what should I do?

John · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2005 12:53 pm Post subject: what should I do?

My male Blue Tegu is 2ft 4inches. My New Female is 3ft 6lbs. I let them out together and the male really checked her out. All was going well so, I decided to further it and put them BOTH inside HIS cage. Tongues went faster. The male started to head bob and became a bit fiesty. I pet them both while they were in there and it seemed to be going pretty well inside the cage also. Anyways My question is Should I NOT keep them together till the male gets larger? Will keeping him in with her Intimidate him at all? I do want to breed them so I don't want a scared male. By the looks of it he was already trying to take charge! I don't want them getting in a fight as it's likely my male will be dead due to his size! Should I keep socializing them and then when I have the time (like a Sat/Sun) try putting them in the same cage and see how it goes?

During this weekend I have been socializing them a ton! They are great but I'm afraid of changes when I place her inside the males cage. Anyways I have NO experience when it comes to introducing tegus, and especially with this size difference! Thanks in advance!!!
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John Light
http://www.jlexotics.com/

Rick · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2005 1:37 pm Post subject:

I have never had an issue with introducing tegus. My method for introducing any animals is always the same for rodents or reptiles. Take both tegus out and have someone monitor them to make sure they don't have issues.

Empty your enclosure, pull out all of the bedding and furnishings. Clean the enclosure well with a non-toxic odor eliminator. I use 'Healthy Habitat' by Natural Chemistry. Then clean all of the furnishing and add new bedding.

When you replace the furnishings put them in different locations and add a new object or two.

Introduce both tegus at the same time from separate sides of the enclosure. This helps remove the dominance from one tegu defending it's enclosure. It also gives the tegus something new and different to explore together instead of focusing on each other.

I can not promise this will work, I have never had an issue with tegus so I can't claim it will, but it does indeed help with other animals. Give it a shot and let us know.

Perhaps someone else will post other options.

Rick
theTegu.com

Johelian · Retired Mod Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 848

How long have you had these tegus? Remember the 90-day quarantine rule; even if both animals are healthy it certainly cant hurt. If these tegus have come from different sources (as I believe they have) then you really shouldnt be letting them interact, or use each others cage furnishings or even cleaning equipment until its been established that neither is carry any parasitic load etc. Transport can cause a parasitic boost in new reps due to the stress they undergo, so really take this into consideration.

Ricks technique is pretty sound, and what I would recommend; you basically dont want either tegu having an established territory in the cage, or the intruder will be desperate to escape and the inhabitant keen for them to leave. This is why you should remove EVERYTHING from the cage, clean it all to remove all traces of either animal, and start anew with a new cage for both that neither recognises as territory.

John · Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:28 am Post subject: No quarantine here..

I don't see a need personally. Then again it may just be me. Monitors and Tegus are VERY hard to kill. They are very disease resistant as well! They are being kept seperate but while I'm at home can freely go where ever they want. I know the source where they came from so I don't mind. Maybe I'm to trusting? I don't have a massive collection to worry about. I have 2 tegus (and some balls out on breeding loan). Anyways...they interact with each other just fine. The only time I got a deffensive reaction was when I placed the female in the males cage. He's much smaller but became flighty. His tongue went crazy and he began to head bob. If he were bigger and it was breeding season I'd be like great...but he's not and breeding season isn't for a few months. BTW When does the breeding season actually begin? I know babies hatch around Aug/Sept. I hope my male will be ready in time! I'm feeding him on an every day to every other day Schedule and he's growing very fast. Owell...I'll stop rambling...
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John Light
http://www.jlexotics.com/

Rick · Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2005 10:51 am Post subject:

I did overlook to add the 90 day quarantine, partly because they had already been introduced for a whole weekend. I figured it was probably already a little late for that important step, but I still should have mentioned it for others who lurk and read these posts.

All tegus (or lifeforms in general) have parasites. Good ones, Bad ones.. the body balances these in it's system and a normal healthy tegu can deal with it's own parasites, but during high stress conditions such as shipping, the tegu's defenses drop and these parasites it has lived with can take control and slowly make the tegu sick and possibly contagious. Just because someone buys a tegu that is healthy doesn't mean it can't get sick during transport. This happens all the time in the pet trade.

I thank Johelian for covering and bring up something important I overlooked to mention.

Rick
theTegu.com

Johelian · Retired Mod Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 848

John · Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2005 1:07 pm Post subject: Well...

I understand what your saying. Anyways off to the breeding topic, Blues don't burmate! From what I've been told they are very different from the others. So again I ask...how to go about breeding them. My male is in high gear for feeding. He's a little over 2ft (say 3-4 inches) so he's still got awhile to go but they do grow fast! I know my female is ready to go, the male is questionable (I have no idea how big a male blue must be, and at which age they mature).
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John Light
http://www.jlexotics.com/

Johelian · Retired Mod Joined: Nov 22, 2004 Posts: 848