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My two year old seems to be showing milder signs of impaction. I only describe it as mild b/c the animal is still feeding every day and eliminating. Problem is, it's usually just the white urea and seldom actual feces.
I watch it eat, so I can say with certainty that the animal could be prone to such a problem. I don't get the behavior. He'll go right after the turkey or rodent, grab it, and then take it out into the substrate and proceed to finish it. I've taken a few steps to eliminate this problem. First, I put paper towels under the feeding dish so the tegu would not put the food directly onto the subs (cypress). Sometimes it works, sometimes he just takes it further away. It's particularly difficult when I feed mice. I've also attempted to feed outside the cage, but after the handling the lizard loses interest.
I recently observed some mulch bits in some stool when I was doing my daily spot cleaning. This was the final straw for me. I took the tegu out and gave it a 20 minute soak in some warm water while I cleaned out the mulch and replaced it with paper towels. I wanted to let him have something to dig in, so I bought a large opaque Rubbermaid container, filled it with mulch, wetted it, and placed it in the area of the cage where his burrow was usually dug out. He took to the burrow immediately, so that's good, I suppose.
I'm going to feed in the new setup tomorrow morning. I'm also going to do another soak and add some cod liver oil to the supplemented turkey. I'm using a zoomed reptisun bulb right now in a 10 hour cycle coming out of winter (he did not hibernate, although I tried, it worked last year.). I also have a 90 watt halogen flood over the hot spot that stays around 110 and is on a timer. Water is replaced twice daily.
I think this issue will subside with some work and patience. If not, I'll take him to a vet. Like I said, no major issues other than a seeming lack of stool, but not a total lack.
Any advice?
I watch it eat, so I can say with certainty that the animal could be prone to such a problem. I don't get the behavior. He'll go right after the turkey or rodent, grab it, and then take it out into the substrate and proceed to finish it. I've taken a few steps to eliminate this problem. First, I put paper towels under the feeding dish so the tegu would not put the food directly onto the subs (cypress). Sometimes it works, sometimes he just takes it further away. It's particularly difficult when I feed mice. I've also attempted to feed outside the cage, but after the handling the lizard loses interest.
I recently observed some mulch bits in some stool when I was doing my daily spot cleaning. This was the final straw for me. I took the tegu out and gave it a 20 minute soak in some warm water while I cleaned out the mulch and replaced it with paper towels. I wanted to let him have something to dig in, so I bought a large opaque Rubbermaid container, filled it with mulch, wetted it, and placed it in the area of the cage where his burrow was usually dug out. He took to the burrow immediately, so that's good, I suppose.
I'm going to feed in the new setup tomorrow morning. I'm also going to do another soak and add some cod liver oil to the supplemented turkey. I'm using a zoomed reptisun bulb right now in a 10 hour cycle coming out of winter (he did not hibernate, although I tried, it worked last year.). I also have a 90 watt halogen flood over the hot spot that stays around 110 and is on a timer. Water is replaced twice daily.
I think this issue will subside with some work and patience. If not, I'll take him to a vet. Like I said, no major issues other than a seeming lack of stool, but not a total lack.
Any advice?
