Hello

[kaylorin]

Hello everyone =) My name is Kathy, and I live in northern Nevada. I have only recently been bitten by the "reptile bug" =) I went to PetSmart last June looking for a dog leash, and I ended up going home with the leash and a Chinese Water Dragon (who had mbd when I got her - but all is well now). Since then I have a bearded dragon for Christmas and just a week ago took in a rescue bearded dragon. I have learned a lot about the care and husbandry of my babies and I love them to bits.

The last reptile I want is a tegu =) I have been researching them for about 2 months now, and I am finding that there are lots of caresheets, but they don't always agree. They also give basics, but I know that a tegu is very different from water dragons and bearded dragons in their care - husbandry is very similar. I wish I knew someone that has a tegu that I could go visit with them for a day and get a more "hands on" knowledge than basic caresheets. If anyone would be willing to sit down and answer questions, I would love it. I want to make sure that I am up to the care of the tegu before getting one, and finding out it is more than I can do.

Back in August, when I saw my first tegu, I thought they had to be fed live mice - it was an out for me. I can not do that - thankfully now I know I don't =) I would like a more accurate assesment of what they eat in a feeding - how many times a week for juvies and adults alike. How often do they really brumate? I am looking at the Red Argentines and I know people say they can sleep for up to 7 months.....not sure I would like that at all =( Do they usually go down that long if housed indoors?

As you can see, I have a lot of questions - more than that even =) I just want to make sure a tegu is a good fit for me before I get one and find that it just doesn't work.

Thank you so much for all your time and patience. I have learned quite a bit reading through threads already.
Thanks =)
Kathy

[mlewis412]

Hi Kathy! Welcome to the forums.
I am quite new here myself, so this is just going on what I so far encountered with my tegu. I have a very picky eater and if he ate mice i would be super excited. ON that note I would say that having a variety in his diet egg (hard boiled), fish, ground turkey, grapes, fruit, etc.. I try to feed mine everyday. I been noticing he eats very little one day if at all.. and a medium portion the next.. (he is only a few months old).. I have lucked out without having my tegu go into hiding yet. There are plenty of knowledgeable members on this forum, you def came to right place!

[txrepgirl]

Hi Kathy. Welcome to our Tegu forum family. It's nice to have you here and thank you for joining us. I'm glad to see that you are doing your research first before you get a Tegu. We always be here for you. Please ask as many questions as you like.

1. The only things you have to feed them live are crickets, worms, feeder roaches but not mice .

2. Most Tegus when you get them as a hatchling they don't want to eat for the first few days. That is normal. It's because they are getting used to the new home. They are maybe going into shed ( some eat some don't at that time ), or going into hibernation ( if it's fall/winter time ). Or they had a big meal the day before.

3. Not all Tegus hibernate/burmate. We have five Tegus. Two of them hibernated every year since we got them for 6 to 7 months. The other two hibernated not every year and just for about 5 months. Our Leonidas ( the biggest one ) never hibernated. We got him in 07 and he was about 7". So it's hard to say if a Tegu will or will not hibernate. I forgot to mention that when Tegus hibernate they don't grow. So yours will be the same sizes when he comes out before he went into hibernation . That's the best part lol.

4. When Tegus are under a year old, they eat every day or every other day all they can eat. They will know when they are full . When they had a big meal the day before they might not want to eat that day or the next. Sometimes it helps to give them a luke warm bath ( the water shouldn't be higher then right under their arm pit ). This helps them poop and might want to eat after they pooped. Some of mine still do that .

You can feed them ground chicken, turkey, beef, pork. Fresh fish filets like salmon, cat fish, tuna, cod, tilapia. Turkey/chicken breast. Chicken gizzards, hearts, liver. Hard boiled eggs fruits ( not the citric ones ) and veggies ( be very careful with spinich ). The bananas should be just given as treats. They are very high in potasium.

5. I know it's not like hands on. But if you like you can check out my videos so you can see how tame they can be and how I fed them when they were little.
Just click on the youtube link in my signature below.