YAY!!!!!!

Beefy (the Tegu) ate some strawberry applesauce for me today!!!! I didn't know if he would go for it after being fed a "live rat" diet by the previous owner. As soon as I opened the tank and he smelled it he attacked the bowl I had it in :p He actually wanted more applesauce than the little 1/4 cup that I fed him :lol: So tonight i'm going to try some broccoli and cauliflower to see if he will try those. All of this in one day of owning him! I think I have a voracious eater on my hands!

Danielle

This guy is awesome!!! Beefy just let me take the excess shed off of him! Considering what I saw of him yesterday ( being aggressive, scratching, trying to bite the guy who used to own him, of course I chalked it up to being moved and stress) I didn't know how he was going to be when I went to take the shed off of his tail. NOT to mention he didn't have one layer of shed on his tail but 2! He had 2 layers of shed on his tail, and I could not believe it. I am soo glad I got him. I was hesitant at first, but now love him and he is not going anywhere ( my mom is already attached to him :) ) He seems to have adjusted already. He decided to poop and pee while I was taking off the shed on his tail. I guess it was really relaxing 8)

Danielle

Congratulations! Sounds like you are well on your way to having a nice Tegu there.

That's great! Congratulations! Looks like he'll turn out to be a good eater for you. :)

Thanks guys. Yeah, my mom is already saying that i'm spoiling him rotten :) I bought baby food for him tonight since it is nothing but fruit and veggies instead of continuing to give him applesauce with the high fructose corn syrup and other "additives" in it. I figure the baby food is a healthier choice for him. Of course that will be alternated with the meats and fresh fruits and veggies for him. He did eat some of his veggies tonight! I am so proud of my Beefy! He'll be healthier and happier in no time! I'll try to get good pics of him for you guys. I only have a 35mm camera so I'll have to get the film developed and put onto a disk before uploading them to the gallery. His feet look quite funny without his toes :cry:

Danielle

He'll do okay without his toes with a proper diet and supplements. Applesauce really isn't very nutritionally sound, but sweet potatoes are sweet too and have loads of vitamins, so I'd try giving him those.

It sounds like Beefy is settleing in bvery nicely.
I am glad he is eating well for you.
Sounds as if he was in an awfull place beforehand
Thanks
Rusty

Wow, Danielle...sounds like you've found yourself a real treasure there! Congrats!! Seems to me like he's in great hands now, and will be a very happy and contented little tegu from now on!

Well yesterday Beefy had a bit of 'tude going on :) He lunged twice at me when I was cleaning his enclosure telling me to back off and get out of "his home" :lol: I got the biggest kick out of it actually. He didn't hiss or even attempt to bite, just wanted to assert his dominance. I got mealworms for him yesterday. Dusted them with rep-cal calcium and herptivite and he went to town! I'm going to switch him to minerall "I" formula once i'm done with the other stuff. I just got the other stuff so I could immediately get some vitamins/minerals and calcium in his system.

I'm getting grapes and sweet potatoes for him today ( thanks Marla!). He seems to like pureed things instead of whole fruits and veggies. Should I cook the sweet potatoes first or just feed them to him raw? I'm also going to get ground turkey for him tonight as well. I'll see what he does with that.

He is just sleeping the day away right now :) He's all curled up in his pillow case like a little dog in a blanket. Once he wakes up i'll clean his cage again. What substrate should I put him on? I have him on paper towels right now. I've heard orchid bark and cypress mulch are very good for them. I don't really like orchid bark for the simple fact that it doesn't look very absorbent. When these guys "go" they leave a very big gooey wet mess behind :shock:, thats why i'm leaning towards the cypress- what do you think?

Almost forgot, Alexa (BP) finally came out of her hide yesterday :D Looks like she's becoming more comfortable every day with her new home!

Danielle

Turkey and sweet potatoes? Haha, Beefy eats better than I do on Thanksgiving day! :lol:

It's great to hear that they are doing so well w/you Danielle! Sounds like they have a great home, good thing you got them when you did. I'm also glad to hear you were able to get that retained shed off. Sounds like you're doing a great job!! Keep it up and keep us posted!! :D

Danielle, definitely go for raw whenever possible, to keep the majority of the nutrients intact. Only if you can't get to a consistency that he'll eat without cooking it would I cook it, and then preferably either blanching or baking. Sorry I can't really help with the substrate, though. :)

Ok- haven't updated in a while as I was out of town. My mom was looking after these guy's (Alexa, Beefy) while I was out of town. While I was gone Beefy acted normally and ate like a horse! He also pooped twice while I was gone, which my mom was too whimpy to clean up so I took care of that as soon as I got back. Man has he put some weight on :P He is no longer dehydrated or emaciated. Since i've been home ( got back on the 11th), he has decided to eat whole fruits. He is eating bananna, grapes, kiwi, just about any fruit really! I still mix baby food and Gatorade with the meat before I feed him to make sure he is getting enough hydration as he doesn't drink from his waterbowl. Does anybody have any tips on how to entice him to drink? He also has a set pooing pattern :P He poos everyday at 11 am. I also decided to put him on cypress mulch as a substrate after talking to a breeder. Since being put on the cypress he is just a contented little Tegu! He burys himself at night so he can hide. Man does he have an attitude! I think he might be one of those that you admire from afar as he does not like me in that tank AT ALL! He comes at me everytime I am in there :shock: I'll be interested to see how his temperment adjusts as he gets more comfortable with me.

As for Alexa ( BP), I haven't tried to feed her just yet as she hasn't settled in all of the way. I have handled her twice since aquiring her and she was fine with that. I put her in the bath tub today to get some old shed off of her belly and sides that she had. The old shed is where she has scars from the former owner feeding live mice to her! She has quite a few scars on her tail and sides actually. I swear I wish I could knock some sense into the former owner :evil: Anyways, all in all she is doing beautifully! I am going to switch her to a Sterilite container tomorrow so she can have more room as the 20L that she came with is too small for her. With the Sterilite, how do you guys ensure that the top is secure enough so they don't get out? Do you put a weight on top of it or just use the lid itself?

Sorry for the long post! Just wanted to update you on these guys and not start a new thread :)

Danielle

Congrats on everything working out! :)

As for securing the top, there are a few ways. You can drill some holes in the lid and sides, and fasten a locking system on the sides(be it actual locks, twisty ties, etc). Or you can use bungee cords to secure the lid(probably easiest way). There's probably others, but I'm not thinking right now. Just woke up from a nap. :P

A nap?? I should've been in bed 3 hours ago but I have a tension headache and cannot seem to fall asleep :shock: Thanks for the ideas. Bungees seem like the easiest route to go. I can't believe i'm still up :?

Danielle

I'm up with the snakes all around the world, lol. Every night I come online around midnight and I'm on till 5-6 am. It's the only time I can get the computer. My sister and her friends, or my mom have it during the day. :(