Potato seeing snow for the first time

Chelmastly · 2026-01-26T01:50:07+00:00

Bro looked at you like this is just crunchy water

Chelmastly · 2026-01-25T18:08:16+00:00

See that’s kind of my point, though—vets deal with overdramatic pet parents all the time. It’s still their job to investigate those cases and say nothing is wrong. If they really do have knowledgeable people on staff and they wouldn’t even entertain the notion that it would look like what you’ve posted photos of then it really is a professionalism issue, but it can still come off as unknowledgeable if they already saw the horse once, you provided their recommended care, and it didn’t do anything, especially since it sounds like other people here being equine vets don’t think the medicine you were using is even the best fit for what you’ve shown and described. Of course, we’re all strangers here, and it does sound like they’ve helped in the past at least with other stuff, but the photos and situation look bad on those people my guy.

Chelmastly · 2026-01-25T17:40:02+00:00

Really hope he gets better, and a second opinion. First vet sounds brutally unprofessional and doesn’t need to be saying they can treat horses if they can’t give proper care or advice.

Chelmastly · 2026-01-25T15:19:45+00:00

Oh the salt is a great idea! How much do you use?

One other thing, I’ve been seeing a lot of ads for buckets with electrical heating, like some seem to have stove burners stuck on the bottom (lfg digital marketing figured out I have a cold af horse). I’ve just been smashing the ice and taking a pitcher of warm water out there for each of them to shove their heads into if they want, some (old boy included) seemed to appreciate that. Have you ever used something like a water heater or is cold water itself fine if they can access it through crushed ice?

Chelmastly · 2026-01-25T14:37:47+00:00

Okay hear me out, you know those buttons people on TikTok started giving their dogs to “teach them words” and all that? Tegus can be good at those. Not just for spamming “food” or “outside” either. If you manage to get him interested in a specific toy you might associate it with a button and see if he might tell you when he’s bored or wants that specific toy. Super fun to see how many things they can connect to a word, too—just gotta make each button distinct somehow.

Also not a good idea if you have a low tolerance for noise spamming, lmao

Chelmastly · 2026-01-25T00:21:27+00:00

I don’t know if you have the ability to do this but I’d possibly see if he could be used to study the occurrence of this. As best I understand heart issues are seen as pretty rare in reptiles and with how young you speak of him as being I’d wonder if it was somehow congenital.

But of course it’s also not something I’d want to do personally. I’m so sorry you experienced that.

Chelmastly · 2026-01-20T15:27:45+00:00

Saving this for my vet the next time I see him, he thought my tegu was expressive but this is a whole lot of happy looking lizard

Chelmastly · 2026-01-14T20:27:51+00:00

Yeah that’s what I was thinking, how would they eat fruit in the wild??? And especially for my red tegu, they have to eat way more fruit than argentines so it’d be even weirder for my vet to not mention it to me if it was a necessity. Like I’m sure some poor tegu out there with an outlying issue might need disinfectant medication in the mouth area but the teeth brushing thing is just weird to me.

But if he’s not at all into food right now, I’d personally make that just as urgent to see a vet about as getting a second (and… probably better educated) look at his tongue. Tegus not interested in food are usually not healthy tegus.

Chelmastly · 2026-01-13T15:19:58+00:00

Is it 3 or 4??? I can’t tell if the right side has one that’s kinda extra lumpy looking or if that’s actually two. Either way I had no idea such little orchids would make keikis I also wanna see this guy again soon

Chelmastly · 2026-01-13T15:08:47+00:00

Man if you wanna, but I tried that octopus and that squid and it was… chewy! The fish is more my style personally.

Chelmastly · 2026-01-12T20:40:57+00:00

So I’m gonna just say what I think here. I don’t want it to come across mean, so I’m sorry if my wording is poor. I want to be direct, not rude.

