Setting up a 40g For a hatchling

[Taysha]

Questions I have about my tegu.

1.What should the ambient temperature in the tank be kept at?

2. Should the basking side be on the side with the hide or with the water bowl?

3.What is a good light to get for day?

4. What is a good light to get for night?

5. What kind of food do you offer a hatchling and how often?

6.How deep does the substrate need to be?

7. Should the water bowl be large enough for the lizrd to soak in?

Also any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Strange_Evil]

Questions I have about my tegu.

1.What should the ambient temperature in the tank be kept at?

- I keep my cool side around 80f. 85f is the hottest you want it and 70f is the coolest, with a basking spot ranging from 99-113f, i offer a multi level basking plat form/surface where my tegu can choose the basking temps he prefers most. He'll of course spend his mornings on the 113f spot and afternoons on the cooler basking spot.

2. Should the basking side be on the side with the hide or with the water bowl?

- Give a younger tegu two hides,this has worked wonders with me. Put a hide on each side,one on the cool side and one on the warm. This way when it comes to it they won't have to pick safety over the right temperature. My tegu uses the hide on the warmer side more often though.

3.What is a good light to get for day?

- I use and recommend zoo med power suns,they give off uva uvb and heat all in one. Great bulbs! A 100watt power sun should be plenty enough, temps will vary depending on your room temp of course.

If not power suns,you could use some other mercury vapor bulb, or just use a repti sun 10.0 ,try to mount the fixture on the inside if possible,the screen filters out a good portion of the uvb light.

4. What is a good light to get for night?

- No night time lights are required,unless your room temps are dropping below 60f i highly doubt one will be necessary. And if that does happen stay away from the red bulbs,those are not to friendly on the eyes of diurnal reptiles and can disturb sleeping patterns. Use a ceramic heat emitter,they get pretty hot,all heat no light.

5. What kind of food do you offer a hatchling and how often?

- Its best to feed tegus everyday up into a year old, you can skip a day if you want but this is what worked for me. Once they hit a yr you can switch the schedule over to 3-5days a week,and change as needed.

As for what to feed,heres a list of foods you can offer,
http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=6452#axzz1ms19oKwi

Stick to raw meats,sweet fruit,rodents and insects when younger. When younger they tend to shy away from veggies.

6.How deep does the substrate need to be?

- Atleast 4inches is required for a hatchling. A good rule of thumb is to always make the substrate twice as deep as the widest part on your tegus body. So 3inches of girth,6icnhes of substrate.

7. Should the water bowl be large enough for the lizrd to soak in?

- Yes my tegu enjoys to soak and drink his water,provide fresh water daily in a dish large enough for them to completely submerge in.

Also any tips would be greatly appreciated!

As for tips, do plenty of research. Make use of the forums and read all you can, when you run into some conflicting info or cannot find the answer to a certain question post here and someone will more than gladly help you out!

Tegus are rewarding reptiles,but only if you do what needs to be done in order to properly keep one. These lizards get big and fast,so while in the process of setting up that tank also think about where his future 8ft cage is going to go. He'll need it within the first to 2nd year of his life.

If you can, try to just build a 4' x 2' x 2' cage now, that will last must longer than a 40gallon and also give you plenty of practice for the final 8' x 4' cage.

Good luck and welcome to Tegu talk!

 

[Taysha]

I already have someoen lined up to build a 4'x2'x2'x cage for it in a year or so, I can't wait for mine to get big Thanks for answering all my questions!

 

[Strange_Evil]

No prob,however instead of a 4 by 2, get the person to build a 8 by 4. At a yr of age a 4x2 might only last 3 or 4 more months if even that,also depending on if it hibernates.