NEED ADVICE! Feeding is getting to be an issue!

cwj108 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 18, 2008 Posts: 104

I have had my hatchling b/w for about 3 weeks now. I am gone at work during the day when she is out, when I get home to feed her, she is usually buried just under the surface of the mulch (she wasnt using the hide I bought her). It was always easy to find her, and I would take her out of the cage to feed her. She was always a little jumpy getting her out but once she was out she was fine with me and would sit in my hands when I would pick her up. Well I built her a new hide that is a little more snug and she loves it, the only thing now is when I get off work she is in there and I CANT GET HER OUT TO FEED!

You would think after three weeks of me taking her out of the cage, she would associate me with dinner time, but she doesn't. How do you feed a tegu without opening up their hide and pulling them out? With my friends lizard, once it got hungry enough it would stop being stubborn, but with a tegu should I treat it the same way? I am new to how they think.

Should I put my hand in there and try and coax her out, if she doesn't come, let her go till next time? I don;t want to just leave food in the cage if she doesn;t come out because I dont want to feed her in there, and if I do that, it tells her "Hey if I just stay in here, he will go away and then I can eat".

She knows I have food, her tongue starts going, I even waived some of the ground turkey by the entrance and I could see her perking up at it. I waited 15 mins and she wouldnt come so I gave up.

Guess she goes hungry tonight? She did eat a pinkie and 8 crickets yesterday, so she could still be a little full from that?

I DONT KNOW haha, Im getting worried, I want her to want to see me, not hide away! And I dont want feeding time to be a standoff battle! If anyone could please help me I would be VERY GRATEFUL!!! Thanks guys!!

davebelcher · Member Joined: Mar 17, 2008 Posts: 41

in my opinion he,ll just be getting use to his new hide, and basically wanting his own privacy for now, give him a few days to adjust to the new furniture of his and he,ll be fine, mines the very same and sometimes i do end up taking her out her hide, and i do get the tail whip a few times and the high breathign , mind you mines a big size 3ft ish.......and once she awakes shes fine, and comes out her tank, i feel happy when shes eaten , i too am like you say you are, wanting to see your tegu come out and play and watch her eat....but comedays you just have to give in , when there ready theyll come out, theyll adjust with time, and when they do , you should be fine....

dave

cwj108 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 18, 2008 Posts: 104

so its ok to just not feed her for a couple days then? shes about 10-12 inches long

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

don't worry so much your tegu will be fine, my babies are asleep some times when i come home, they might miss a feeding or 2. One thing you can do is bowl feed your tegu, put a pinky in a bowl before you go to work or some crickets, i rip the legs off the crickets so they don't jump out of the bowl , my babies are already eating other foods like beef heart turkey and even fruits so when I come home the bowls are empty, i am lucky becuase i take time lapse video of my tegus so when i come home i can watch a couple of hours n a couple of minutes and i can see the habits they keep when i am not around, the bowl is the best they will eat out of it in the cage or out of the cage

cwj108 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 18, 2008 Posts: 104

I thought about the bowl thing, even bought a bowl, but then was worried that the meat would go bad in the warmth, before she ate it?

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

put some semi frozen meat in the bowl , it will be fine.

LisaN · Member Joined: Sep 03, 2007 Posts: 65

Try holding the bowl of food at the entrance of your tegus hide and then blow into the hide. This normally brings mine out at a dead run. : )
When I first got my babies I went out and bought 2 identical bowls....one just much larger. They learned real fast that the green bowl has food.

LisaN

cwj108 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 18, 2008 Posts: 104

Thanks for the advice guys! She was out when I got off work so I was able to get her out and feed her today!

txrepgirl · Posted: Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:26 pm Post subject:

I like your idea LisaN

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cwj108 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 18, 2008 Posts: 104

I might have to try the blow in the hide technique! She is def coming around though, she makes a little more progress everyday.

Should I feed her more than once a day? I know when my beardie was a baby, we fed him twice a day sometimes.

txrepgirl · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 12:35 am Post subject:

I feed both of my Tegus ( and the other 5 reptiles ) once a day.The lights come on when the sun comes up.I change the water,spray down the enclosures and while they are basking I get the food ready.After about one hour I feed them one by one ( since I feed them out of there enclosure ) then I let them free roam and spend some time with them.Then they bask again and in the afternoon the Tegus go to sleep.When I feed them, I feed them until they are full.

Warner · Posted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:07 am Post subject:

My guy hides a LOT. It's gotten to the point that when I want to feed him I slide open the glass doors and call him. He usually comes out! Otherwise I'll pat the ground or pretend that I'm digging in the mulch...that seems to bring him out, too. Otherwise, I just put the food into a bowl and he eats it out of the bowl. Has he occasionally swallowed some mulch? Sure. Is it dangerous? Yeah, it can be. But I have to believe that these guys are swallowing ALL KINDS of substrate in the wild. I think the problems arising from this are the exception, not the rule. If you have an option, I would DEFINITELY feed him outside of his enclosure though..

Warner

joshjames14 · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:21 pm Post subject:

I always get my tegu out of his hide. I lift it up and start petting him and then take him out. He knows that's when he gets to go outside and roam around. He's never tried to bite, raise up or hiss. I think it's all on the conditioning of your reptile. I don't see how people can wait for days to see if their tegu comes out. I work 2 days on, 2 days off, so on my off days of course I want to spend time with my tegu. If I just waited around for him to come out I probably wouldn't see him much.

Warner · Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject:

txrepgirl · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 12:52 am Post subject:

I never dug mine up until the hibernation time was over and Rick ( the breeder ) told me that at this time it is ok to dig him up.There are times that Zeus wakes up with Leonidas at about 8 am or 8:30 and there are times that it is like noon and I still don't see him so that is when I dig him up.He seems to be fine,too.I think it is all about how you dig them up.If you dig around in there really fast and just grab them and pull them out I wouldn't like it either if I were the Tegu.