Tegu Question

hey well i love tegus! and i know there are many variations of them im currently looking and most interested in the B/W Argentine Tegu everyone says they are puppy dog friendly and acutely LIKE to be held.



however my question is what size cage do they need? i have a fairly small room and my parents don't mind me having snakes/other reptiles as long as they are in MY room haha im really trying to see what i can do to make space for a cage!

of course id never buy the animal or even look into it until i am 100% sure i know all of the information to care for such an animal.

I'm not an expert on lizards, as I haven't had any, but tegus can become quite large and require specific husbandry, so they aren't for the first time lizard keeper.

Have you had any other lizards in the past or do you own any now?

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Originally Posted by lexxielightning

I'm not an expert on lizards, as I haven't had any, but tegus can become quite large and require specific husbandry, so they aren't for the first time lizard keeper.

Have you had any other lizards in the past or do you own any now?

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yes i currently have a bearded dragon a corn snake and a ball python! haha a small collection compared to most people here! :P


i have cared for my friends iguana for 2 weeks so im pretty comfortable around larger lizards :)

B&W Aregentine Tegu's get pretty big. You can look into an outside enclosure depending on where you live... They can become very tame but they need lots and lots of dedication to get them there. If you keep them in the cage and just interact to feed they can be quite menacing. However a tame tegu can be very rewarding and its almost like having a fat, scaled, lazy dog. If outdoor enclosures is out of the question, you can build your own indoor enclosure in such a way as to use the top as a table or to hold your other reptiles enclosures. I have seen pics of someone who built a tegu cage as a stand for an aquarium. IMO the best thing to do is build your own enclosure, (7x'3'x3') are good dimensions and if you go outside you can make it bigger/better.

HTH

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Originally Posted by jball1125

B&W Aregentine Tegu's get pretty big. You can look into an outside enclosure depending on where you live... They can become very tame but they need lots and lots of dedication to get them there. If you keep them in the cage and just interact to feed they can be quite menacing. However a tame tegu can be very rewarding and its almost like having a fat, scaled, lazy dog. If outdoor enclosures is out of the question, you can build your own indoor enclosure in such a way as to use the top as a table or to hold your other reptiles enclosures. I have seen pics of someone who built a tegu cage as a stand for an aquarium. IMO the best thing to do is build your own enclosure, (7x'3'x3') are good dimensions and if you go outside you can make it bigger/better.

HTH

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building sounds like an amazing idea! but im not handy AT ALL! haha im going to have to get some friends to help! :P but i would for sure hold besides feeding lol i play with my bearded dragon a couple times a day!



thanks so much guys for answering!

and as far as an outdoor cage id love to but i live in toronto and it gets REALLY cold in the winter!

You'd need a large enclosure for a tegu. 3x6 would be a small cage for an adult. The larger the better. Also, tegus like dirty, but will do on mulch, but it should be deep. Your tegu will hibernate about half the year(no, really, sometimes that hibernate for nearly 6 months) so be prepared to have a pile of pet mulch, because they don't come out during that time. The up-side is that you don't have a food bill for all that time. The down-side is that you have no pet for all that time.

Tegus can be big giant jerks, or really nice. Sometimes a jerk will calm down with handling and such, sometimes they will not. They also will need a high temp basking spot and nice humidity.

Hope this helps.