i think i may have given my tegu an impaction.

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 409

so, my tegu was wiggling his butt back and fourth each time he crapped for the last 3-4 days, and all it was was like a liquid gruel, he also cut down on his eating, only eating a pair of smelt, a little turkey and a few berries in the last 3 days. Night before last he was out at 9:30 pm (way too late for him) sitting under his heat lamp wiggling his butt and yawning over and over, so i get scared and start thinking impaction cause he's looking at me like he wants help.

so i get my hand in the tank and start massaging his guts where i feel slight bulges that seem tight, so i'm massaging his belly and he's loving it, i swear if he were a dog he'd have been doing the leg kicking thing. eventually he goes into his den and passes out. and i resolve to learn more about impaction to see what i can do.

so, last night i get home, and grox is out and sunning himself, and i meant to soak him in warm water to help pass whatever was troubling him, but when i look in, i see his impaction, on the floor of the tank, a nasty stinky ball of mouse fur, maybe as long as a ping pong ball and 2/3rds as wide!

i must have been feeding him too large of mice, as he has coconut fiber substraite their's no risk of impaction there.

anyone ever heard of a tegu getting an impaction from a mouse? or food in general?

jose2187 · Honored Member Joined: Mar 08, 2008 Posts: 261

if not given a balanced diet tegus can have trouble passing fur, I have seen this before.

angelrose · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 6:27 pm Post subject:

if you are using all coconut fiber for substrate, I suspect the humidity level may not be where it should be.

when coconut fiber dries out it becomes very dusty.

it is ok to mix a little with cypress mulch, top soil.

the humidity level is important to maintain for the disposal of fur as well.

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 409

i was scared of impaction so i kept away from the cypress mulch.

the cypress mulch really raises humidity better than coconut fiber?

my humidity is all over the place, it stabalizes at 50% and when i spray it gets to like 65% but in a few hours it goes back down to 50, i have been making sure to keep his den damp as i feel like nothing i do will stabalize the humidity. my plan was to use tubing and a large ultrasonic humidifier to run a bunch of fog into the tank. but if cypress mulch raises humidity better than coir i'll go buy some tonight!

angelrose · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:03 pm Post subject:

with coconut fiber you really have to soak it and you don't want to do that because if there is puddles I learned they could perhaps get belly rot as like snakes.

cypress mulch is the best for holding humidity. cypress trees grow in the water.

I asked around and now I use mostly cypress mulch, 1/3 organic top soil and leaves (outside ones may have critters on it so look very carefully). it is more like their natural habitat.

it works well.

txrepgirl · Posted: Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:06 pm Post subject:

I use just the cypress mulch and i love it.I get mine from a nursery because it's fine cypress mulch with just a few big pieces in there.I saw some of the cypress mulch at lowes or homedepot and they just had big pieces in them.Since you are feeding your Tegu in the enclosure I would be careful using cypress mulch.How often do you feed your Tegu the rodents ?

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 409

i added 16 litres of cypress mulch to grox's cage.

one thing i noticed immediatly is he never once did any burrowing or digging. as soon as i put the mulch in i think he's preparing his tank for trench warfare!

not really much difference on the humidity though, getting a habba mist soon though, that should help.

i've fed him a total of 4 full grown mice in the month and a half i've had him. spread out for like 2 weeks. i'm stopping now though till he gets a little bigger. i feed him constantly different foods. i've been giving him young coconut flesh lately to help as a laxitive (Works for me!) and i think thats helping to return him to normal. but as a more staple food i feed him mostly fresh talapia ground turkey and mango. he's not too hot on the fruit, but that maybe cause i'm rubbing off on him, as he likes stuff i like like coconut and not so much the stuff i don't like. like papaya (Yuck) he eats tons of different stuff i usually try something new with him like 2-3 times a week.

one weird thing is if i give him a plate of fruit he sniffs it then walks away. but if he see's me drop a single mealworm into the fruit he eats the worm then eats the whole plate of fruit too. mealworms are like seasonings for him.

tegulevi · Respected Member Joined: Mar 10, 2005 Posts: 489

check your basking temps, mine pass all types of fur and feather without any issues ever. i aim for 115 surface temps

worldeater · Respected Member Joined: Mar 06, 2008 Posts: 409

yea, i need a temp gun. stupid little side of tank analog thermomitors and hygrometers suck so bad.

he's burying himself under the heatlamp, so i think he might still not have a good temp range.