Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My hatchling Arg. BW tegu, Pixie Babe. Hope the pics work...
I bought her last Saturday and she's been adjusting great in a 20 gallon long. She/He (hopefully a she) is 9 inches long and pigging out on about 2-3 dozen crickets a day. Yesterday I fed her 2 live fuzzies which I kind of doubted she could get down, but she did with a bit of effort! Notice the closed nostrils from her bath. Hehe. Little bugger.

Anyways, she's been doing A LOT better than my first tegu (Tindra) from like a year ago which I finally ended up selling for super cheap because she was always a non-feeder from the very first day. I have Pixie Babe in the same set-up and she's been eating from day 1 and I swear she's grown about an inch these past 4-5 days. She's a lot more aggressive than Tindra ever was (translation: tail whips anything that moves) and much more active as well (translation: goes out of her way to tail whip anything that moves). She's always out basking or eating.

What kind of vegetables can I start feeding her (and should they be raw or cooked)? She's eaten a couple chunks of grapes but I haven't really offered her any other non-prey items. Thanks in advance to anyone who can answer this question for me. So far my feeding plan is basically crickets every day and fuzzies about once or twice a week. I might throw in some mealworms, raw turkey, or some kind of canned tegu/dog/cat food in there occasionally. Sound okay? Since I finally have a tegu who actually eats, I'll have some fun tooling around with different food items

A couple last pics. I love her patterns/colors. Too bad they fade out.

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Kylie

AIM: MatchFlameStick

Super Model Glam.

Mike B

what kind of camera do you use? the pics look really good. nice tegu too

I'm using a Nikon Coolpix 2500. Not the best, but does the job. Can anyone could answer my questions...? Today she attemped an escape towards freedom in my bathroom during her bath and jumped straight into the trashcan from the sink...lol. Serves her right.

Last one.

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Kylie

AIM: MatchFlameStick

Hello there sorry I missed the questions earlier in your post I was too busy looking at the tegu(hee hee hee). Any way to your questions. first for the tail whiping. That is normal he/she is tiny and sees everything as a predator. So when you reach in to do anything in the tank the tegu only sees becoming dinner for something else. He will out grow this once he starts getting bigger and the more you handle him.
Veggies, Now that is a little difficult as many will have different opinoins. Most breeders I have ever talked to and most here as well feed only protien to their tegus for the first year as they are growing so rapidly. Cricketts, mealworms, hissing roaches, pinkies, all of those are good foods for your little one. Just make sure you are dusting them all with vitamin and calcium supplements. As even a pinky does not have the needed calcium in their bones.
Finally not trying to insult your intelegence I just want to make sure. You have a basking spot in the high 90's, UVB light, a cool side to the tank, and a niced dark hide box, Also that you have him on a good substrate like Cypress mulch that is lightly misted.
Beautiful little tegu good luck and I hope this helps you. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.
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Beau W.

"There are no athiests in foxholes. It is not an argument against athiesm but rather one against foxholes." James Morrow

Hi Beau,
Thanks for answering my questions. Should I feed her fruit at all in the first year? I know red tegus have trouble shedding without enough vit. c, but I don't know if that's the case with BWs. I have her in a 20 gallon on newspaper right now (so I can make sure she's eating fine and pooping fine) I'm planning to switch over to dirt or some kind of mulch (no cypress on the west coast) next week. I've provided several nice and dark hides for him including a humid hide that he can burrow into whenever he feels the need. Right now the cool side of the tank hits 82-84 and the hottest basking spot is a nice 115-120. I like to keep em hot Plus she can choose from three different basking spots and the "coolest" one is 90-94. She gets misted everyday which she hates and shows her displeasure by tail whipping the droplets of water. She's eating a huge amount every day which isn't much of a surprise if you think about how much she's gonna grow in the first year alone. Oh and a question about handling... should I just limit it to her occasional baths until she gets a bit bigger and "sturdier"... like 15-16 inches? Thanks again.
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Kylie

AIM: MatchFlameStick

Kylie,
Hello there, spounds to me like you have a good set up for your little guy. I know the problem with finding Cypress you may want to look at home improvement stores like Lowes or Home Depot. Eucylptuss(sp) or orchid bark also work well. I prefer the Eucylptus since it also has a very nice smell to it. I did at one point try soil and sands and almost all other sorts of conctions you can think of and they were messy and really did not work as well. There is a post on here a little ways back where somone put a mix that they use and it works for them you may want to go back and check that out.
For fruits and veggies in your tegus diet. Well I offered my babies fruits and veggies as a snack so to speak once a week till they were a year old since they really need the protien. But I felt that it helped since in the wild they eat plant matter as youngsters. I thought it couldn't hurt to offer seperatly from regular feedings if they wanted it they could eat it.
For handling. This is the delima there are many different views on this as well as many other topics here. What I would suggest is that you just tinker in the cage from time to time and let him get used to the fact that your hand does not mean he is going to get eaten. Does he calm down once you actually have him picked up? If so then I would pick him up and hold him for short periods several times a day. That way he gets used to you reaching in. You may end up with a few welts from his tail but he will get it. The main thing with baths they love them but just make sure that he does not have to swim the whole time. That he is able to rest on the bottom and still have his head above water. I use my bath tub that way they have a deep spot and a shallow spot. My red will lay down in the tub and totally submerge himself it still sortof freaks me out when he lays there for a few minutes.
I think I covered all the stuff in your post sorry this is so long and drawn out I tend to ramble sometimes. Good luck to you. Let me know if you have more ????

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Beau W.

"There are no athiests in foxholes. It is not an argument against athiesm but rather one against foxholes." James Morrow

Dig your tegus Beau, they're very beautiful

He doesn't calm down much in my hands (squirm, tail whip, gape) so I guess I'll just hold off for a while and do the tinkering in the cage bit.

Thanks for your help.
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Kylie

AIM: MatchFlameStick

Keep working with him he will get better. It just takes time to get them there. Size has a lot to do with it. Once he feels like he is a big boy and not everything wants to eat him he should mellow out.
Thanks for the compliment I love my tegus they are the very best animal I have ever kept. Good luck with yours
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Beau W.

"There are no athiests in foxholes. It is not an argument against athiesm but rather one against foxholes." James Morrow

glad hes doin well

try offering fruits and veggies once and awhile now so that hes used to them once they become a vital part of the diet

wookie says yo

FINALLY James. Thought you'd never ever ever show me a new pic of wookie. Pixie Babe says yoyo back to wookster.
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Kylie

AIM: MatchFlameStick

Gouge Away