i've been faced with a hard decision. ive had Amika for over a year now. she's been absolutely perfect. she's beautiful, never bitten. but of course we've had our bad times with the good. she's of course had the occassional shed problem (last time hers was actually so bad that she bled on figers and toes YIKES! used neosporin and lots of baths, everythings OK now). I think it was my fault though, i started to neglect her. I wasn't handling her as much, changing the substrate as often, you know how it goes. i guess i was just starting to grow tired of the mice feeding, poop cleaning, water changing, and my bedroom smelling like tegu! i live in an apartment on the 3rd story and carrying down her 6ft horsetrough to empty out the substrate has been less than fun. to be honest, i was really starting to question whether or not i wanted her anymore. plus, i'm going away to copenhagen for study abroad this summer and i couldn't find anybody to watch her. i was almost sure i was going to sell her. some of you may have seen my "does anybody live in florida" post. i was going to send you emails and see if anyone was interested. well anyways i'm really glad i decided not to get rid of her. i love my little (well actually really, really big) girl. fortunately, my mom has agreed to watch her for the month and a half that i'm gone, and after nursing her through that last shed problem (it broke my heart to see her bleed), i think we're closer than ever! i just hope my mom doesn't have any problems...
so now, here's the cool story i promised. my tegu, who i previously thought was retarded, is actually quite smart. her cage is right next to my bed (welcome to college life). i can literally roll over and see her. anyways she's adopted a cool, albeit extremely annoying trick lately. i love to sleep in. tegus obviously do not. she disinters herself at about 7am, lay under the always on ceramic heater, and by 9/10 gets enough energy to start moving around and making noise. so i roll over, turn the t-rex active light on, and go back to sleep. i wish. as soon as she gets hungry she starts clawing at the sides of the aluminum cage. it is the worst sound imaginable. i wake up and look and she's staring righ at me! i usually try to go back to sleep, but she'll keep doing it until i get up! once i'm up she knows she's going to get fed and she'll stop the clawing. i swear its true. even if i get up and dont' feed her for about 1/2 an hour, she won't claw once she doesn't see me lying in bed anymore!
anyways hope you enjoyed the story and i'm glad to say i'll be staying a tegu owner for quite a while longer!
ps--pics are way overdue, and so is my presence in the forum. i'll try to visit daily now to help answer questions and i can't wait to post some new pics!
