Titan is the face of the blog and brand, but what is he and what is he like??
Well first of all Titan is a black and white tegu, a large lizard, originating from Argentina. Being a large lizard he will grow to about 4.5 ft and weigh approximately 7kg. But as for right now, he is about 3.5ft in length. This means he needs a large space to live in, currently occupying a 7ft tank, he has plenty of room to roam, though this is a temporary setup. Like a lot of reptiles, especially lizards they start off small. This means they don't take up much space, but they grow rather quickly and what was a large enclosure becomes too small. This is the case for Titan, where he will soon need to have an upgrade to a larger enclosure. But, I don't just want to give him something a little bigger, I want him to have a small room! Why?? Well he loves to roam and climb and giving him a large space will almost mimic more of a natural habitat, where he can do a little bit of climbing and dig around.
Being a big boy, Titan eats every 3 days and consumes a varied diet of fish, rats and egg. Unlike most tegus Titan is very picky when it comes to fruit. He tends to eat it a few times and then not at all so we're still trying. But to accompany his diet, nutrients are added such as Acadia Earth Pro A and Arcadia Earth Pro Calcium + Magnesium. This just helps in giving him a balanced diet. But, as he's a lover of food, we might start target training him.
As a tegu he is highly intelligent and needs constant enrichment. Target training is one of the easiest methods of training animals especially lizards. This method has been used with crocodillians, komodo dragons and large monitor lizards. So, I am positive with some hard work he will be able to pick it up relatively quickly.
I've talked about his requirements and his intelligences, now it's time to talk about his temperament. He is for a better word stubborn. He can be very sweet and loving and act almost like a puppy, laying on your lap to be stroked. But then he has a more wild side, where he launches into the air, takes a bite and even starts on the spray bottle. He is very much a handful, but a lot of this behaviour came from his first owners. You see Titan is a rescue and the reason his owners couldn't keep him anymore was the fact he owned the house. Being intelligent creatures, they find ways of getting out of the vivarium (if not locked). This territorial behaviour made him difficult to handle and keep in a vivarium. So a lot of hard work went into calming him down. Getting him used to a viv was a big challenge and he did go for people when they got him out. But I'm proud to say after a months of rehabilitation he is much more calmer and only huffs at me sometimes, though he is more grumpy with new people.
That's all Titanites, till next time.
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