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TC
01-31-2006, 02:50 AM
A friend gave us a cage, got the cage up & it is way bigger than expected. The lizard seems to like it though. She lays on the logs & hides in the plants & runs after her prey with plenty of room. We plan on adding more substrate so she can burrow & are wondering what other plants are safe to add. I am also trying to plan for cold weather. In case of cold weather heating a cage this large will be tough. Also need help with the lighting & heat. We cant get heat pads under the tank, would it be safe to put them under the substrate? There are pictures of the cage in the photo album page 13.

Johelian
01-31-2006, 10:28 PM
That is one cool cage - what are the dimensions of it? The advantage of a tank of course is that you can add a tonne of substrate and it wont get all over the place - which makes for great times for your tegu (and you and your hoover ;) )

On the subject of plants, I really have no idea - no-one I have spoken to as far as Im aware uses live plants, as tegus are so destructive that they will wreck anything you put in there! I put in fake plants designed for lizards and they are usually just plastic stems after a few weeks. I cant imagine that a delicate real plant would survive (unless you can somehow get trees or bushes in there ;) )

Over here in the South of England, it stays pretty cold most nights - at the moment the standing temps in my lizard room are probably around 60F. I have a heat mat taped to the floor of the vivarium, underneath the substrate so its actually inside the cage. The mat is called a King Mat or something like that, and is one of the largest sizes they do. Its attached to a thermostat that is set to 80F; this isnt enough to actually heat the cage up much, but it does offer a warm spot that my tegu can dig into if he chooses. Having said that though he does sleep at the cool end of the cage, burled up and buried.

If you use a mat in the cage, theres a couple of things I would bear in mind. Tegus are diggers with strong claws and limbs; make sure to buy a reputable, durable brand mat designed for reptiles. Secondly, make sure its secured; while digging, a tegu may damage the mat or entangle itself in a cable. Thirdly, make sure to connect it to a thermostat so you can control the temperature; if you just plug into the mains, it will get uncontrollably hotter and could pose a burning risk to your lizard.

Alternatively you can get a CHE (ceramic heat emitter), which is like a bulb that gives out heat but no light. These come in various wattages to suit large and small enclosures, although I would again connect one to a thermostat so that you can control it effectively.

TC
02-01-2006, 02:09 AM
Thanks! The cage is 8 foot long and 4 foot wide, 3 foot tall. Tought it was going to be 4x6 but it was bigger. We are getting another tegu in July so we thought 2 would need that much space & hope to breed. We have sand as the substrate now & will add more tomorrow. Trying to decide what is the best substrate. She was in kind of like mulch before from the pet store. She likes to dig for sure. We will get some fake plants the real ones are not making it like you said.

Its usually between 60 & 70 in our house. I have one thermostat in the cage & plan to get more. The thermo stays on 90. I have 1 red 150 watt bulb. 1 white 150 watt bulb. 1 150watt heat emitter & 1 150 watt flukers black light bulb. Trying to keep the temps between 80 & 120 but need more thermostats to find temps all over.

We are thinking about adding more water....she has not seemed very interested in it, while I have been looking. In her smaller cage she would lay in her water bowl, havent seent that in this cage yet...

We are building a door to the cage now. Will post more pic's when we get them! What kind of lizards do you have? Do they stay in the same cage? I am wondering how 2 will do in the same cage. What kind of cage do you have. Any pictures?

TC
02-01-2006, 02:34 AM
I looked at your pic's. Wow that is a huge lizard!! Looks really healthy! Is it an Argentine red tegu? What kind of substrate do you use? I noticed you have a lot of long lights down low. Our lizard trys to climb on the lights if she can reach them. Is that ok? We have drilled holes in the top for vents. Do you think that will be sufficient?

