Reptar's Update Thread

[Gu_Punch]

Hi all I thought I'd start a thread for Reptar. Ive had him 2 weeks now he's eating more and more and getting a bit more comfortable with me every week ( at least it seems). He has had his first shed under my care and it all looks great except for his tail has slowly been shedding for about a week (very slowly) . I have been leaving him alone except for a couple of pick up sessions and head pets. Tomorrow I will start to try and feed him in a seperate bin and give him soaks as well as have hang out sessions outside the tank! Here he is !

[Bebo]

Looks good. Have you tried giving him a bath? It will aid his shedding process.

[Gu_Punch]

I have once but he's very skiddish now he's warmed up to me a tad so I will try again tomorrow.

[chitodadon]

Just keep tryi ng to be around him

from Samsung Galaxy S3

[nathantheawesometegu]

Hi all I thought I'd start a thread for Reptar. Ive had him 2 weeks now he's eating more and more and getting a bit more comfortable with me every week ( at least it seems). He has had his first shed under my care and it all looks great except for his tail has slowly been shedding for about a week (very slowly) . I have been leaving him alone except for a couple of pick up sessions and head pets. Tomorrow I will start to try and feed him in a seperate bin and give him soaks as well as have hang out sessions outside the tank! Here he is !

Wonderful columbian tegu! mine does the same, it doesnt eat a whole lot...iv only had mine for about a week....

[Gu_Punch]

Thank you all ! Also, I do try to work around his cage and hang out on the couch by his tank and evey day when he's out and I'm cleaning his cage I pet his head. It seems he doesn't mind it much even tho he does this thing where he kinda opens his mouth but not really... Definitely not gaping and he lets me pet his head. So I hope he isint bothered. Tomorrow I will start his feedings and soakings outside of the enclosure

[Gu_Punch]

Also he's eating more and more everyday he even let me pull a piece of cypress mulch out of his mouth without freaking out today so I see that as progress

[txrepgirl]

Reptar looks great . Since you have a screen top you can duct tape some aluminum foil on there to keep some of the heat and the humidity in. If you have the bulb on top of the screen then just cut out a big hole where the lighting goes. Make it a bit bigger then the dome is so some air can get in the enclosure. I'm glad that you got the piece of mulch out. I hope he didn't eat any before and get impacted. It's normal for the shed on the tail to come of later then the shed from the rest of the body. Please do me a favor and never pull on the shed if it's not ready to come off. You could damage some scales and he could have some shedding problems after this or get a infection. If you want to you can check out my video on how you can keep your Tegu calm in the tub ( if he is scared of the water ). Thank you for the updated photos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz_wDAfBI7c

[Gu_Punch]

Thanks so much Txrepgirl ! My only real concern now is Impaction. Even if I put his good on a little container he always picks it up and moves it around and ends up eating right off the mulch I've seen him battle twice with trying to swallow food and get the mulch out at the same time. On the other hand I don't want to stress him out by forcing to pick him up or move him from his cage cause he's still not 100% trusting of me and squirms or backs up if I try to pick him up or pet him. What should I do ?!?!

[txrepgirl]

Your welcome . I know allot of people don't agree with me on this one. But I recommend getting your Tegu out and feeding him in a dark bin or the bathtub and handle him for a bit. When we got our first Tegu I fed Leonidas in his enclosure because I didn't want to stress him out. Well he got impacted and even got a prolapse. So I had to end up getting him out of the enclosure 3 to 4 times a day to give him a bath and force feed him some chicken baby food. I think this stressed him out more then if I would of gotten him out of the enclosure and feed him in a bin in the first place. But he tamed down very fast ( I babied him allot ). So after this experience I took all the other lizards out of their enclosure from day one. As you can see in my videos they turned out just fine in no time.