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Joined: Jul 09, 2005 Posts: 10 Location: Hamilton, ON Canada
Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2005 4:54 pm Post subject: Stunted growth?
Hi,
I just got back from the store where I got my tegu and Im a little worried. The other tegus that are the same age as mine are so much bigger, Mine has hardly grown and still has some of his hatchling color, where the others have lost it... He is feed daily with dusted bugs and is given ground turkey every couple of days, I throw in a variety of different fruits and veggies(he usually won"t touch them), He is under proper lighting in a huge tank and always has fresh water... The only thing I've had trouble with is keeping the tank warm enough but its not off by much, would this affect his growth so much? please any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm really worried that there is so much of a difference, is there something I might be doing to stunt his growth? Is there anything I could do differently? could this be a serious health issue? Thanks ,
Leah
Out of pretty much every clutch there is going to be one or two individuals that classify as "runts". This is just about universal throughout all mass breeding animals. However, it doesn't appear to be a permanent condition in tegus. There's really nothing going wrong, and there's nothing you can do to "correct" the situation. In tegus, it just means they're "late developers". I've had some that for the first several years of their lives were more than noticeably smaller, they would hardly ever eat, tended to be more wary of others, etc., and I thought I would wind up with mini-tegus. However, eventually they would all grow out of it and catch up to their larger siblings.
Joined: Mar 07, 2005 Posts: 328 Location: Chesterfield, UK
Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:45 am Post subject:
Although I can't accurately age my Tegu, he was approx 2 years old when I got him, and had never been hibernated, meaning he should theoretically be about fully grown. In the last year alone, he has gained 10" in length, and about 5-7 pounds in weight.
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