new columbian tegu not eating

[amir2811]

So I know some of these questions has been answered but i just want all my problems to be answered here.So i got my new columbian tegu last 2 weeks and has only eaten hard-boiled eggs on last friday.Since I wasn't home on that weekend by dad fed it left over eggs cause we ran out of crickets.Starting this Monday I have been offering him a variety of foods and he did not touch them at all !
Well I also offered him 3 crickets evryday and he only eats one except for today and yesterday.Im starting to feel a bit worried cause he's becoming thin and dehydrated.


Where I got him from,he was housed in a 20gal with other tegus with one heat lamp and no uvb.But since they arrived that week he would be fine.It seems to me that he ate great at the pet store.

My set up is a 20gal cause thats the biggest any store would sell.I've got a 100w heat lamp and a 10.0 repti glow bulb.I hve one hide which is in the midle of the cage cause i dont hve space for two.He burrows alot anyways.Temps on the hot side is about 110F-115F.On the cool side is about 90F.I know its hot but thats the temp of my room.Any ideas on cooling it down??
I would place it in a cooler area but it would be downstairs then where my cats are and my noisy siblings.So that would stress him out since he's still settling in.

I've heard that if the temps are too high they will go off feed(?) or is it just him trying to settle in?
There's this one girl on youtube(snakegirl4life) and had this video.She said that when she got her argentine tegu he didn't eat.She started syringe feeding it with some kind of baby food for a week and after that her tegu started eating like a pig.Should I try this? If I should,could anyone show me how it should be done.

Sorry this post is too long.But Im really worried :-( Well I hope this gives you enough information to help me.So if Im doing anything wrong or Im missing something let me know.Thanks guys,I really appreciate you helping me out

[Tora]

I would move it, just try and keep it out of the way and be careful with cats knocking over lights. Better it be a little disturbed and be able to hide than to cook your animal. They're supposed to be able to regulate their temps. Maybe get a lower watt light, 115 sounds kind of high and I'm sure it's not helping keep the cool side down. A bigger tank would help loads too. Give the lizard the right living environment and see what happens, don't force feed it just because. That'll stress it out even more.

[HernandosMom]

My thoughts (I am not an expert):

Before resorting to syringe feeding, try giving him the mixture in a bowl and see if he laps it up. You can put other food in with the baby food, such as freshly killed insects, if he enjoys it and you think it will give him a taste for the other food.

Have you tried offering a fresh-killed pinkie mouse? put it on a plate and leave him alone with it, undisturbed, for at least 1/2 hour. Sprinkle it with vitamin/CA powder beforehand. That's a hard food for a young tegu to resist and the fat wouldn't hurt him.

No question: your little guy needs a bigger cage. He needs to be able to have a range of temperatures within the cage. I know you don't have a lot of choices, but can you build one? Believe me, I appreciate that this isn't easy.

[venom34]

Colombians tegus tend to love raw eggs so I would try offering it some mixed with calcium/vitamin powder, and if it eats it I would try dipping different foods in egg until it eats without it.

[amir2811]

Okay for now,I think I'll move it downstairs.But building a cage im not very sure cause I really don't have that space yet but I'll give it a try.What size cage is recomended since i don't hve alot of sapce.Well I'll be moving do a bigger house but not so soon.And no I have not tried pinkies,well the only reason is because they don't sell frozen mice.So if I would give him a pinkie it would be a live one,I have thought about offering pinkie's though.I'll try giving him some mixture in a bowl.So thank s alot guys I really appreciate you helping me out.It really makes me feel better.I'll try to keep you guys posted if I've see any improvent and really looking foward in building a cage

[txrepgirl]

Hmmm. I wanted to post some infos for you but I just looked at your location and saw that you don't even live here in the US. That makes it a bit harder. But I still will post the info in case your vet has this product ( link below ). I don't know if the company that I get my frozen feeder rodents at will ship outside the US ( link below ). Have you tried to give him some lean raw ground turkey ( all meats at room temps ) or fresh fish filets ( cod, cat fish, tuna, salmon or tilapia ) yet ? Or some hard boiled eggs ( cooled down ) ? How long ( snout to tail tip ) is your Tegu ?

