Reptile & Amphibian Forums

so my tegus are kept in enclosures with heat lamps(uva) but no uvb lights they grow fine and are doing well but i dont understand, do they really need UVB? or do they get the vitD from there food?
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REAPER REPTILES

That's the magic question!

No one has done the scientific research and published it yet. However, there are a lot of cases of MBD and hypocalcemia (nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism) in tegus.

How old is yours and how long have you had it?

I tend to see a trend in Arg B&W, Reds and Blue tegus that if given a UVB source when they are at the inscet stage they show less signs of MBD such as shaking and of course bone issues. As for adults, my four year old full grown tegu hasn't had a UVB bulb for the last 6 months, this was a design experiment. I watched everyday to find effects. No twitching, no problem sheding, great appitiet. I got an x-ray from work and his bone density had not changed from the year before when i had one taken (he ate a marbel, luckly he passed it). Keep in mind this is a small very small sample size. I always recomend people with smaller and younger tegus get UVB lighting becuase thier diet will not have any Vit D3 and im not a big fan of supplements if the animal has a natural way to produce it... i mean nature does it best.

Just my two cents... oh by the way my older tegu will be getting his Mega Ray bulb back once he wakes up. His colors faded and he just seems so much happier with it over a similar bulb, only differeance was no UVB.

How do you feed and supplement your adult tegus? just curious

I definitely think the trend in MBD in tegus is the younger stage when the calcium needs are greatest. My thought is that they eat primarily insects and ground meats that are high in phosphorous and low in calcium. Sometimes the owners even have great UV sources, but without the available calcium, the animal has no choice but to pull it from the skeleton.

I actully do not suplement my tegu, he gets all he needs from his food. Just like a raw food diet for cats or dogs the key is variety. Right now he is sleeping so no food, and when i have someone watching him he gets rats and a monitor diet kibble (he only eats it when he gets really hungery). When im hear he gets rodents 1-2 times a week, fish once a week, and then a misc iteam this can be any of the fallowing:ground meat with ca powder, chicks, crawfish, egg, shrimp, frozen raw diet dog food (high end/human grade). Each meal he also gets some kind of season fruit his fav are strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, catalope, mashed apples and papaya. I don't feed insects as a main part of the diet, for one they are too small and second just not enough nutrtion for a large animal (ok so roaches and hornworms have been a meal for him a few times). I go use inscets more as treats same as some of the commercial diets so treat wise he gets: earthworms (like spigetti) roaches, hornworms, silkworms, superworms, nature zone monitor/tegu diet, zoo med tegu/monitor diet, freze dried dragon and tortise foods... like i siad these are things variety. Never had a problem with my adult tegu and MBD even when he was without his UVB light. Also i feed whole, so when i say fish i mean i get samll trout or tilapia from my local store and give him it whole (bones, guts and eye, all of it) chicken same thing i get small chicks (i tend to pluck them a bit just because if i don't Bosco will do it and cause feathers to go everywhere). Also the frozen raw dog food come in rabbit and the company has assured me that they use the whole rabbit, not just the meat, even if this isn't true this isn't a main part of the diet. And this is the idea behind my diet plan, if one item is lacking in Ca or some other eliment he will get it from another item on the menu.

I did have problem with my baby tegu. I know everyone loved ground turkey with supliments but i hate to use this on my tegus. So i used mainly pinkies and inscets until she could be on fuzzies. Problem was my Ca that i was using was expired and was no longer balanced. I got a new contantior and all signs she had of MBD went away (she had the hind leg twitched for a day).

So sorry about the long post but it takes awhile to explain what i do with my tegus sometimes.

what was the rate your tegus grew at? jus wondering your expierience in growth of your tegus. also if you guys could maybe help me with sum ideas on an enclosure i\'d appreciate it, shes recently outgrown hers and i have to build her a new one haha

thanx again for helpin out.

Nick
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REAPER REPTILES

By one year old my tegu was just over 40". Keep in mind i have a blue which are meant to max out at 40".

as for cages, i use a vision cage which are terrible for tegus. Try looking arounf tegutalk.com or thetegu.com. Better cage designs on those sites.

I only had one tegu (Arg B/W) that I bought as a hatchling. I had her for maybe two months before she hibernated so she was pretty small at a year old. I don't know if she was even 19" at a year old. Then she had a huge growth spurt and didn't hibernate the next winter. She's sleeping now, her third winter, and she's about 42" long.

I'm not a builder and prefer to find used enclosures. I've had great luck with the classifieds here on ks. I found a pair of 8x3x4 Neodeshas that have been awesome and a custom wooden enclosure that is 6x3x3 for my Colombian. I also use a 6ft Vision for one smaller Arg tegu and she does OK in it but it's not my favorite. I agree with CrimsonWolf...the other two forums have great plans for building enclosures. The enclosure building forum here on ks has some very experienced people too that can give you practical ideas.

