidity (sphagnum moss works great for that). The heat bulb at night is usually not necessary unless temps would fall below ~65. Other than that the temps sound great.

What are you feeding her? It's not uncommon for them to take a week or three to really settle in after a move and during that time they are very prone to hiding a lot and refusing food. Don't let that discourage your efforts though.

Thank you for your reply. I was told if the temp gets under 70 they will want to hibernate. It is around 70 with the heat bulb.

I did see her today so that is a good sign. I tried dubia roaches the first day. Today I put ground turkey in a small bowl before coming to work. I look forward to see her coloring change.

 

[rantology]

Sounds like you are off to a great start. The young ones tend to like insects a lot (the motion will trigger prey drive) so keep offering those... also whole prey like mice!

 

[Badblood]

Thanks. I will try dubias again tomorrow. When feeding insects it is best to feed those in a different smaller enclosure right? Thanks.

 

[rantology]

You can if you want to, some feed outside the cage, some feed inside. I use a dog clicker and tongs to target train my dude so he knows when its food time and when it's just me. Then I just put his bowl with all his food inside the enclosure and he'll gobble it up - the only thing I'd suggest against is hand feeding, at least until you build a lot of trust with each other (you don't want to imprint upon them that hand = food response).

 

[Badblood]

It has been one week now. Still not eating. Just burrows. She came out yesterday. Saw me then burrowed again.

 

[rantology]

Have you tried leaving food inside the cage for the day? she may be willing to eat when you aren't around

 

[Badblood]

Have you tried leaving food inside the cage for the day? she may be willing to eat when you aren't around

Hi. She did finally eat. Yes, I leave a small bowl in her cage with dubias in it. I noticed yesterday most of them were gone. And today I actually watched her come out and eat from the bowl. She knows now that the bowl means food. Will use a small plate in there for other foods.

How much time should I give her before I can start daily handling? Thank You.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Hi. She did finally eat. Yes, I leave a small bowl in her cage with dubias in it. I noticed yesterday most of them were gone. And today I actually watched her come out and eat from the bowl. She knows now that the bowl means food. Will use a small plate in there for other foods.

How much time should I give her before I can start daily handling? Thank You.

Any time you like but take things slow and be patient.

 

[Dingotrin85]

How is the clicker method working out for you? I recently got an albino blue. Had it a few days. Would guess about 2-3 months old (could be wrong). New to the tegu game. I got it to eat a pinky and some dubias after a day or so. Hoping that's a fortunate sign.
I've tried the clicker with bigger snakes and it was generally 50/50. Would love to not have a tegu bite scar. Though, that could be cool.

 

[rantology]

How is the clicker method working out for you?

Its mostly useful to call him out of his hide when it's meal time - he comes! but if your gu has a strong feeding response (mine does) you still need to be careful. I feed him out of a bowl now (but tongs work too), clicking before and as I set the bowl down. He likes to jump and lunge like a doofus before he can even see what is in the bowl because meal time is the highlight of his day (and my hand is still holding said bowl). He does not go into feeding response without seeing the bowl or hearing the clicker however, so I would say it's doing the job well enough.

 

[Dingotrin85]

Its mostly useful to call him out of his hide when it's meal time - he comes!

Thanks for the response. I will start working with the clicker. Excited to see a response after a while.

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!