He's Here! - our replacement tegu has arrived safe and sound!!!

[Monkey girl]

Hi everyone,

For those of you who may not know, we had our original yearling female Argentine Chacoan tegu delivered to us last week. Unfortunately she had arrived deceased, it was very upsetting. We cannot imagine what the poor girl went through

Well, it's been a week and our replacement chacoan has arrived safely! This time it's a boy, Argentine Chacoan yearling!!

I have a couple of questions:

Regarding the INSIDE temperature of the hide box; what is the best INSIDE temp for the hide box?

Also, so, he refuses to eat right now(but has drank water), approximately how long does it normally take for a new tegu to finally decide to eat?

Thanking you in advance!

Now here are some pics of our new boy (haven't named him yet)!

[J.P.]

congrats! i like tegus, my friend has a large adult male. it's just too cute. and so smart too, my firend's tegu comes to him when called by its name.

[AlexisFitzy]

Yayy! Glad this one is A-ok looking good!


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[John1982]

Hi everyone,

For those of you who may not know, we had our original yearling female Argentine Chacoan tegu delivered to us last week. Unfortunately she had arrived deceased, it was very upsetting. We cannot imagine what the poor girl went through

Well, it's been a week and our replacement chacoan has arrived safely! This time it's a boy, Argentine Chacoan yearling!!

Glad this one got their safely. He's a great looking GU!

I have a couple of questions:

Regarding the INSIDE temperature of the hide box; what is the best INSIDE temp for the hide box?

Your hide should be on the cooler side, when he wants to heat up - it's basking time. If you can swing it, mid to upper 70s would be a good hide temp. Offering deep enough and plenty of substrate is the easiest way to let him thermoregulate. Then he can dig down as close or far from the heat source as suits him. It's also a good idea to have some damp sphagnum or orchard moss in the box hide to help with sheds.

Also, so, he refuses to eat right now(but has drank water), approximately how long does it normally take for a new tegu to finally decide to eat?

Depends on the tegu. Ask the previous owner what his favorites were and you'll probably have him gorging as soon as you can fill a plate. I feed as much as they'll eat daily until they get close to max size. If they hibernate well this usually happens around year two.

[OsirisRa32]

total ignorance on my part

but are tegus smaller sized lizards then the common types of varanus' on these forums?

[vangarret2000]

total ignorance on my part

but are tegus smaller sized lizards then the common types of varanus' on these forums?

Tegus are a large lizard.

[OsirisRa32]

Tegus are a large lizard.

Seriously? I kinda have that already figured out...was looking for more details than that...

[jclaiborne]

Congrats on the new GU, hes got some size to him already, and quite a looker! I can't wait for my girl to grow! I started the thread for Tegu updates and questions so we can keep that rolling!

[jclaiborne]

Seriously? I kinda have that already figured out...was looking for more details than that...

Chacoan Tegus like the OP has are the largest type of Tegus which will pass 4ft, I have seen postings saying the big guys can pass 5ft but have never seen one in person, B&Ws I have seen in the 4 foot range range, Columbians around the 3ft range. There are approx. sizes. Males will be bigger than females.

[John1982]

Chacoans are a locality that seem to average a little larger than the typical merianae. I've seen nonspecific locality merianae and rufescens that would rival even the largest chacoans in size though, so it's not a guarantee. Chacoans also tend to have more white in the face/head region than other merianae.