Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been looking around at various tegu information websites, and all that regard humidity say "moist" or "moderate to high" humidity. I NEED A NUMBER DARNIT. haha. I was looking through the posts and saw numerous shedding references. I've had my tegu a week and I don't want to have any shedding problems. What % humidity do you guys keep your enclosures at?

Also, i've noticed a few scratches on his head. I'm thinking it could be from when he burrows and plows through the bark. Is that standard wear and tear, or should I worry about it? Should I invest in a less hazardous substrate? Thanks for any input.

-Darren

Just for ha ha's I checked my tanks humidity and it came out at about 50%, due to the high temps needed, it is pretty hard to get that up without being too humid, hence the reason you will read alot about stuffing the hide box with a substrate that will hold goog moisture. I use cypress mulch and big clumps of some sort of moss stuff(forgot what kind) and that's all you need. As for the scratches, yeah, what are you using for substrate?

Here's a picture of it. Most of it seems harmless, but there are a few sticks in there with ends that seem to have a possibility of injuring him when he burrows.

np

It doesn't look harmful, but it doesn't look like it holds much moisture. Since the most important thing regarding tegus and humidity is a nice moist burrow, I don't think that will do the job. Give it a try. Cypress mulch is cheap and you can buy it at any Home Depot or similar store. I bet you find your tegus is able to dig solid tunnels and burrows that keep there shape and are easy to keep moist. It also easy to spot clean and looks nice I think. Hopefully some more people can respond to give you some. Look at this pic, it shows the mulch.

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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

np

I also use cypress mulch. Unlike bark, it has lots of 'shreds' of cypress mixed in, with makes the substrate better able to hold moisture and also hold tunnels and burrows better. A guy on the crested gecko forum made a good point one day about relative humidity, which is what I assume you are referring to. In some places in the US, the humidity gets up to 90-100%, but that does not mean those people/animals in that place NEED it to be that high to thrive. I don't quote this or know that it is scientifically true, but it makes since to me and all my animals are definately thriving. For my tegu, I just give his burrowing side of the mulch a nice heavy misting about every 2-3 days, I stick my finger deep in the mulch to see if it feels moist. If not, I mist the hell out of it. It usually seems to stay pretty moist for anywhere from 2-4 days. He sheds great every other week and is growing like a weed (approx. 1.5 inches per weeek). So I don't have a number for you. But mabye like me, you will make more sense out of this than an actual number. Besides, with being inside and requiring the high temps, you will have a near impossible time keeping relative humidity at any steady number, especially in winter, so don't worry. Kinda long but I hope this helps.

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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

np