Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've got a Mr. Moisture misting sytem to keep humidity up. I'm going to program it to spray at certain times throughout the day. I noticed though that when it starts spraying my tegu starts wiggling her tail, as if she might drop it. She's normally very calm and not afraid of anything. My concern is I don't want her dropping her tail when I'm not around because of the misting system irritated her. Do you think she'd actually drop her tail because of the mist?

She is probably trying to let you know she doesn't like it .
(most blues will tail wiggle when they don't like something around them )

Tegus usually drop their tails when they think something is chasing them and they think they are going to be eaten .
They leave their tails as a last resort to keep whatever is after them busy while they get away.Dropping their tails is not something these lizards take lightly as to them is the equivelent of losing quite a few meals (fat reserves which they store for winter use )
I suppose an animal under stress could drop it too.

Even in a naturally dry areas of the country you should not have to lightly mist her cage with a spray bottle more than 3-4 times per week at most if the cage is set up correctly with the right substrate . If you are having to use an automatic mist system that turns on 3-4 times per day to keep your humidity up there is something very wrong with your cage set up .

Right type substrates for tegus = Cypress mulch , Eucalyptus mulch , Hemlock mulch , orchid bark . Sterile play sand is ok too but is very messy indoors and will make you tegu always look dirty .

Wrong type subtrates = indoor outdoor carpeting ,small animal bedding (paper or wood shaving including Aspen ) , peat moss , any kind of clay type litter (cat litter ) None of these will hold the proper humidity . All but the carpet turn into a gummy mess when wet that gets stuck all over their toes and end ups drying hard (can cause problems with shedding their skin around toes and cause digit loss )

Blue , Argentine red , Argentine B&W , Chacoan tegus do not live in a rain forrest type enviroment . These tegus live in well drained xeric type habitats and dig burros underneath grasses/small trees to find moisture .

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

Acutally, I have a layer of aspen bedding on top because it's very convenient for cleaning up pee since it retains moisture. Underneath that, I do have cypress mulch? That should be OK, correct? I'm not planning on running the misting system that much, perhaps once a day, and I'll take her out of the cage when I do it. And exactly how moist does the mulch need to be. It seems very difficult to get an exact, well defined answer from anyone other than "moist, but not wet". Thanks.