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Thread: Hi All, New to Tegus...

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  1. #1

    Default Hi All, New to Tegus...

    Hello,

    Thought I would share a little about myself here. It's all related, trust me.

    I have been interested in a tegu for over a year now. Actually, I have wanted a large lizard for many years, but I used to think I wanted a Savannah Monitor.

    Then I saw how beautiful and tame and intelligent tegus can get and I fell in love.

    As far as other lizards go, I owned a 4.5-ft Green Iguana while in college years ago. Had him for 7 years. And I currently own 2 female Leopard Geckos and a bright orange male Bearded Dragon.

    And I have an awesome collection of tarantulas right now. About 20 species. Most are beautiful adult females and I even have a few breeding projects underway.

    I am a very hands on person who loves beauty and size. I love beautiful tarantulas and giant ones. And I have tamed down all of my spiders and handle them regularly. I don't mess with the more venomous and aggressive Old World tarantulas because I am too hands on.

    I also enjoy taking my tarantulas to libraries, schools, churches, summer camps, etc and doing presentations. I have made some plexiglass display cases to take them places.

    I love my tarantulas, who all do well in hand, but I want a large lizard that actually craves attention. I enjoy my beardie, who was a gift to me, but I want a heavy lizard, and the more I see about tegus, the more I am falling in love.

    I especially want a Blue Tegu. But until this morning, I have not been aware of any blues in Canada (where I currently live). But I was told this morning they will be coming to Canada this summer!

    SO, I have questions. Questions about nutrition and feeding. Questions about hibernation. Questions about "potty-training", and I look forward to interacting here.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
    Posts
    9,505

    Default

    Hi ManlyMan7. Welcome to our Tegu forum family. Wow, you have a very big collection of pets . We would love to see some photos of them if you don't mind. I don't want to be rude. Hope you don't mind if I'm answering your questions later on. Since it is 2:30am right now I have to get some sleep ( have to get up soon ). Just want to welcome you for right now so you know that members here are reading your Thread .
    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

  3. #3

    Default

    Thank you txrepgirl, for your reply.

    Yes, the collection is getting big, but the tarantulas are low-maintenance. They can happily go weeks between feeding, even though I feed them a few times a week. And their enclosures don't need daily or weekly maintenance as they are fairly neat critters. Many put their left-overs in one corner, and one of mine even had a hole in her bowl-web that I caught her backing into to do her business!

    I will get picks up some time soon. Until then, here is my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/621563...7636837896303/

    I have seriously considered adopting out my geckos and beardie in exchange for a tegu, so this isn't just about wanting yet another to add to my collection. However, when I broached this with my wife, she surprised me and said no. Also, I know my older son would have a hard time with me getting rid of the beardie since he is the most fond of "Scorch".

    Now, I am sure I could build a big cage for a tegu. I built two large cages years ago for my iguana. I could work out putting him in my home office (where my tarantulas are and where it is nice and toasty). I know I could give him the attention he needs. I already have a few extra lamps around the house waiting for this.

    One of the biggest things I am trying to think through is diet. A bit different here in that my family and I are vegetarian, have been so for years, and it would feel weird bringing home meat again, even if it is for the pet, and not for us.

    So I ask this very carefully. As a moderator on another forum, it is NOT my intention to get people riled and this thread closed down for starting a volatile subject. But has anyone ever successfully fed their tegu a vegetarian diet? I don't mean strictly vegetarian, as I already have a thriving mealworm colony and often am breeding crickets to lower the cost of purchasing them. But can I do this without bringing home meats? Not even sure if I am comfortable with bringing home frozen mice, but I would be more open to that right now than bringing home turkey or other.

    I googled this some time in the past year and seem to remember seeing some trails about how to feed them a vegetarian diet, but I haven't followed those, and would have to re-find them again.

    This is likely the biggest issues I am grappling with in my decision process. I want to do this right. If there is a GOOD way to feed a tegu a vegetarian diet, I want to know how to do it. If not, I either have to decide to start bringing home meats again, or that this isn't right for me. The latter would be a hard decision to make.

    I should add that my iguana died of renal (kidney) failure, typically from too much protein in the diet. Adult iguanas need much less protein than juveniles. I am wiser now. Is this similar in tegus?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
    Posts
    9,505

    Default

    First I would like to thank you for being so patient about me not being able to replying to your posts sooner. Don't worry, on this forum everyone is very friendly and very helpful. We don't shut a Thread/Post down unless it gets very heated up and we gave a warning first. Thank God this very rarely happens. The more you ask the better. Here are some informations on your questions.

    Caresheet:

    http://www.thetegu.com/showthread.ph...Tegu-Caresheet .

    Hibernation:

    http://www.thetegu.com/showthread.ph...logic-and-fact

    http://www.thetegu.com/showthread.ph...ting-your-tegu

    http://www.thetegu.com/showthread.ph...her-reptile%29

    Now about the potty training. Most of the time they bump their nose against the enclosure to let us know that they want to get out. When I take them out I put them into the bath tub and give them a bath. This is when they will poop. Sometimes when I don't have much time I just give them a shower and they poop.
    I also have a big clean cat litter tub filled with water in the enclosures. A lot of times they just soak in that water and go poop in there.
    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

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