Just became a Tegu dad

txrepgirl · Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject:

i0r.Your welcome.Wow that is great news.He looks so good.I'm happy to hear that he made it through the hard times

.Good job

.Thank God for your patients.Thank for the update and the picture and the video.Take care.

Ben3233 · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 12:36 am Post subject:

wow that's awesome. Your taming work is going good! I had my blue tongue skink for like 5 month and he is still hissing when I get him.

Don't give up!

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Ben3233
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)

i0r · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:12 am Post subject:

Yea i must say it goes pretty well....made more progress today

He's still not eating what i prepare for him....only food that mother nature created

However i noticed that although he seems calm he is in fact still a bit scared and stressed, and that is probably the cause for him not trying new things yet....only been like 2 weeks since he got here so i can't really blame him. Not easy for him to adapt to an enclosure and people taking care of him. I'll try to stop feed him living mice and see if he has an appetite for frozen/thawed....haven't tried that yet....and maybe if he gets used to first frozen/thawed mice he will later on start to eat chicken, beef, veggies, fruits and such.

Well today i got VERY happy though.
When i went to sit with him, his tail was towards me....so i then gently started to touch it. At first he kinda puffed himself up....but no hissing nor showing teeth...only puffed up for a sec or 2. I kept petting his tail and he actually seemed to relaxed....kinda really enjoying it. So i kept petting his tail for a moment then stopped and then repeated that for a while. I then wanted to test him and see if i could go higher up on the tail....so i did. And he just turned his head and looked at my hand and then he started to sleep while petting him...hehe
And when done....i gave him some super worms as reward....just hope he associates the reward with the petting

txrepgirl · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:57 am Post subject:

That is so cool that you put him to sleep

.It shows you that he does trust you a little bit.Keep up the good job

.Also what you could do is feed him a small mouse first so he will not get full right away but has that hunting instinct and than give him a thawed out mouse with a tong ( or what ever you call that thing ) and wiggle it around a bit that should help him switch over to the dead mice.

Ben3233 · Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:14 pm Post subject:

Wow that's awsome, keep up the good work!!!
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Ben3233
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)

i0r · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 3:06 pm Post subject:

Great tip Samantha....i'll definitely try that and hopefully get him to eat things with less life in them

First shed in captivity today!!

I didn't catch him while he still was out to see if the shedding went good....but judging from the sheddings i found...all in one piece and all, i'd say it went perfect

Edit:
Managed to get a glimpse of him....and oh how nice the color of his skin is now...all fresh

Ben3233 · Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject:

wow this shed look so strange, It looks so different as compared of my blue tongue skink shed !!!

Keep up the good work!!!

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Ben3233
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)

angelrose · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:49 pm Post subject:

how precious he is

I save all my sheds and place them in a huge picture frame. what a design

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0.1.0 b/w Colombian tegu
1.2.0 b/w Argentine tegus
1.0.0 Savanah monitor
1.0.0 Brazillian Rainbow boa
1.1.0 Ball pythons
1.0.0 Burmese python

Tegster · Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 2:32 pm Post subject:

How do the wounds look after that shed? Thanks for the updates!

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Renee

i0r · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:42 pm Post subject:

Sorry once again for my inactivity......got some friends over from Sweden...so i didn't get much time to write about Juancho(i still take my time to be with him though).

He's doing great though

He still have some shed on his tail tip and fingers....looks like his bad toe will come off with this years shed, but i'm not certain yet.
His other wounds are perfectly healed and did not get effected in any way.

