Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well I just got another tegu my last 1 passed away after 5 mths i have no idea what happend it was a mix columbian and argentina black and white.
Well now I have a argentina Black and white tegu a mth later i had her for 2 wks now and i would love to know anything u think i need to know i realy dont know alot about them i been lookin and theres just realy generaly info u know temp and all that kinda thin but i didnt know about hibernating and im a bit scared about it. None of my other reptiles have done it yet i also have 1 iguana and a savannha moniter and 2 redfooted tortises and they are all very undersized abut are now growing after learning some new info. But i dont know I anythin about hibernating and i read some old post about it and taling about not feeding them and all well i live in central fl and its oct 26 and its kinda cool out but dosent mean it walnt be hot nex wk lol so if any1 knows if they go into the deep sleep here or not let me know and about how long or so i realy no nothing about it all i have so far is a 10 gallon tank for her shes tiny and a 75 watt bulb uv light i put a florecent light over her after feeding and she get some crickets but she dosent realy eat many at a time mabe 5 and she always eats the mice there hoppers i get frozen and cut them in hafe. and shes on zoo med forest substrate thats about it thankyou !

here are some pic of mine sry im new wasent sure how to do pic still not lol

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OK i already covered a lot of this in my message on myspace to you.

1. there is no such thing as a columbianXanrgentine. your old one was an argentine. (saw pic on myspace)

2. you seem like your intentions are good. but you have a lot of work and reading ahead of you. for starters the 10 gallon tank needs to go now. there is no way to give a proper heat gradient in that small of space, so it eithr to cool or too hot. get a 40 gal. breeder for a starter tank. you will need to build your own soon though. a rubbermaid can be a cheap fix for the time being too.

3. they will hibernate in florida, its ont just temperature that keys them to hibernate. light cycle, temps, dryness of the air, atmospheric pressure. nobody knows for sure.

4. feed more inects. not just crix (in the meassage already)

5. I am also concerned about your savannah too. we can talk about that on myspace though.

talk to ya later.

Wow. That was the single worst grammatical disaster I have ever subjected myself to. Without going back and forcing myself through it again to answer however many questions you had, I think you'll find the same stuff I'd regurgitate at http://www.TheTegu.com .

Good luck.

I have a b&w columbian tegu. It is almost 4 1/2 ft. long and about 4 years old. He was rescued from under a house in NC and found in a small dog carrier with nothing but feces and dog food. He had metabolic bone desease. Had swollen knuckles and offcentered jaw. Now he is in a 125 gallon tank with 2 pieces of drift wood and about 200 lbs. of top soil. Do not use bark or wood chips only. they love to borrow. I have a home made cannopy over the top of the tank and 1 basking spot out of a single light fixture and a 300 watt clear bulb. This light bulb puts out almost 3000 lumens. I have discovered through keeping iguanas that any light bulb over 2500 lumens is strong enough to put out uv b rays. Which is vital for bone developement. That is what reverses the bone desease. I recommend that you feed it F/T day old chicks as soon as it is big enough to eat them. The chickens have a more dense bone structure and therefor more calcium. As far as I know ALL tegus hibernate. anywhere from 30 days to 5 months. You don't have to let them hibernate but they will still sleep extended days anyway. this does not hurt them. What I do is when it gets to be the end of fall, I boost the heat up with another basking light right next to the original one and do this until the beginning of spring. I am out of time right now but if you have anymore questions I will gladly respond to them.