tegu advice?

[Gabe Rienzo]

hey guys. im fairly new to this forum. but i own a few snakes and am interested in a tegu. (i know i will do as much research as necessary) so im fairly new to lizards in general... just wanting to know how hard they are to keep, requirements and husbandry. i understand they get big and fast, so i will not jump right into 1 without having everything as close to perfect as possible.

i just want some advice on the advantages/disadvantages of them.

and also a cost estimate would be great to

thanks everyone for your advice and helpfulness

again: i will NOT get 1 without knowing everything possible and having everything set up before i ever bring 1 home. so no worrys

[wolfy-hound]

The huge cage has to be custom made, pretty much. I don't know of any appropriate enclosures available. They like to have deep substrate, so it's going to be HEAVY. They do need a high basking spot, but not to have the whole cage cooking either.

They eat. They eat and eat and eat some more. Compared to snakes, tegus are about ten times mroe work and eat about ten times more, in my opinion. They eat both fruits and meat(prey items). I haven't found mine to be too picky in the prey department, but the fruits, they can decide they ONLY like one or two types, regardless of how difficult it is for you to get those types year round.

They also go into hibernation for up to 6 months. So for part of the year, you end up with a cage of pet mulch. This cuts the care/food time/expense down. But it's rather boring to have a pet mulch pile.

They can get food aggressive, or become cranky for no apparent reason. They can be extremely destructive to their enclosures, including upending water bins, throwing dirt and mulch for amazing distances, tearing out decorations or even ripping the door loose or prying apart seams, if you haven't made certain the enclosure could hold an angry chimpanzee.

That said, I love them, out of all lizards I've had. They tend to be personable, tame well(unless you get a bad one, or traumatize one with inappropiate care/handling), and are inquisitive and intelligent.

They are a LOT more work, require a LOT more expense and space, and will make you tear out your hair on a regular basis. One way you can judge how easy/hard a reptile is to keep... start looking for anyone who has owned their tegu for longer than 4 years, and owns an adult tegu... not a hatchling, not a yearling... but one they've had for a LONG time. It's very common for people to buy a tegu or monitor, but much less common for them to KEEP them for years without getting tired of the work, losing them to inproper care, or losing them due to escapes... etc. Like the larger monitors, there's just not as many keepers working with them seriously. There's a lot of impulse buys, or people who think it'd be cool.... but if most are not keeping them for a long period of time, there's usually a reason.

Good luck, and kudos for doing your research beforehand!

[bubblz]

Two great places to start;.. tegutalk.com and thetegu.com has all the basic info you need to know and then some. As far as care,.. once you learn what you need too and get into a routine like everything else it's not that difficult. If you haven't already, decide on what kind of tegu you want since there are quite a few to choose from. Whether or not you have the space to house a large tegu with a minimum requirement of 8ft x 3ft x 3ft enclosure for just One of the larger species. Does a tegu fit into your lifestyle since they are long term care pets that require a lot of time and space for handling. To get that large calm tegu that a lot of people want when they see it.

But fail to realize how much that person put into it to get it that way. Yes they grow fast, not every species hibernates and when they don't they grow even faster. Reaching well above 3ft withing their first year

Colombians are the smallest and have a bad rep but they can be just as tame if not tamer than some of the larger tegus. They may or may not require more work handling than other species. They have different personalities and quirks just like any other animal, people included.

Good luck,.. I hope everything works out, because they are great pets. I feel the same way about them as I do my Bullies,.. I will always have at least one.

[mumps]

Wolfy provided some great basic info. Bubbles provided some great websites.

I could make a huge post with lots of info as well, but I'm not going to make it easy for you. Do your research, and if you have a specific question, I'll provide an answer.

I'll add one more tidbit - tegu poo really STINKS!

Chris

[Dana C]

Hi all,
Is Tegu Talk down??? I have tried for days to register. I fill out all the fields in full but I get a "file not found" message when I hit enter.

[Big Dave]

no its up, i was on it this morning