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Tegu w/ Slight Underbite

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  • 05-12-2013, 06:38 PM
    HighVoltageRoyals
    Tegu w/ Slight Underbite
    Hey all:

    Just a quick question and mild concern. I picked up a Tegu a couple of months ago and I would say he is around a year old now. When I first purchased him, I noticed a little bit of an under bite. I noticed that the other Tegu he was caged with also had a slight under bite so I just thought it was a genetic thing and they came from the same clutch.

    He's grown a bit and I noticed that the under bite is getting a little more pronounced. I supplement his diet with calcium and I have a UV light on him 12 hours of the day (I run a red heat lamp all the time because it gets a bit cold during the night). I feed him adult mice, fresh berries and fruits and the occasional hard boiled eggs though he seems to prefer the mice and eggs over the fruit. He's still a bit shy and likes to hide out in his cage in his hide most of the day but besides the general laziness, he's active when I take him out and doesn't have any discharge coming out of his mouth/eyes/nose and is pretty lively when I take him out.

    There doesn't seem to be anything else wrong with him in terms of structure (no kinks, deformities, etc). He even has all his toes. It's just the under bite. Maybe I'm over reacting because there is limited information on this kind of thing in Tegus and the few things I have seen are negative.

    TL;DR My Tegu has an under bite that seems to be getting a little more pronounced as he is getting bigger. Should I be worried?
  • 05-12-2013, 06:41 PM
    HighVoltageRoyals
    Here's a couple of pics from a month or so ago:

    http://i41.tinypic.com/b9y4l.jpg

    He was a bit sleepy in this pic:
    http://i41.tinypic.com/2wmkyeq.jpg
  • 06-14-2013, 12:54 PM
    AlexiTLO
    What are you using for UVB? Coil bulb? Tube bulb? MVB? Have you tried contacting the breeder about this?
  • 06-14-2013, 07:34 PM
    HighVoltageRoyals
    Currently using a Reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb for his enclosure (http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiS.../dp/B00061V53Y). It gets good coverage since he is still on the smaller side and, in turn, in a smaller enclosure. When I build him his big enclosure, her's going to be getting huge tube bulbs lining the back of the cage.

    Update on his situation since it's been a while since I initially posted this: he seems to be growing/doing fine. His under bite hasn't gotten worse (at least not that I've noticed) and he's eating and shedding normally. He seems to have mellowed out a bit and doesn't seem to be effected by his jaw.

    Here's a pic of him I took today:
    http://i39.tinypic.com/64m006.jpg

    Talked to the shop I got him from (didn't order from a breeder) and they didn't seem to think it was anything to worry about. Just wanted to get a third party opinion.
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