Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My Tegu is what looks to be like constant muscle spasms at the main joints of his legs. It started this morning after he ate, he moves mostly fine but looks scary when he's just sitting. He's well fed and I'm very worried about him, what should I do? Someone please help me on this.

Hi,

When I got Meego, within a few months of having him, he started doing the same thing with his front, and back legs, he also had a great appetite and diet. I found out that it was a lack of UV. I think, as all new tegu owners do, we were taking him out of his enclosure way too much and handling him, playing with him etc, and he was not spending enough time under his light. We started taking him outside for a few hours a day in natural sunlight, as well as making sure that he was basking properly etc and it stopped immediately. (Advice given to me by Bert at agama int.)
Also, make sure that he is getting enough calcium in his diet. If it goes on for too long they can develop MBD.

I hope this helps.

Ley x

I agree with Ley. You might also make sure the calcium has vitamin D in it, as that helps them to absorb the calcium. A good UVB light, the kind that fit in a flourescent fixture, or one of the special mercury vapor bulbs, ('full spectrum' does not always mean UVB containing)will help, but only with the Vitamin D to help them absorb the calcium. Natural sunlight is the best thing to provide vitamin D, just be aware that I have heard that tegus can get really excited and frisky outside in the sunlight, so make sure you can control your tegu if you take it out, I hear they can exhibit very different behavior outside. If you continue to see the symptoms, take your tegu to the vet. The vet can give shots with calcium if needed.

Leslie

Thanks very much, he hasn't done any twitching today but I'm putting in a new UVB bulb anyway just to be sure. I can't bring him outside for natural light unfortunately, or at least not yet. I live in NY and the weather is still kind of cold so I don't want to risk it.

I'm going to have to ask what you fed him. To me, it seems likely that there might have been something in/on the food you used.

I don't even use UVB for my Tegu. (Don't turn this into an arguement about whether or not it's required, that can happen in another thread.) and I have *NEVER* had any twitching, MBD, or anything else of that nature.

np
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

I feed him crickets every day and dusted every two days, wax worms every few days along with crickets, and scrambled eggs mixed with calcium and vitamins once a week. He still refuses to touch fruit or vegetables.

How old is he?
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

I think he's about 7 or 8 months old, I have given him defrosted pinkies before which he gladly ate but then I was told to wait until he could eat fuzzies because of the higher nutrition.

How big is he? at that age he should be able to eat adult mice.
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

He's about 16 inches long.

at 16" he shoud be able to eat hoppers. You didn't mention what kind of tegu you have. 16" seems kinda small. What size enclosure is he in? what are the temps in the cage?
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Bennett

www.beardiedragon.com

He's in a four foot long tank, 18 inches high, about 4 inches of substrate to play in. Temps are about 100 degrees on the hotter side, and 86 degrees on the cooler one, also his humidity stays at 70. I was wrong about his size, I was judging by eye but I measured him and he's 18 inches, not 16.

I have never seen twitching in baby tegus caused by anything but a calcium imbalance . It's either not enough calcium or not enough d3 for it's body to process this calcium .

The easiest way to prevent this from happening to any hatchling tegu is to raise the babies on well fed crickets that have been dusted with a good quality calcium made especially for reptiles . They can eat pinkies from the start but a well fed dusted cricket will allow them to get a lot more calcium from the amount of food they are eating vs feeding them pinkies (which will allow them to grow much faster) Once they are large enough to eat hopper size mice start feeding them to your baby every other day but continue feeding the dusted crickets daily untill the tegu has gotten to large to want to chase them down and eat them (by this time your tegu should be eating adult mice or at least sub adult mice and will not so much extra calcium as their growth rate will begin to slow down considerably and as long as you are feeding them just whole rodents as the main part of their diet they will not need you to add extra calcium )

When you start adding other foods to their diet when they are young that don't have the correct calcium ratio such as eggs you mess up their calcium intakes and the results is they start twitching because of low blood calcium levels .Eggs are just about the worst thing you can feed a tegus as they will quicklybecome addicted to them and will start to refuse other foods . If you give them the choice of eating and egg or a cricket they will probably eat the egg first , get filled up on it and not want to eat the cricket . Much like giving a child the choice of eating a candy bar vs. eating an apple =P

In order to feed just crickets you have to make sure you feed your crickets well before feeding them to your tegu . Set up a nice container to house your crickets in and provide them with food and water and allow them to feed at least a half an hour before your feed them to your tegus .

I use game bird food to feed my crickets and I also give the crickets some small pieces of carrots or orange for extra moisture and extra vitamins . You can also use cricket food which can be purchased directly from a lot of the bigger cricket farms (you can find a list of them on the main kingsnake.com page )

The crickets will not eat a dry diet like this unless they have plenty of water to drink .Water can be provided easily in a shallow bowl with a piece of plastic canvas (available at craft stores for less than a dollar ) cut to fit the bowl to keep them from drowning . You could also use a clean sponge in the bowl but it gets very dirty and smelly quickly so you will have to change it very often .

After the crickets have had a chance to eat and "gut load " themselves takes some out place them in a cup and add some of the calcium to it .. shake it and feed these to your tegu . Let the tegu eat all the crickets it wants and do this several times per day . If you do this they will grow like weeds !

You have to also make sure that your cage temperatures are correct and that you have plenty of lighting in your tegus enclosure . You also have to make sure that your tegu has access to a small bowl of clean water at all times . Just like the crickets won't eat the dry food if they don't have water to drink your tegu isn't going to want to eat a cricket covered with calcium if doesn't have water to drink .

All tegus need d3 to utilize the calcium you give them . They either get this by exposure to natural sunlight in which case their bodies will produce it on their own or they have to get it from the food they eat . With crickets it comes from the calcium you add to them that is why it is very important to use a calcium that was designed for use on reptiles ( I use Miner Al I - with added d3 on all my babies )

You should also use UVB lighting in your tegus enclosure . It does seem to have a phsycological effect on them and babies exposed to it seem to eat a lot more , at least for me they do . Any extra d3 they produce on their own from the use of these lights will not hurt them .
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Stella St.Pierre
www.bluetegu.com