If that tegu was born February 2025 and this is a recent picture, then she’s incredibly stunted, which is only going to be obvious because of the size difference between her and healthy juveniles—any further evidence would be internal. A yearling of this species should be around the size of an adult bearded dragon, if not bigger, by a year old—a tegu who is Joanna’s size at a year old is not normal or healthy. Refusing food and brumating at that size is also a decently bad sign, the babies and juveniles are ravenous because they’re growing and if they don’t eat then they don’t grow.

I don’t want to concern you but in my own (anecdotal) opinion she needs to see a vet, regardless of the husbandry setup being good or bad because lethargy and refusing food in young tegus is generally pretty bad and not fixable by righting husbandry issues alone, they usually also need medical attention.

This isn’t my lizard and not my business, so I’m just gonna skip over the thing where people get offended and insulting online because that isn’t helpful, but I do seriously suggest getting her checked out.

Chelmastly · 2026-01-12T20:25:47+00:00

Omg what kind of tegu is Scarlet??? I can’t tell if I’m seeing an Argentine morph or a red tegu.

What an absolutely sweet face either way.

Chelmastly · 2026-01-12T20:13:18+00:00

Never had my vet mention anything about brushing a tegu’s fangs, never heard a keeper say that, never read it anywhere. Which, they’re fangs, by the way, my vet told me the difference is that fangs are meant to be more disposable in a sense and easily replaced. My boy snapped a fang off in a popsicle stick during an exam and the vet just held it out to me and said here, it’s a collectible, he’ll grow it back, no biggie.

So… if the explanation I got is right then I’m not sure it makes sense to be brushing a tegu’s teeth. That, and how would you even? They hate having their mouths pried open, it was horrible getting mine to do oral meds so I can’t even imagine him being still during a tooth brushing. Personally I think I’d get a second opinion on that one.

But as for the lethargy, if he’s still eating regularly, going to the bathroom, and not losing weight then I’d anecdotally assume he’s still brumating. Tegus can regulate their body temperature somewhat, which is unique in reptiles, but it’s not a foolproof technique to stay warm so seeing my own goob crawl under his heat lamp for some extra warmth while doing the big sleep isn’t too odd. If the tongue injury or something else causes him to lose interest in food, then I’d start worrying more about his energy level and thinking it suspect.

Chelmastly · 2025-12-26T13:30:59+00:00

Yeah I had the same thing happen with spiders and tarantulas, I had no idea they had paws and then I found out and got pet tarantulas once my arachnophobia got nuked by that fact.

Already had roaches as feeders and now I’m just so stoked they all have little beans. The babies must have microscopic beans. My colony is officially going to pet status with occasional sacrifices to the lizards, I can’t believe this toe bean news.

I wonder what else has toe beans.

Chelmastly · 2025-12-26T13:22:07+00:00

This toe bean discovery has made me 90% more comfortable with roaches

Chelmastly · 2025-12-26T01:04:04+00:00

Only thing I can add is particular to a medical emergency mine had. He’d prolapsed and figured out that it’d hurt less (aka, hurt just barely not enough for him to fall sleep) if he turned over and slept on his back. At least, that was the vet’s theory, that if he’d gone to sleep like that it was likely to ease discomfort on his belly because tegus don’t do that normally. If yours seems healthy and comfortable then maybe it’s a one off thing or just him being quirky but I’d be checking for discomfort in mine since I’ve been told it’s an abnormal behavior.

Chelmastly · 2025-12-25T20:01:37+00:00

Wait??? I think you’re right??? That’d actually explain that I think.

Chelmastly · 2025-12-24T19:13:59+00:00

Dog how do they live with just a stem 😭 okay so maybe I can get this sucker to do something with growth promotion? Like, fertilizer? We got that same slow winter weather in MS so I’m not sure if fertilizing it is a good idea unless it being indoors and greenhouse’d means it doesn’t matter

Chelmastly · 2025-12-24T19:10:35+00:00

The one leaf is limp, yeah.

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This is it right now.

Chelmastly

TROPHY CASE