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Thread: MacGyver the baby Red Tegu

  1. #121
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    San Antonio,TX
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    Laura. Lol. This is to cute. We should figure out on how to post a like button. On top we have " rate this Thread " ( with stars ). This could be the like button .

    TeguKid80. Thank you for giving him a compliment. This is why I love this family Forum. We can talk about anything like adults and keep it calm on here. I'm very proud of every one.
    Rich is not how much you have, or where you are going, or what you are.Rich is who you have beside you.

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    http://www.youtube.com/user/txrepgirl

  2. #122
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
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    98

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    You're welcome, and thanks to you also.

    The basking light setup is: 2x 160W Powersun MVB bulbs in a deep-dome dual light fixture. The bulbs are 17 inches from the ground, and surface temp (i use temp gun) at the center of the basking spot is about 110 degrees f when the towel is dry, and about 100 degrees when completely wet. At 17 inches above the surface, it provides a very large even basking spot and a nice gradient drop-off farther out. He usually chooses to bask in a spot that keeps his body temp (again w/the temp gun) at an even 105 degrees. I've been debating giving him a slate rock also, but I have a feeling he wouldn't like it much.... he's gotten really spoiled and prefers soft surfaces. I know that sounds crazy, but he has really picked up some spoiled habits (he also prefers to use a mini-pillow to rest his head on when sleeping), so I figured a dark colored towel for basking would be a good middle ground.

    He really loves his baths. Sometimes he will fall asleep in the bath for hours. We bath him in a shallow walk-in shower so he can easily leave whenever he wants. Sometimes its 10 minutes, sometimes (rarely though) its like 3+hr (usually the late night baths). I forgot to mention in the last msg that we sometimes put some Zilla brand Shed-Ease in his bath... im not sure if it actually does anything, but I figure it doesn't hurt so as might as well. He just took a bath a few minutes ago actually and then that shed on the side of his jowels that I last mentioned just came completely off, so its just those ugly scales on the top of his head still waiting to come off for this round of shedding.

    As far as diet goes, we give him about 40% whole prey items (small rats, day old quail, and day old chicks), about 40% fish fillets (salmon, tilapia, trout, bass), and about 20% fruit (mostly kiwi and cherries). We also don't use supplements of any kind, but we do give him a fresh crumpled up egg shell just about every day for extra calcium. We have given him ground whole animals from hare-today.com in the past also (he loved it), but its a little messier than we usually prefer to deal with so we don't feed it much anymore just for that reason. We usually try to give him as much fruit as he is interested in eating first, and then we give him as much meat as he wants after that. Sometimes we rub fish on the fruit to encourage him to eat it because fish probably his favorite food of all.

    Hope I didn't forget anything. Also, what veggies have you had the most luck w/getting your gu to eat?
    MacGyver's YouTube channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/todeyius

  3. #123
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    I actually agree with your diet. I don't feed as much fish as you do simply because of availability problems but the rest pretty much matches up. I feed mice, quail, chicks, invertebrates, and shellfish pretty heavily. I feed more fruit than veggies but they'll really eat anything as long as I give them mice with it haha. I put whatever fruit and veggies I have available in with the mice in a bowl and they'll eat both of them. They do prefer whole prey items to fruit and veggies generally though. If I were you I would up the basking spot to about 120-130 degrees. It's where I try to keep mine at and they are a lot more active. I think you could accomplish it by just putting a slate rock underneath it to be honest. I think he'd like it more than you think but you could always try and just remove it if he didn't. Your light setup sounds more than adequate to me. Not sure why you're having some of those longer sheds but it could just be how he is, I know some tegus just have shedding issues. Have you ever considered putting in a box with some kind of substrate he could burrow in that stays humid? I know a guy who does that with his free roam tegu and doesn't seem to be having any shedding problems.

  4. #124
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central FL
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    Is that Kirby with the shedding box?

    One day when my tegus were basking outside, I used a digital thermometer to record the basing temp of the surface they had chosen. It was 128. I thougth that interesting.
    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

  5. #125
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    Sep 2009
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    Yes, I am referring to Tyler and Kirby. And yeah mine bask at similarly high temps when outdoors as well.

  6. #126
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
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    Bay Area, CA
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    I use a higher basking temp about 128-132 degrees for my 6 tegus and they do great. I feed a mostly whole prey too and have never had any digestion issues when given these high of temps. I strongly recommend giving them a try. Also basking for short periods of time is good. its when they lay on the basking area for long periods that you know temps are too low because it takes them longer to warm up their bodies which increases the risk of burns. I always use flat rock because it retains heat and they need it from both belly and above.

  7. #127
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
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    rockport, Massachusetts
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    391

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    Quote Originally Posted by SnakeCharmr728 View Post
    I use a higher basking temp about 128-132 degrees for my 6 tegus and they do great. I feed a mostly whole prey too and have never had any digestion issues when given these high of temps. I strongly recommend giving them a try. Also basking for short periods of time is good. its when they lay on the basking area for long periods that you know temps are too low because it takes them longer to warm up their bodies which increases the risk of burns. I always use flat rock because it retains heat and they need it from both belly and above.
    Interesting I did not know that. My monitors bask at very high temps and they are very active and only bask for short amounts of time. I always figured they were more active lizards.
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  8. #128

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    Not trying to get off subject too much but it is relevant to the discussion but I have found that most if not all herps will enjoy a really hot basking spot. I have leopard tortoises and they will nap in the hottest spot in the enclosure which will get 110 or higher where most people say not to get them hotter than 95 or so.

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