Impacted? Please help

PatG · Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 24

Yesterday I fed my 11 inch long approximately 1 to 1.5 month old argentine black and white tegu two smaller pinkies, after which he was rather plump, and I found it odd to see that today he was still a little plump... He did not eat hartily today and when he "went" all that I saw was urine and a small white mush (may have been feces but not the bulk?) I recently switched his bedding and do not find feces as often as I once did, but I sifted through and did not find any bulk in it. Another thing is that my friend witness my tegu eating his own feces a few days ago, I have not seem him do this, but that may explain the missing feces. Even if he is not impacted I would like to know if that is a bad sign and if there is anything I can do about it.

BWTeguNewb · Member Joined: Apr 24, 2007 Posts: 46

Do you feed in your cage?
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PatG · Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 24

no I feed in a seperate feeding tank with no bedding

BWTeguNewb · Member Joined: Apr 24, 2007 Posts: 46

Gotcha, ill let someone with expierence help you.

I just needed to know that.

Good luck!
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2.0.0-Burmese Pythons
1.0.0-Bearded Dragon
1.0.0-Borneo Short Tail
0.1.0-GTP
0.0.1-Crested Gecko
0.1.0-Coastal Carpet Python
0.1.1-Black And White Tegu
1.0.0-Pyxie/African Bullfrog

worleygurl · Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:38 am Post subject:

A few things come to mind.

1. What are your basking temperatures? If the basking temperatures aren't warm enough, the tegu won't properly digest the food.

2. Have you had a fecal done? Parasites can cause a tegu to not properly digest food.

3. There may not be anything to worry about at all. It may take a few days for the tegu to completely digest the food and pass the waste.

As far as tegus eating their own feces, this is a hot topic. Some say, including me, that when they eat their own feces it is because they are lacking in a particular mineral in their diet. Some vets even recommend feeding a lizard the feces from the same species that is healthy to get the gut flora going. This is very common in iguanas.

Hopefully someone with more exerpience will chime in here.
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tupinambis · Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:58 am Post subject:

Total transit time of consumed food from injestion to defecation is usually on the order of 3-7 days depending on the overall body temperature of the tegu. After one day your tegu is still likely going to be churning those rodents up in the stomach.

PatG · Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 24

First off I wanted to say thank you for all of the quick answers..

But... his cage temperatues are 105-115 basking (depends on my room temp I don't have AC yet) and the cool side is 85-90. I keep the humidity at roughly 75-80% on his basking side and 85-90 on his cool side. He has 2 water bowls and I feed him in a seperate container. I am hoping that he is just taking awhile to digest, but he is normally a once a day regular, even with the pinkies, and this is my first tegu... and the last thing I want to do is neglect him

Nero557 · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 1:57 pm Post subject:

if possible i'd figure out a way to lower the cooler sides temps to upper 70s, try venting it a lil more or something... or if you are getting the A/C soon then it shouldn't be a problem, but if its gonna be a few months then i'd figure something out
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PatG · Member Joined: May 03, 2007 Posts: 24

I put the AC in today, so I think it will be okay, I also got him to poop with a couple of warm water baths, so atleast my little guy is got something moving again, thanks a lot guys