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herpboi
04-23-2007, 02:15 AM
Hi all my name is chris and i am a proud new tegu owner i have owned large reptiles before like iguanas and monitors but sonic is my first tegu he is a columbian about a month or two he is about 1 ft in length he is totally calm he lets me rub him he comes up to me and licks me never tried to bite or whip he finally ate a cricket ,about 8 mealies, and a spoon full of bannanas and BLOODWORM MIXED i had him for 4 days now he started shedding today my one concern he is black and gold not black and white or green is that normal i use a repti-glo 10.0 in conjunction with a 250 watt infrared heat lamp in a storage bin that is 3lx2wx2h as of now is subsrate is newspaper but im soon switching to cypress mulch. well as for myself i am 22 and i live in chicago i own a few other herps i love animals especially da reptiles and i should have some pics up in a week or 2 thanx all

Rick
04-23-2007, 05:30 AM
Congrats on your new tegu & welcome to The Tegu Community!

The T.teguixin species (aka Colombian) come in two forms..

The Colombian Black Tegu (often called Colombian Black & White) and the Colombian Gold-Phased Black Tegu (often called the Colombian Gold or just Golden Tegu). They are both the same species and it's not a morph as such, just a different color phase.

Note that typically Colombians are or get a bit nervous or nippy, but if you are starting with a tame one and you work hard at it, you could be one of the few with a Colombian that turns out to be fairly tame.

I will offer a few general tips...

Do not feed live rodents, only prekilled (frozen/thawed) rodents

Do not feed inside the enclosure. The tegu will learn that the opening enclosure indicates food is coming, but in fact it could be just your hand.

Handle the tegu as much as possible without stressing it out.

Those three tips will help you keep your tegu as tame as possible.

There is a care sheet on your tegu right here..

http://www.thetegu.com/colombian-black-tegu-care.html

Be sure to make a gallery in the Photo Gallery and start uploading some pictures of your new pet. We love to see everyones tegus! :)

Rick