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Thread: Erratic behavior; scrapes from escape attempts

  1. #1

    Default Erratic behavior; scrapes from escape attempts

    Hi guys,
    I have a nearly two-years-old male tegu. The past week, there have been a couple instances when he's gone COMPLETELY NUTS for a while in his cage. I will hear him try to get out by scratching, and recently he's been launching himself towards the only opening in his cage, the metal wire grate that holds his light fixtures. I didn't realize at first, but he got himself a little cut up and scraped, first on his underchin, and now on a bit of the top of his head. So,

    1. Why is he acting CRAZY for no reason? He is normally very nice and behaves well and never has tried to escape so hard. I feed about 5-6 times a week, which is a good amount for an adult. Is he in heat or something?

    2. How do I make him stop? (I can't have him scraping himself up nor can I afford having the noise.)

    3. Do cuts/scraped scales heal at all on a Tegu? By that I mean, will he be a little scarred up?

    I'm very surprised because he was actually able to pry open the metal wiring, with his head, un-nailing it from the wooden cage o_O he is TOO STRONG!
    He is a very gorgeous tegu and I don't want him getting marred up :(
    Thanks!

  2. #2

    Default

    So far at the very least I've screwed in the metal wiring and put a rubber strip around the entire sharp area. So at the very least, there's nothing on which he can injure himself while going nuts. But I would like to figure out why he's acting like this!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
    Posts
    9,505

    Default

    First I would like to say to please keep a eye on the rubber strip so it doesn't get to hot from the light. Some of our Tegus did this before, too. They do it for a few different reasons. They are either hungry ( I know you feed him a lot ), they have to go to the bathroom and don't want to do it in their enclosure, they want to free roam around or when they do it by the lighting they might want to get closure to the light because the basking temps are to low. When he goes to the bathroom look and see if he has any spermplugs coming out. If hes, then he is ready to mate. If you want to you can ask your vet if you can buy some penalog from them or you can order it. Sometimes the wound heals up and sometimes it doesn't. It depends on how deep the wound is. Here is a video of our Leonidas when he got a bad nose rub and how he looked like after I put the penalog on him for a while. I love the penalog. It works very well and it doesn't expire. They also call it the liquid gold ( comes in a cream form, too ) because it can be used for so many different things.

    Panalog: http://panalogointment.com/

    Spermplug: http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=110283

    http://www.anapsid.org/seminalplugs.html

    He was acting like this because he was in mating season lol.




    This is how he looked like after three days of using the penalog.

    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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  4. #4

    Default

    I was wondering what that stuff in his poo was. So I guess he's ready to mate. Is it mating season? Could that be a factor?
    His scrapes aren't too bad. It's more like he scuffed up the scales on the top of his head, and got a couple of shallow cuts along the chin. I guess I will wait and see if a new coat of scales will come out looking clean and new.
    P.S. the rubber strip is only near the cold UVB light

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
    Posts
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    To be honest with you I don't know when the mating season starts. I always thought it would be in the spring and summer and not in the winter time. But I could be wrong. I haven't been breeding any of our Tegus yet. Since the wounds are not deep they should heal up just fine. It's good to hear that the rubber is not close to something hot.
    Rich is not how much you have, or where you are going, or what you are.Rich is who you have beside you.

    Our videos :

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

  6. #6

    Default

    aw! now im realy happy. When reptiles wants to mate in mating season, that means they are in good shape!(what i have heard and read!)
    Our green iguana does the exact same thing during mating. But! he has stopped doing that bite thingy to me, since we bought a green stuffed toy lizard to him.

    By the way do you have a care sheet that you recommend for tegus?

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
    Posts
    9,505

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    I think so also that they have to be healthy in order to wanting to breed. How does your iguana like the stuffed toy ? Here is a care sheet you could check out. When someone has their Tegu for a while they will find out what they like and don't like ( like with foods ). Some Tegus also don't eat the same amount of food ( like they want to skip a day ).

    http://www.thetegu.com/showthread.ph...Tegu-Caresheet
    Rich is not how much you have, or where you are going, or what you are.Rich is who you have beside you.

    Our videos :

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

  8. #8

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    its the best thing i ever bought to him! when he starts become aggresive during the mating season, i just give him this toy and let them be for a while. I got pictures on it(i take picture on all stuff that hapends, to remind myself(im not a weirdo! hehe)). Should i post the picture, or is that unnecessary?
    Thanks alot for the care fact, il check it out later!

  9. #9

    Default

    So you gave your iguana a "pretend mate" and it relieved him of his mating stress? That's pretty funny!

  10. #10

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    wow, that was so clever said i almost was in chock! hehe. But yes thats exactly whats going on!

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