Reptile & Amphibian Forums

u guys have never clearly answered this.
all i want to know is what u think im doing wrong. my teus are in tip top shape. and when i give them gatorade once a day the syringe is only this big =|==========|-| thats life size. everyone i talk to besies the people on here say gaorade or pedialie is great to give lizards. and when some1 said hey can get a sugar high off the stuff, i dont no how they can get tha form so little. some ppl here especially no-it-all KIT thinks im taking bad care of my lizards. i jsut want to no where yr getting this crazy idea from

You are the first person ever to call me a "Know-It-All", thank you.

I'll share with you a big secret: I've been working with Reptiles now for 15 years, I believe that is as long as you've been alive.
Now do you know what I've learned in that time?
That all I am, is just a servent to my animals, and that they have all the answers and not me. I'm content to listen to what they want and simply give them those things.
In return I get to see them thrive, and that is all the thanks I get.

The reason I personally don't think you are taking good care of your lizards is simple. You post questions like:
"Is my Lizard Sick?"
"Should I get another Tegu?"
"My Tegu isn't eating, what should I do?"
However when anyone makes a recommendation you respond with justifications about how you are doing the right thing by your Tegus. You don't like the answer so you go on looking for one you can live with, and that tells me you do not listen, nor do you listen to your Tegus, here's a hint: If your Tegu isn't eating regularly your Tegu is telling you something. If your Tegu sits quietly while you watch television, that should be telling you something too.
Only you can decide what is best for your animals, but when you come and ask for advice or assistance do not tell us that suddenly everything is fine and we are the ones who need to keep our opinions to ourselves.
Again, I am not attacking you, nor do I think you are willingly abusing your animals, but I believe you are on an unsuccessful path.
For the record, until you are willing to communicate in a meaningful manner, I will cease responding to your posts or attempting to answer your questions.But I do wish you all the best!

Take Care and Good Luck!

-Kit

xardion, did you read the newer posts to your older threads? i think that some people already posted their concerns down there. well, guys... i'm just gonna back out of the way and just hope this storm blows over... ah hell, let the conversion and consumption begin anew... MWA HA HA HA!!!

my lizard does sit with me sometimes but no on my lap he climbs all over me and trys to go check things out. and the is my lizard sick post, he was jsut tensing his muscles and i thought it was like some kind of thing in his throat. and i have 2 tegus now cuz i was told by ppl who have had lizards alot more thn jsut 15 years to get another lizard. and it did help. badger ate only when he wanted to. but now tht i got another one he doestn sleep all day and is always running around everyhwere with zoey. i do not see how my lizards could be healthier. they are smart and reconize different food dishes and no imidielty when i give them there daily gatorade, cuz the stop running and come right over. also they never settle down, they remind me of a cat on a catnip high. id say the only problem is zoey who sometimes hisses if u wake him up. right now they are running on my bed zoey is under the covers runinng around and badger trying to understand my feather pillow

Okay, I haven't said anything thus far, but this is just going on to long for me to sit back and let this all calm down. Xardion, before you posted how it wasn't a very christian thing for you to go off in a huff and leave the forum. Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but attacking Kit on this forum and calling her retarded doesn't seem like a very "christian" thing to do. She's just telling you what's up. People have stated what they view as wrong with your husbandry over and over and you seem to just let blow on by and listen only to the information that best suits what YOU want to do. That's not good reptile husbandry.

I talked to my vet about the Gatorade thing and he was definitely very against it. And by the way, hes an accredited reptile specific vet. Not just any vet, which you've failed to say whether your vet treats just reptiles or if their a side thing that he'll do. I know of vets that will take in reptiles and do the best they can, but that doesn't mean they really know what their talking about. You want a vet who specializes in reptiles. Not one that'll see any ole thing that walks in the door.

And before when you were comparing how Badger ate before you got Zoey you stated that he ate whenever he wanted to. You know, that's not a horrible thing. That means that he's eating when he's hungry instead feeling that he has to hurry up and eat something before Zoey or else he won't get anything.

This forum has been a really great place to discuss Tegus and I really hate to see it go the way of the monitor forum. Up until this point everyone got along. There's a little something more for you to think about Xardion.

I'm also going to be taking Kit's stand and I'm not going to comment any more on your posts. I've said what I wanted to say, and everyone else has already told you numerous times what they have to say, so bye bye.

Lindsay

"...when i give them there daily gatorade, cuz the stop running and come right over. also they never settle down, they remind me of a cat on a catnip high"

Ever consider that this might instead be a "Gatorade High?"

I'm not going to get into criticizing what you might be doing to/for your tegus. I'm sure there a lot of things I do wrong for our 2. But have you read the ingredients on a bottle of Gatorade? Besides water, what other ingredient is naturally available to Tegus in their original environment? There are a lot of things we COULD offer to our Tegus (who will happily consume them), but we have to ask, SHOULD WE???

Just a consideration......

btw: Remember that people participate on this forum out of an altruistic concern for the care and health of tegus ... not out of any desire to criticize. Receive it with the motive by which it is offered.