Now to the fun part

I think he starts to like me now......As usual i sit with him every day....and the last week i've been petting him. I started by petting his tail and then day by day i moved up towards his back.
Well today was somewhat special. I went to his house and he was basking on top of his stones....and after a while he started to climb down and walk towards me.....at first i didn't know what to do, because i didn't know if he was gonna try to escape or bite me. I got really confused because it's the first time he walked towards me. Well anyway.....i closed the door when he was close to me.....but then i started to regret that and i was wondering what could have happened if i were to only sit still. So maybe he just wanted to come and get to know me....or intimidate me....i don't know....sad i lost that chance. However, only a few minutes after i realized that it was stupid of me to leave, so i went back and opened the door. He was practically leaning his head on the door when i opened. So i opened the door and he didn't move or seemed to be bothered. So i started to pet him on his head....and he LIKED it!!!! Like closing his eyes and seemed to get into a kind of trance. So i petted him for a long while and then i tried to put my hand below his belly so i could lift him up, but that seemed to bother him a bit....no hissing or anything, i could just tell that it wasnt the moment for that. So all good i gave him a fuzzy snack as reward and gave him his daily food(he didn't eat a single piece of "prepared food" since the last time i posted that he did). And can you believe that when i go for the plate after 2 hours he had eaten almost everything. Almost an entire plum and a few pieces of raw chicken.

So i'm more then pleased with today's progress

I reckon that within a week he will let me pick him up

Didn't get the chance to take pics....though next pic of him that u'll see will be when his in my arms

Tegster · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 4:53 pm Post subject:

Congratulations!!!!

_________________
Renee

Ben3233 · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:14 pm Post subject:

See? It wasn't so hard? Stay on this track, and we will be tamer and tamer and tamer................................

congratulation!

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Ben3233
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)

txrepgirl · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:23 am Post subject:

WOW you don't know Chris how happy I am that things are going so well with your Tegu.I really think that you made a friend for life now

.See being pationed does pay of.Don't worry about the shed on his tail.It is normal that the skin from the tail comes of a few days later.Some times it takes up to a week for it to come of.But you are right the first shed was perfect.Now at least you know that you are doing the right things and that he is happy.You are doing a great job with him.Take care.Keep it up.

i0r · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:22 am Post subject:

Ok, now my friends have returned to Sweden. So i'll have more time to update you all about Juancho's progress

Very very very good news

First of all, the shed went well, anyway since he's still kinda in his natural habitat i really didn't think it would be a problem for him.

Here's a pic of his fresh skin

Click To Enlarge

Ok, now to the best part!!
Since my last post he have been eating all kinds of food i've offered him on a daily basis. It turns out that he LOVES grapes, plums, raw chicken and raw beef. I offered him a F/T mouse but he didnt want that(????). He eat other things as well, but those are his favourites

So today i gave him the last living mouse i had left, and do not plan on getting him more. Now he will have to get used to eat only what i prepare for him. I give him crickets as well, and at first he could eat 20 without any problem. But now he seems to have lost interest in them and maybe only eat 4. I use to put some crickets in his food bowl together with 4 xmpl, beef and grapes.....and he eats everything except the crickets.

Here's a pic of him now.....if you look at previous pics you'll see he's not so skinny anymore

Click To Enlarge

Ok now to the fun part

He now LOVES when i pet him. And usually when i pet him and then leave, he use to go to the door and lay there kinda like he wants me to come back.

And remeber what i said in my last post?? about next pic of him would be in my arms?? Well it happened yesterday

I was throwing him some crickets, and after eating a few he came right towards me and i only had one glove on! So i had to put my gloved hand in his face kinda to make him go back, but he didnt! he kept comming at me....so i was struggeling with trying to grab the other glove that was behind me but couldnt reach it. So i got my hand in his face pushing him back a bit just in case he went for a try to escape....and there's no agression what so ever....so then i reckon i maybe could lift him up......so i did!!! It was only with one hand though, but he actually let me lift him up without getting upset or anything like that. Didn't get a picture of it though

But it won't be long until i do

Managed to get a few good shots at his bad mouth and toe. His mouth is practically missing a piece of "lip". But no complications what so ever with that.

Click To Enlarge

And his toe is not infected or anything.....might bother him a little. But i think it will come off by itself eventually.

Click To Enlarge

So there ya go folks

An almost tame wild cought native B/W Argentine Tegu.

Must say i'm a bit proud of meself

Tegster · Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 2:19 pm Post subject:

You SHOULD BE proud of yourself. Not only did you care for him through his injuries - but now he wants to spend time with you

Congratulations! It must be an incredible feeling.
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Renee