What is the beginner tegu for me?

[Dragonmom]

I can have 5 foot long cage and i will have an hour of enrichment. What tegu is good for this size. This is my first tegu. I have experience with ackies, BTS, beardies, cresties, leos, uromastyx, Chinese water dragons, and lots of snakes

 

[Zyn]

None till you can go at the minimum 6+x4x4

As far as a beginner Tegu, I don't think there is one when they get as large as they do. Blue tongue skink is kinda a beginner tegu lol in alll serioueness tegus will get big and fast. Blues are a
bit smaller but not by much and are more costly. Either way I don't think 5ft is big enough once full grown. A Columbian b&w is smaller but don't share the Tamable traits of their cousins the argintine, they can be just not as easily.

 

[Dragonmom]

I know it's a small cage but I have a larger one that I would let it walk around on while I'm home or just free range it. The reason I'm not using the larger cage is because it has no way to install heat. What do you think about freeranging in around my room. Obviously not when it's a baby but once it's full grown.

 

[Zyn]

Depends on where you live look up macgyver the lizard free roaming red. Though he's super obease good info on free roaming tegus

Also on the bigger one what is stopping it from holding heat. We might be able to come up with a salution

 

[Dragonmom]

I just found out that I could have a 6x4x4. I have the plywood to make one. I live in a very humid place, so I don't think that's a problem. I've seen McGyver already. I think I will just stick to the cage and let him roam free for a couple of hours a day. Now that I have space, what species do you recommend. I would like something on the smaller side

 

[Dragonmom]

With the bigger one, it doesn't have a lid and it is too heavy to fit on a table. Plus all the humidity would just go out the top

 

[dpjm]

I would not get a tegu at all with that cage size, it is too small. Even with free roaming opportunities during the day, living the rest of the time in that small cage will not work.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Surely you can adapt, make do and overcome the lid situation on your big enclosure and as for stting it on a table is that really needed??

 

[Walter1]

Those few extra feet might not seem like much but they really matter for a large-growing active animal.

 

[Zyn]

Melamine is cheap and comes in 8x4x4 for like 9 bucks for half inch

 

[Dragonmom]

I'll make an enclosure out of melamine. That seems cheap. I'll probabaly be able to get at least 7 feet. We are getting rid of the big cage anyways, so I'll just build a new and more suitable one

 

[Dragonmom]

Would it work to do a 6ft cage and have a second story for more room, or should I go ahead and just get a 7ft?

 

[Dragonmom]

Would it be ok to have it live in a 5x3x4 for about three years and then get a bigger one

 

[beardeddragon111]

Would it be ok to have it live in a 5x3x4 for about three years and then get a bigger one

They grow too quickly for that. I'd get a baby in a 40 glaaon breeder and move him in his adult cage after a few months.

Would it work to do a 6ft cage and have a second story for more room, or should I go ahead and just get a 7ft?

I'd go for the 7 ft cage with an elevated basking spot. That gives 7 feet of pure floor space.

 

[beardeddragon111]

Oh yeah and I wouldn't use melamine on a tegu cage. You could use it if you have a pond liner around the bottom for holding the substrate, but I don't think it would do too well otherwise. It's better to just paint some plywood with a few layers of drylock IMO. It's more expensive at first glance, but you wouldn't want to have to build an entire second cage because the floor rotted out of the first one.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

melamine would be fine in my eyes for most of it....I`d maybe use ply for the bottom though just for extra support and either run in all the corners with a sealant or use a pond liner to just above the depth of the substrate.

 

[beardeddragon111]

melamine would be fine in my eyes for most of it....I`d maybe use ply for the bottom though just for extra support and either run in all the corners with a sealant or use a pond liner to just above the depth of the substrate.

I didn't say you couldn't use it,I use it for snake racks myself, it's just not as durable to moist substrate as sealed up plywood, which is why I said I personally wouldn't build a tegu cage with it. However, I don't see why it couldn't be used as a skeleton with something else holding the substrate.

 

[Dragonmom]

Okay. I'll do the seven foot with plywood floors and melamine walls with pond sealent. What species would be good for a seven foot?

 

[beardeddragon111]

Okay. I'll do the seven foot with plywood floors and melamine walls with pond sealent. What species would be good for a seven foot?

From what I'm aware blue tegus seem to usually stay smaller than the others, but you're probably gonna see a bigger size difference in gender (females are smaller) than species. Some blue tegus are huge and some chacoan giants are somewhat small.

 

[Dragonmom]

How big would a female argentine Black and white be? Average snout to vent