Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well after looking at the layout of my room and all that good stuff I figured I probably couldn't house an argentine black and white in an enclosure that I would find suitable. So the other day I picked up a 3 month old columbian black and white. I was able to hold Anubis and he did not hiss or try to bite, he only struggled a bit after a while. Other than that he is fairly calm. He isn't bothered by me moving around in the room outside his cage. He hasn't tail whipped or any of that, he seems to be adjusting pretty well. They were feeding him hopper mice and crickets 3 times a week. I fed a hopper today and he ate it fine, just seemed like not a lot of food for him, hes about 20", does that sound about right? I am also going to offer meal worms. About how old should he be before i start offering some fruit. Also the one thing that does kind of spaz him out is when i mist inside, and it gets him he starts running around, i thought they needed to be misted? thanks

as far as i know, columbians don't ever need fruit.
as for misting, just because they need moisture, it doesn't mean they like getting sprayed (a lot of people don't like to get rained on). don't spray him directly if it bothers him so much, spray the enclosure. if anything, soak him in the tub while you mist his enclosure, that way, everything gets moisture.
as for how tame he may or may not be, any reptile is easy to hold if it's not warm enough. he may be tame or he may be cold, you have to check the temps to be sure.
as for eating, some people just keep feeding them until they stop eating. i don't think that they need to gorge themsleves everyday (we shouldn't gorge ourselves everyday, either). i guess it all depends on how much you want to spoil the tegu and how much you want to spend. but every now and then, i give my little argentines (pretty close to your tegus size) two hoppers apiece and the look like they could eat more. my opinion... they're just too greedy to turn down mice.
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if nothing else, i at least amuse myself!

thanks. the temps in there are 80-85 during the day, and he has a basking spot that gets to around 95. at night the temps were between 75-80. I think that sounds about right, and he wasn't cold when i held him he felt warm. So im just hoping he stays easy to handle like he is now..

I would definitely bump up your temps. In my colombians enclosure (6.5'x3.5'x4') I have to main basking spots. One that sits around 110 degrees and the other is up on a 2nd level and that sits about 120 degrees. He will alternate between running around his enclosure and basking under each of these lamps. You'll have a lot more active lizard if you bump up the basking spots.

Lindsay

Here is a picture of a Colombian I had many years ago chowing on a small adult mouse. She was probably about 18-20" in this photo (that's a 15 gal. aquarium she's in). After they eat, they should look "pleasantly plump" for a day or so. Good luck with your new little one!
Billy

>>Well after looking at the layout of my room and all that good stuff I figured I probably couldn't house an argentine black and white in an enclosure that I would find suitable. So the other day I picked up a 3 month old columbian black and white. I was able to hold Anubis and he did not hiss or try to bite, he only struggled a bit after a while. Other than that he is fairly calm. He isn't bothered by me moving around in the room outside his cage. He hasn't tail whipped or any of that, he seems to be adjusting pretty well. They were feeding him hopper mice and crickets 3 times a week. I fed a hopper today and he ate it fine, just seemed like not a lot of food for him, hes about 20", does that sound about right? I am also going to offer meal worms. About how old should he be before i start offering some fruit. Also the one thing that does kind of spaz him out is when i mist inside, and it gets him he starts running around, i thought they needed to be misted? thanks

I myself fed my columbians as much as they could eat and whenever they wanted food. There was nothing small or shy about them and they handled extremely well. I also never had much more of a temp in the cage than you do, I dont think they actually benefit from moving non-stop.

Just my opinion.....