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Thread: Baby tegu wont eat crickets, just eggs...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Location
    Reno, NV
    Posts
    266

    Default Baby tegu wont eat crickets, just eggs...

    My boyfriend and I are new parents to a columbian black and white baby tegu. We got him less than a week ago and from nose to tail he is 12 inches. We have him in a 55 gallon tank with coconut husk/ moss substrate. (Just a little moss for keeping humidity). Temperature in basking spot is 110 and cool spot is 80. Humidity is constantly between 60 and 70%. When we got him from the petstore, the guy incharge of feeding the reptiles said he was eating 4 to 5 crickets a day.

    My question is, we cant figure out why he wont eat very much. When we feed him, ofcourse in a quiet seprate container from his home, he takes no interest in the crickets. The only thing he will eat is hard boiled egg. We tried dipping the crickets in egg since some people have had success that way but the crickets would end up dieing quickly after and he would just lick the egg off of them... He will also eat a few bites of wet dogfood, but I recently read dogfood should be treated as a treat and not a meal. We're concerned about him just eating egg because his poops have turned smelly and runny, and when we first brought him home his poops looked atleast semi-solid. We even tried killing the crickets first and hand feeding but he wants nothing to do with them.

    How do we get him to eat crickets again?
    Also, is it normal for him to stay in his burrow the entire day? Like not even to come out and bask or anything? He just hides all the time.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central FL
    Posts
    4,349

    Default

    Colombians can take some time to adjust to their new surroundings. They are little egg lovers and will just eat the egg. I would try two things: put a live cricket or two in his enclosure (dust them with calcium) and leave them in his enclosure for the day. Also, I keep my Colombians at these temps: basking 105, warm 90, cool 80, nightime 77-78. You may have to play with yours to see what works best for your little guy. I know if my basking temps are too high, mine won't bask or seem to act agitated. And if I remember correctly, teguixin live closer to the equator where temperatures are more constant throughout the day and a bit more tropical.
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

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