Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

A friend of mine has a B&W tegu. I was thinking of purchasing a red tegu.

I noticed that his tegu seems to hide within the substrate most of the time, Is this typical behavior? Do they normally spend most of their time hiding? He only comes out for a few minutes at most, never for a full hour. Afterwards, he's underneath the substrate. Please let me know if this is normal....

Thanks,

Scott S.

mine is hidden most of the time but he comes out to eat around the smae time every day he is a pig ,then he climbs up on his big red stone to get warmed up a bit then goes back to bed,he is rotton

Hey Feedermouse....What,exactly, is this big red stone your tegu warms up on? Does it actually put out heat, or does it just retain heat from a heat source above? It kinda looks like an odd shaped brick.

it just retains hea prety good too ,it is an oversized brick 16in by 16 by 10 in, he is still a baby

If there is one thing that I have learned is that there is no "typical" behavior for any tegu, or other reptile for that matter. I think that behavior for any reptile depends upon husbandry practices (housing, feeding, handling, cleaning) and not upon any said "typical" behavior. There are reasons that reptiles hide a lot or have "spastic" behavior and usually it has to do with something that the keeper is doing incorrectly. Don't get me wrong, my tegus dig and hide, but not excessively and I have never had one do so.

I can say that's not how my tegu acts. He's out and about most of the day. Usually he's just laying around (basking) but occasionally walks around. He hides maybe an hour out of the day.

I have read before that if the temperatures are too high or the humidity is too low, that they may be more prone to stay in their burrows. Since it does not take them long to warm up due to the high temps, they will just go back to sleep after an hour or so of waking. Also if the humidity is too low, they will burrow to look for humidity in the soil. Has anyone else heard of this?

i have mine a pretty big hide box (stuffed with eco earth) and a thin layer of mulch across the rest of the cage. mine tried to bury himself when i first got him but now he just walks straight to his hide box and burrows. humidity for him relys on his hide box and he hasnt had no probs yet, when he sheds skin falls off nice. he lays out usually about 8 am to about 5 pm sometimes ill catch him out at 8 pm basking. as far as temps being too high to cause them to burrow, i know my b&w will not go directly under the heat lamp but my red will and the b&w doesnt seem to be affected by this.