Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I HAVE A FEMALE B&W TEGU THATS ABOUT 2 FOOT SNOUT TO TIP OF TAIL...AND SHE WONT HIDE IN HER 2 FOOT LONG 6 7 INCH DIAMITER PVC PIP OR THE HUMID HIDE THAT I MADE FROMA DELUX ICE CREAM TUB
SHE WILL HOW EVER DO WHAT EVER IT TAKES TO GET UNDER THE REPTILE CARPET....AND I WANA KNOW WHY? ANY ONE ABLE TO TELL ME?
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Randy Kuehn
keeper of
1.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus(crested gecko)
0.1 Tupinambis marianae(black and white tegu)
1.3 veild chameleon
0.0.2 Dendrobates auratus(green and black arrow frog)
0.0.2 eastern pond newt
0.0.1 Paroedura Pictus(pictus gecko)

They don't like to use objects as hides, they need to burrow. You say you have repti carpet? This is not good for them for several reasons. Most importantly they NEED to dig. They also need a moist burrow for humidity and shedding. Carpet fibers can get cought up around their claws and they can even lose toes or claws because of carpet. Did you read any of the caresheets or any of these forums posts? One of the first things anybody ever says is that they need a deep layer of moist, not wet, substrate (cypress mulch, coconut fiber, etc.) Please do some more research and you will have a much happier tegu. Hope this helps.
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Axolotl Salamander
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

i read the posts and such but i was told by the guy i got it from and a few others that the carpet would be fine as long as i had a humid hid big enough to get in but not so big i could clearly see in or it could clearly see out?

another questing...houseing 2 tegues together good bad idea?
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Randy Kuehn
keeper of
1.2 Rhacodactylus ciliatus(crested gecko)
0.1 Tupinambis marianae(black and white tegu)
1.3 veild chameleon
0.0.2 Dendrobates auratus(green and black arrow frog)
0.0.2 eastern pond newt
0.0.1 Paroedura Pictus(pictus gecko)

boidsnthings is right definatly get some type of substrate that it can dig into they love to dig it makes them more content and they feel a lot more secure,i have a few of them and they spend most of there day digging ...get a couple of bricks lay a good size peice of wood or what ever you can get and lay it on top of the bricks and dump the sustrate all over the top and let them dig there own burow, they will be content that way.

good luck....

JODY T

If you don't like having tons of mulch everywhere, check out Rollin's setup. He puts a thin layer of most of the cage, and has a large tupperware container stuffed with mulch. They just dig out a little spot in the container, and by the looks of his tegus, they are doing great. Check out WWW.AGAMAINTERNATIONAL.COM and WWW.BLUETEGU.COM. Bert and ROn have some great care sheets that stree the points of diggable substrate in these species. Heres a pic of my setup. You can see the mulch everywhere. Hope this all helps.

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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.0.1 Axolotl Salamander
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

Yep I just have a thin layer around the cage. The hide box is big enough and with enough substrate for them to make a curved tunnel with a chamber at the end. I also cover the hide box with substrate so it's completely dark in there. That's why they make the tunnel curved because they hate seeing any light in their chamber. In the pic the covered hide box in on the right