MAP

ok im sorryit just made me mad when ppl said my tegus were stressed and abbused when there doing 100% fine. so i too am done osting anything about this matter because there really is no point considering there doing fine. so my tegus are fine everyones getting sick of argueing here, and this is making this forum look bad so i agree we end this now

Xardion, May I just say that you agreeing to also let this Gatorade argument drop is by far the most grown up thing you have done so far on the forum. I have only been keeping reptiles for a few years now. However I have dealt with all kinds of animals I think the most important thing we can do is look, listen, and watch our animals. By look I mean look them over daily for any changes. Listen to them By this I mean if you offer three dif. foods listen to which one they want. And watch them for any changes in thier routine, thier sleep cycle. I used to run a dog sled team on 500 mile races before I joined the army and got sent to Texas, and out there the only way to ensure you and your team made it back safe was to watch, listen and look at your animals. Good luck to you I hope you will continue to post here but only if you are willing to listen to advice given with an open heart and an open mind.
-----
Beau W.

Xardion, first let me give you a little info. about myself. I am 35 and have been keeping all kinds of herps since I was 7. Do the math and take it for what it's worth. I've had lots of successes and lots of failures, but I have always listened to what others have told me, thought about it and made my decisions based on logic, science, and good ol' common sense. Now to answer your question, the only thing that I personally can find fault with (and who knows, I may be wrong) is the whole Gatorade thing. Based on logic (that stuff is made for humans and we all know that ALOT of stuff made for humans is not even that good for us), science (lizard biology and human biology are practically nothing alike) and good ol' common sense (hmmmm, tegus drink water in the wild, so that is what I would assume they should drink in captivity), my personal choice would be to stop giving them Gatorade. It's kind of like kids that smoke cigarettes. They look healthy for many years, but over time the effects will show in the skin, lungs, heart, and overall physical degradation of MOST smokers. Not to mention the higher rate of death by cancer. The nasties in cigarette smoke will take their toll over time since the human body has a hard time dealing with those things. In my opinion, it's the same thing with your Tegus. They may be doing great now and may even be getting some short-term benefits from the Gatorade, but over time I bet they will begin to show some ill effects. Whether that's 6 months or 6 years from now, who knows. I don't think anyone has ever done a study, but my point is, why take the chance? Think about that, for the sake of your animals.

Billy

>>u guys have never clearly answered this.
>>all i want to know is what u think im doing wrong. my teus are in tip top shape. and when i give them gatorade once a day the syringe is only this big =|==========|-| thats life size. everyone i talk to besies the people on here say gaorade or pedialie is great to give lizards. and when some1 said hey can get a sugar high off the stuff, i dont no how they can get tha form so little. some ppl here especially no-it-all KIT thinks im taking bad care of my lizards. i jsut want to no where yr getting this crazy idea from

I have raised over 500 tegus to adult size and not one of them needed to have a drink of Gator Aid once . Not even this =|=|-| much is going to make him be any healthier . In fact this much =|=|-| could kill him should you accidently shove it down his throat incorrectly and it end up in his lungs . You should not be force feeding or force drinking your animal at all . The only thing your tegu should be drinking is clean water from a small bowl and only when he chooses to do drink it himself.

Why would you want to medicate a healthy animal ? Your tegu needs Gator aid about as much as you need to give up drinking water so you can replace it with soda pop . Gator aid is not cat nip and your tegu is not a cat . Don't make him a sugar addict . Sugar depletes calcium and other minerals , give any animal enough of it and they will start using the calcium out of their own bones to survive untill it eventually kills them.

Stella St.Pierre
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Stella St.Pierre
www.bluetegu.com

Well there you go Xardion you wanted an experts advice there you have it. Anyone who knows anything about tegus knows the St.Pierre name. In fact your tegus could well owe their existence to Ron and Stella. They have been one of if not the biggest breeders of tegus for many years. Don't you dare insult Ron or Stella! I for one would be more then happy to get any advice from either of them and I would certainly follow it to the tee. We should all welcome any input that they offer us here.

P.S. We know that you're not force feeding it.. they love it.. etc... So please don't do that again.

Mike. B.

to argue with this... would just be pure hubris.
and heck... no one wants to get smote here.
i hope.

if nothing else, i at least amuse myself!

Haha, I know I'm just thinking Xardion going to come back mad as all heck that yet another person thinks the tegus are doing less then perfect. And to suggest that they would need to be force feed! Well if this doesn’t stop Xardion from giving gatorade I'm going to quit trying. I'll just have to mention something whenever he post about it so new people won't think that giving gatorade is common practice.

Don't feel too bad...I to have been accused of being hard headed about things. We all have our own learning curve. The posts on this forum are all offered from the heart because our critters are near and dear. You are the one to decide whether to use the advise. Don't ask a question unless you are sure you want to hear the response. Good luck with the critters.

From one hard head to another,

Mike B

Boy I tell ya I've had quite a learning curve too. At first I stressed the heck out of my tegu thinking she was like a bearded dragon. I would dig her up, corner her, just really freaking her out. It's not surprising she stopped eating much. I figured she wanted to hibernate but I still tried to stop her by taking away the hide box. Then despite my constant misting she started to have a bad shed and she was starting to look thin. Still I felt I needed to keep her up a week so the little bit of food she had eaten would not rot in her stomach. I was really worried whether she'd make it without good fat but I finally let her sleep the winter away. She did make it and my husbandry improved considerably after reading the forum for the 6 months : ) I know I'm going to make mistakes again and I would hope you guys will respond if you think I'm porting something wrong. Not just for my tegus sake but also for the other new tegu owners that might read the post.