>>I only had one tegu (Arg B/W) that I bought as a hatchling. I had her for maybe two months before she hibernated so she was pretty small at a year old. I don't know if she was even 19" at a year old. Then she had a huge growth spurt and didn't hibernate the next winter. She's sleeping now, her third winter, and she's about 42" long.
>>
>>I'm not a builder and prefer to find used enclosures. I've had great luck with the classifieds here on ks. I found a pair of 8x3x4 Neodeshas that have been awesome and a custom wooden enclosure that is 6x3x3 for my Colombian. I also use a 6ft Vision for one smaller Arg tegu and she does OK in it but it's not my favorite. I agree with CrimsonWolf...the other two forums have great plans for building enclosures. The enclosure building forum here on ks has some very experienced people too that can give you practical ideas.

Thanks guys you've been helpful, yup jus measured her again and she is 34 inches long, she'll be a year old in Feb. thanks again for the info
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REAPER REPTILES

That whole food diet is awesome!

lol thanks. I would love to do the same with my dogs, but one its so expensive and two theres just to many complications, reptile are alot more forgiving. My background is animal nutrition and diet formulation. Many people think this is only good for cows and what not but its surprising what you learn. most health issues tend to be from two main factors, husbandry and feeding very rarly is it an animal defect (except in pure breed dogs but thats for another day, lol).

I totally agree! I studied Animal Science at the U of FL for a year and one of favorite classes was Growth and Development of Farm Animals. It was centered around beef cattle and nutrition was a huge factor.

I would love to get my dogs, cats, and lizards on a raw diet, but it is expensive. Heck, I would love to get on a mostly raw veggie diet, but I'm not that disciplined.

LOL ironic. I'm an Animal Science Major from UC Davis. I loved my animal Nurition courses and took all they offered so i got alot of exotic animal nurition as well. I did hands on work with cattle and swine, to girrafes and hippos. It was crazy! I took a herpatology course as an elective later becuase reptiles was a hobby and it was a blast as well.

I was prevet at the time so my schedule was pretty full. I would have loved to have taken more classes. I did work at a couple of different labs to gain experience and earn money. The last one was equine reproduction, but the prof also did a lot of work with pineal studies and light cycles. Once we were pretty fortunate to have a huge gator come in for a brain dissection. That was pretty awesome!

Ya i gave up the pre-vet courses after freshman year, i got to intern at a wolf center and loved it much more than i did being a vet tech so i took my required courses and then some fun zoology courses. I never got too much work with reptiles (disceting a alligator would have been interesting) i did get to help with a nile monitor and an elephant necropcey though.

>>I tend to see a trend in Arg B&W, Reds and Blue tegus that if given a UVB source when they are at the inscet stage they show less signs of MBD such as shaking and of course bone issues. As for adults, my four year old full grown tegu hasn\'t had a UVB bulb for the last 6 months, this was a design experiment. I watched everyday to find effects. No twitching, no problem sheding, great appitiet. I got an x-ray from work and his bone density had not changed from the year before when i had one taken (he ate a marbel, luckly he passed it). Keep in mind this is a small very small sample size. I always recomend people with smaller and younger tegus get UVB lighting becuase thier diet will not have any Vit D3 and im not a big fan of supplements if the animal has a natural way to produce it... i mean nature does it best.
>>
well im sure shes fine then because when she was younger she was under uva and uvb lights but as shes gotten older she just has her uvb heat bulb. shes eating on small rats and turkey, with the occasional raw dogfood treat, shes always had a big appetite and eats like 2 times and sumtimes 3 times a week! only a year old! 34 inches! woot
>>Just my two cents... oh by the way my older tegu will be getting his Mega Ray bulb back once he wakes up. His colors faded and he just seems so much happier with it over a similar bulb, only differeance was no UVB.

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REAPER REPTILES

>>That\'s the magic question!
>>
>>No one has done the scientific research and published it yet. However, there are a lot of cases of MBD and hypocalcemia (nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism) in tegus.
>>
>>How old is yours and how long have you had it?

shes a year old and shes 34in long, ive had her since her first shed. she seems to be doing well and she walks, runs, and burrows fine, just want to make sure shes being taken care of
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REAPER REPTILES

Please do me a huge favor. Get them a proper UVB light or they will end up with MBD. I don't recommend the spiral one. A lot of people are using the 10.0 UVB tube. Here is some info for you to check out if you want to. Hope this helps.

http://www.anapsid.org/mbd.html

txrepgirl i have to disagree with you. its extremely hard to get mbd when your calcium needs are met. my tegus is now 3 foot and she has absolutely no problems. AND shes never had a uvb light. and shes checked regularly by a licensed exotic vet who says shes the healthiest tegu hes ever layed eyes on. jus thought id throw that out there. im not an inexpierienced herp keeper.

trust me i got this
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REAPER REPTILES