Best lighting/heating for tegu

been looking at tegu's just for fun. What does everyone run for their heat lighting and UV fixture/bulbs? thanks! I'm just wondering what i would need to buy if i wanted to get one of these guys in the future. Maybe start gathering reseach and slowly slowly slowly start to build a cage and gather neccesary lighting and heating over the next year. then save for a while and maybe get a tegu in a year or so. Links to your favorite UVB bulbs and fixtures would be much a99reciated. Thanks!!!

I ran two 4ft T5HO fixtures across the length of my cage for the UV bulbs and made my own light fixture for heat. The fixture hangs from the top of the cage via chains so I can raise and lower the lights to adjust the hot spot temp. I then use three 35W halogen flood bulbs (PAR38).

https://growershouse.com/sun-blaster...ht-w-reflector

I don't have a picture of my flood lamp fixture, but it is fairly common for monitor/tegu setups so you should be able to find something online

http://www.savannahmonitor.net/housing/

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Originally Posted by jclaiborne

I ran two 4ft T5HO fixtures across the length of my cage for the UV bulbs and made my own light fixture for heat. The fixture hangs from the top of the cage via chains so I can raise and lower the lights to adjust the hot spot temp. I then use three 35W halogen flood bulbs (PAR38).

https://growershouse.com/sun-blaster...ht-w-reflector

I don't have a picture of my flood lamp fixture, but it is fairly common for monitor/tegu setups so you should be able to find something online

http://www.savannahmonitor.net/housing/

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Thank you!
do you think this would be an okay substitute to the light you linked for UVB?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/ViaVolt-2...V21/203124380#

Thanks again!

I run a 160 watt Mega-Ray Mercury Vapor Bulb over my tegu. Although the bulb is pricey ~$43 on Amazon, it provides UVB and heat.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me. If I can't provide the answer I can point you in the direction of someone who can.
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by monty_python9

I run a 160 watt Mega-Ray Mercury Vapor Bulb over my tegu. Although the bulb is pricey ~$43 on Amazon, it provides UVB and heat.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me. If I can't provide the answer I can point you in the direction of someone who can.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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I had tried to PM you but you have it disabled. So here it is.

Hey, thanks for you help. Do you think this set-up would work good for a hatchling for just a few months? 40 long breeder tank with one powersun uvb bulb and then another extra white light heat bulb. Would i need the 100 W powersun bulb or the 160 W? thanks for you help! this would only be a temporary set up untill i build a large 4x8 custom enclosure.

Shoot me a text 2403395915


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why don't you just answer on here? you've read the post already i assume.

I did.


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40 gallon breeder won’t do for a hatchling for very long


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by dylan815

Thank you!
do you think this would be an okay substitute to the light you linked for UVB?
http://www.homedepot.com/p/ViaVolt-2...V21/203124380#

Thanks again!

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I don't know anything about that brand, I can only speak to what I use, the one in the link is only 2ft. I like to provide UV across the entire length of the cage, which is why I went with two 4ft high output fixtures.

For heat the reason for using 3 bulbs vs 1 is that you provide an even temp across the whole body of the animal vs 1 focused beam. It allows you to go with a much lower wattage bulb and provide a more even heat. That being said the heat bulbs I use do not provide UVB like a Mercury Vapor Bulb will.

A 40 gallon breeder tank will be outgrown in no time. If I were you I would get the cage built, setup, and running before bringing the animal home. I did it in reverse order and wish I hadn't. I had mine in a 4x2x2 and she outgrew it way faster than anticipated, which led me to rushing the cage build and having to tweak it after she was in it.

varanustalk.com is a good source of info, Tegu and Monitor care are fairly close, there is a lot of good info there about cage builds, light set ups, getting the proper thermal gradient, etc.

I don't know anything about tegus, but I've been looking at a lot of UVB bulbs. Arcadia is by far the best, but they're a tad more expensive. Cheapest I can find are on Pangea's website. Reptisun and Repti-glo are the next tier down, but if you can a hold of Arcadia, they last for a year or more UVB-wise. The other ones you have to replace after 6 months because the bulbs atrophy and lose the UVB percentage faster.

It sounds like Cyprus mulch is what most people use for substrate. Sounds like something I could get at the Home Depot? Thanks!


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Given the chance Tegus will dig and brumate just like a monitor. I suggest you do some research on bio-active substrate for an 8x4 cage (discussed plenty in the links I previously posted). You will go broke replacing cypress mulch in an 8x4x4ft enclosure with the required 2ft substrate depth.

Okay, was just looking at setups and I saw this picture. Does the heat lamp look too close to you guys? https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5c3b61e16c.jpg


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I don't keep monitors but if the lizard is laying directly under it like this one is then I'd say no it's not too close. Listen to the lizard and not yourself in this instance. I've seen monitor/tegu/bearded dragon basking spot temps recommended up into the 140-160's. I wouldn't worry about it.

No it is not too close as long as the temp is correct (different wattage bulbs will produce different temps at different distances). My basking spot hovers right around 120F. Again do yourself a favor and read on varanustalk about proper heating and thermal gradients. The answers to 99% of your questions will already be there, with pictures.