Carnivore food that you can get at the vets office.

https://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com/re...+Care+spec.pdf

Frozen rodents.

http://www.rodentpro.com/catalog.asp?prod=3

Great info on frozen and live rodents.

http://www.rodentpro.com/qpage_articles_01.asp

How to force feed a Tegu. Just in case you ever have to do it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/txrepgir...29/KpovPdBYU3c

[amir2811]

Hi,umm Im not quite sure If any vets around here sell that product cause all of the vets here a for mammals but I'll check If there's any around.I tried ordering from rodentpro but they dont ship to Malaysia,but the closes is Singapore and they keep telling me they can't ship it there.Well anyways,I have not tried Turkey but I've tried chicken cause chicken is 10 bucks less expensive than turkey.But I'll give it a go and I have not tried fish fillets yet.I have offered him hardboiled eggs and he loves it.He is 15 inches from snout to tail(5 mnths old).

[laurarfl]

OK, here are my thoughts...

First, the temps. That 100w bulb is too much. Not only is it driving the temps too high, but it is probably drying out the tank and lowering the humidity. I would save it for the cooler time of year and just use a small 40 or 60 watt household bulb for the basking site. It will give some light without raising the heat too much. His cool side needs to be lower, and that is really up to you to decide how to adjust it. I mean, you know your house and where it would be best, but the tegu is not in his optimal temperature range if the cool spot is 90 all the time. If it is just for a little bit in the morning it would be OK, but not for the whole day.

Really, any meats can be fed to tegus: ground or chunk turkey/chicken/lean beef, organ meats such as gizzards/hearts, clean fish, chicks, eggs. They also eat all sorts of insects and mine also enjoy fruit. If your family is accepting of the idea, try whatever is being served that day. If beef is being served, try a little piece before it is seasoned and cooked. Same with chicken and fish. I just have to add that it is really weird when you add calcium powder to raw egg. It doesn't dissolve and sinks to the bottom of the bowl. You'll have to stir it around to make sure he gets the calcium at the bottom.

If the pet store did not have a UVB lamp with them, I wonder if that may be an issue with your tegu now. I don't know what sort of diet and supplements they used, but maybe he is still lacking in something. Young tegus need to have their food supplemented with calcium at every meal until they eat whole foods that contain bones. Also, his 10.0 light needs to be placed inside the tank to avoid the screen barrier and then made to be about 6-8 inches from his basking spot. I use a kitchen light fixture to hold my UVB tube lights and then cut wire hangers to make an arm that holds the fixture over the back of the tank. If your light is in a fixture that sits on top of a screen is about a foot away from him, then he won't be getting much of the UVB.

I hope that help some. We've had some other members from the Pacific area, Idonesia and such. I understand it can be difficult to keep reptiles over there since there are not reptile vets available and food sources can be different than what we have here. Plus your 20gal tank cost a few hundred dollars, didn't it? Wow. His adult cage will need to be about 6x3. Sometimes people go up in size gradually and build an intermediate cage that is 4x2x2. Usually they build from wood and acrylic.

[amir2811]

Okay.I'll change the wattage of the bulb.Well,I cant put the uvb int the tank unless I take the whole screen lid off.I don't think there's anything wrong with him cause I got him the week he arrived at the pet store.One thing tho....I offer him food to him every day and its suplemented.And he has barely eaten this week so would it affect him since he's nit getting his supplements?
Well right now Im on a hunt looking for componies or funiture shops that would build a cage out of melamine or either plywood.Ummm.....is a 5ft cage enough ? cuse columbians don't grow as large as argentines and I don't have enough space for a 6ft enclosure.