what's true

I have looked around at lizards and this beauty looks perfect, but then comes the "this is too good to be true, what's the catch?" so i want to make sure that all the things I've found that sold me on the b&w tegu are true.

firstly, i want to know how much they cost you on average per year. tegus seem much less expensive in comparison to a big Asian water monitor on feeding alone, so I'd like to know how much they cost, and what the expenses are.

second, on the subject of food, many people say different things about food. For example Tegu Terra says they only need to be fed bugs for the first 1-3 years of their lives. I was wondering how important is it to feed live bugs to them? especially live crickets, would it be damaging to it's health to feed the tegu freeze dried?

third, is this the friendliest, tamest, and easiest to socialize of the tegu specie? are they the type that are safe around kids? like family dog level of safety, and by kids i mean the smart kind. I live around kids who have been raised to know how to respect and not provoke an animal, they also have common sense.

fourth, going out. say you get a hatchling, when you bring it home how do you get it settled in? and how soon can you start handling? and at what point do you take them for walks around the neighborhood?
rats can be trained to have their cage kept open so they can come and go as they please. I get the importance of a terra with the tub, the environment, and of course a place to use the bathroom, but can they be house trained like a dog, and the terra is like a bed?
I've heard they are the smartest lizard on the planet and are trainable, how easy are they to train? can they be successfully potty trained? do they have to mentally stimulated with learning tricks and puzzles, or do they just need human interaction and affection to keep their minds healthy?

fifth, is there a difference in behavior between females and males?

these are the questions i can think of, I'll keep posting as i find more.

can you go right to using a 6x3x3 terra? it seems simpler to do that unless they get overwhelmed by larger spaces like young ballpythons. I'd rather just go straight to a big terra so i can make sure i have one before i get the tegu, and not have to worry about it in a year or two when the tegu gets too big for its 3x2x2.

I can't answer most of your questions, as I've never had a tegu, but I can comment on the freeze-dried bugs part... I'd stay away from those. Your best bet is to feed live, gut loaded insects to any type of lizard.

Taming a Tegu is about security and Trust. There is a Youtube channel for Macgyver the Lizard that takes a really in depth look at raising a Tame/Secure Tegu. I reccomend watching it.

Bringing home a Hatchling that is 8-12 inches is great. But keep in mond that a Healthy Tegu eats like a horse and will have a peak growth of about an Inch a week for the first 9-12 months of it's life.

I would also reccomend starting on building a 6x3x3 Enclosure and understand that the bottom should have 8-12 inches of Cypress mulch so they can burrow and hide. Argentine Tegus naturally Hibernate/Brumate for about 6-8 months a year depending on where you live.

They really are intelligent creatures that are a Joy to keep.

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