Tegu questions

My girlfriend and mother have a serious phobia of snakes and I have been thinking about selling my BP to a friend that is in love with it as a trade off for my girlfriend letting me get a tegu. I want to do some research on tegus long before I decide to buy one. Housing is the main issue. How big to tegus get and how long does it take until I need to upgrade its enclosure? I can build a cage no problem but I just need to know what size it would need at what age and what is the biggest cage I will need. What do Tegus eat and how often? Any other advice would be great too thanks.

Fully grown tegus need a 3x8 ft pen minimum to me. Preferably larger if possible.
They can grow very quickly. Argentine Black and Whites are common, and generally pretty good lizards. They do get big, like 5 ft(or so) and bulky. They hibernate a few months out of the year too, just to let you know.
There's some really good sites for tegus out there. I have 3 tegus myself, and I'd answer anything with regard to MY tegus if you want to PM.
I'm not putting myself forward as any sort of expert, by any means! Just my experiances, and what the people I respect the opinion of have told me.

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Originally Posted by Reptiliteer

My girlfriend and mother have a serious phobia of snakes and I have been thinking about selling my BP to a friend that is in love with it as a trade off for my girlfriend letting me get a tegu. I want to do some research on tegus long before I decide to buy one. Housing is the main issue. How big to tegus get and how long does it take until I need to upgrade its enclosure? I can build a cage no problem but I just need to know what size it would need at what age and what is the biggest cage I will need. What do Tegus eat and how often? Any other advice would be great too thanks.

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Hmm well I think scince you dont know too much about lizards you should start off small... Tegus can take up alot of space and eat alot... My suggestion is you should start off with geckos,beardies,frillies,and uromynistx's (hope I spelled that right)
These are actually good starter lizards and after a while you can upgrade to bigger and newer things... Unlike snakes lizards need alot more space some lizards need ALOT OF SPACE!
Beardies are good and geckos are good and after a while if you have the money,space and time then you could get like an ackie monitor... Im pretty sure you need to hibernate tegus soo theres a lizard thats not active for a couple of months while beardies,cresties,and uros are active all year! If you want do some reasearch on breadies,geckos,frillies,and uros they prolly make the best pet lizards out their!
Just my opinion!

Just google argentine tegus and see if that is what you are going to want. Tegus eat a wide variety of food and a varied diet should be provided. They will eat ground turkey, mice, rats, some brands of dog food, some will eat veggies and fruit ,just to name a few. The enclosure could be as complex or simple as you wish. The minimum size will really depend on the type you get. For example Reds are the largest you can get(about 4-4.5 feet) with Black and Whites being second(about 3.5-4 feet) and Blues coming in as the smallest. All of these should go thru a hibernation which can start between september-november and end somewhere between march-may. Tegus are fun to work with but not for everyone. Do the research and good luck with it. I am sure you find them to be great lizards. And just a side note: Uromastyx do go through a burmation period.
Wil

www.tegutalk.com

Talk to Bobby. He's the man when it comes to tegus, one of the biggest breeders in the USA.