I never really noticed how much time and effort they were until I got a BP. Not all tegu keepers will do this but I would prepare meals in advance for him then freeze them. That way when meal time came around it was mostly unthaw a portion of meat then add some fruit if need be. Whole prey gets expensive as well. Some people do whole prey once a week, others will do it every other day. I always had to buy in bulk locally. Theres also the supplements and the UVB.

When I first got my tegu I was in an apartment and his cage was basically the majority of the living room. I never had an aquarium for him, he went right into his adult enclosure, to me its more cost effective. Then I moved and my new landlord was fine with me having a tegu he just wanted him to be kept in the garage (worried about possible damage to the house) so I had to spend more money running a CHE at night to keep him toasty during the winter.

This year I'm going to do an outdoor pen to keep it in during the warmer months or even on the warmer days. I wouldn't trust leaving it outside overnight with racoons, opossums, cats, etc. Plus we could have a 80-90* day but then the night temps drop to the 50's.

With a ball, its not required to interact with him much to keep him handleable, he eats once a week, no supplements, no lights, basically just a (regulated) heatpad and a water dish. They seem pretty easy to care for over all, plus they're so cute! I can see why a lot of people don't just have one.


John how old is your tegu? I love the jowls on these guys, they're so squishy looking haha.