Johelian
02-01-2006, 02:03 PM
Thats a great size cage, and you've really decked it out well. On the substrate, I would pull out the sand and go back to mulch; tegus I believe are more forest-dwelling animals (tupinambis could probably go into loads of detail on this to clear it up for us). The other downsides with sand are that;
a) they dont hold burrows
b) the tiny grains will get everywhere - in your tegus eyes, mouth, nose etc
c) it doesnt hold the kind of moisture tegus need for high humidity without actually being soaking wet - which can breed bacteria and cause sores to develop on your tegu if its always subjected to being very wet

Mulch, particularly cypress or orchid bark, are the most popular substrates as they hold a degree of moisture, is relatively cheap and easy to maintain. If you buy coarse mulch, which is just bigger pieces, its also less likely that your tegu will accidentally eat it (most tegus will spit out bits of mulch if they notice they have it in their mouths, unlike some lizards [my poor beardie springs to mind ;)]). Some people mix it with soil to produce an even better substrate that really makes for good digging, but I have no experience of that alas.

When I say thermostat, I mean a dial which can be used to control the temperatures of your heating devices - not a thermometer, which tells you the temperatures of your cage. Basically, you set a thermostat to a specific temperature, and it will then turn the heating device on and off to keep the cage at that temperature. It just stops the heating device from getting hotter and hotter until it reaches maximum wattage, which could be enough to burn your lizard. They should, IMO, be used with all heating elements where possible, particularly heat mats. You need specific ones on lightbulbs though, or they will short very quickly; I personally dont have one on my lights since I have chosen a wattage that heats to an ideal max temp (lots of measuring with thermometers to get this right ;) ), but for things that your lizard will be in contact with they are pretty important. You may want to get hold of a temperature gun, which are available at most good lizard stores; you aim these at a particular place (like the basking spot) and it gives you an exact reading. Most of the dial-type thermometers are very inaccurate; digital is the way to go (and they arent much more, money wise).

When he was younger my tegu did try and climb the lights quite a lot, so they were hoisted higher up; now that he is an adult though he spends less time trying (more lazy and heavy ;) ) so its safe to lower them. As yours is a youngster I would keep them out of reach for now, as they are far more enthusiastic about climbing when young. Make sure they are very secure, and cant be knocked loose; my tegu nearly burnt the place down when he knocked down his basking light onto the mulch when he was small.

Tegus dont generally soak for long periods like some lizards; some reasons for your lizard spending a lot of time in water are;
a) dehydration; humidity too low
b) too hot an enclosure; cooling down in water
If your tegu spends a great deal of time in water, these are things to consider (of course, they may just enjoy a quick soak - but these arent aquatic beasties and shouldnt spend ages in there out of choice).

Perhaps your smaller enclosure was too warm? At any rate, I wouldnt worry that she isnt soaking as much; just ensure she has a good source of clean water in there. You will quickly see if shes trying to squeeze into it ;)

On the vents, you should be fine; the only thing you will have to keep an eye on is the humidity, as some will escape through the holes (ideally vents should be in the sides/back of the cage, though obviously this isnt an option for you). Pick up a hygrometer and put it in there to measure humidity - 50-80% is ideal. Once you change the sand and mist the mulch with water, it should shoot up; if youre losing it too quickly, you could put a piece of perspex across part of the vents to trap some in. Obviously dont cover the whole thing; some air circulation needs to happen to prevent mould and stagnation.

My tegus an argentine black and white, and is around 2 years old now and pretty much fully grown at around 45". I also have a bearded, who lives in the cage underneath in my picture album; shes about the same age. Were quite lucky with the teeg, as hes very mellow and tolerates human contact very well; no aggression at all, although he always huffs to show his displeasure whenever we go near him. Doesnt work though ;)

EDIT - I just realised this post is huge! I totally understand if you dont read it all! ;)

TC
02-02-2006, 01:56 AM
Read it all! We appreciate all the information! We will switch to the mulch this weekend, check the lights & humidity temps. Will let you know how it turns out. The vet says she is pretty sure this is a female. Is there a way to tell for sure?

Johelian
02-02-2006, 04:12 PM
If your tegu is a baby or juvenile, really the only way to be completely certain is to have it probed by a vet. We actually got lucky with my tegu, as I really wanted a male and the store we bought it from had actually seen him invert his hemipenes while excreting, so they knew he was male (though he would have been several months old at this point). When they reach maturity at around 16-18 months +, some physical differences will be evident; males develop large jowls, which make the backs of their heads appear larger than their necks. Females will generally have a head roughly the same width or fractionally larger than their necks. You should also be able to feel the males cloacal spurs, which feel like little ball bearings under the skin either side of the vent.