Free roaming preparations?

[Dirkthejerk41]

Hi all, I know that not everyone recommends this but I also know that some people successfully do it. If I were to free roam a tegu 24/7, and have him share my room with me or black off part of my room, how would I go about doing this? By this I mean what things would I need to provide? (I know basking lamps, no dangerous areas, etc.)

 

[Josh]

Do you think you could pull off a small area for him to have a substrate and proper lighting? That way he could have his own area (something like a raised flower bed) and then still have free range over other areas

 

[Scott_k]

You would definetly need to provide the heat and humidity somehow. I let my guy free roam, but he is in my reptile room and he has a 8x4x4 cage that I leave one side open. I have swinging doors on each side. I leave the cool side open for him. He is free to walk around the room , but he can also go in and out of his cage to bask. I have a humidifier in the room. I also have a huge Rubbermaid container from Home Depot that I cut a hole in on the side that he can fit into and filled it with spare blankets and sheets. At the same time I don't have anything on the floor which he can get into. You need to be careful of cords plugged into outlets because they will walk right through them and bring down whatever is plugged in or worse get tangled in the wires and hurt themselves. I personally learned that the hard way and I boxed off the out let's with plywood so he can't go near them.( my guy didnt get hurt but he pulled down 3 light fixtures that were being used for other tanks) it also depends on how big your guy is, if he's small you need to worry about the gaps under doors and things like that. Mine is full grown so I don't have that issue. The big thing though is humidity, even with the humidifier it's not near as high as he needs in the whole room. I give my guy baths twice a week and he soaks in his tub on his own. And if you have carpet it will get messy real quick.

 

[Dirkthejerk41]

I have a hardwood floor, so I'm thinking maybe fencing off an area in my room (it is pretty large) and getting a large storage bin or something with substrate in it, maybe another bin with water, several basking spots, a heated cat bed or something, and a humidifier... i don't even have a tegu at the moment so these are all just ideas.

 

[Scott_k]

It can work you just got to set it up and if something is not working, change it or fix it and see if that works. There are mixed views on this subject. People will say no don't do it. It's not good for the tegu health wise. Other people have had great success, I feel I am one of those people. My guy goes to the vet every 6 months and he is very healthy and my vet said one of the most docile lizards he's seen. As far as heat though as long as you can setup a basking spot you shouldn't need the heated blankets or any of that depending on where you are at and how cold it gets at night. I'm in Cali and at night it can get in the 50s but my house only drops to 70. Since he's in the reptile room the heat from the other enclosure keeps the room warm enough at night for him, that room drops between 75-80 at night and stays about 83-85 during the day when everything is turned on.