# True cost of keeping a B&W Tegu?



## simonas (Feb 26, 2010)

I'm moving house soon to my bigger house that should do me for rest of days
It will have a room just for me and my fish and snakes (wife and kids will have their own) and I want to be able to house a big lizard with ideal conditions.

The one I have been reading about the most and like the look of the most is the Black and White tegs.

I understand a male wouldneed a huuuge viv would 8x4x4ft be the kind of size?

That can all be sorted as well as the cost of the Teg but my question is one you don;t really see answer to on forums. What are the "running" costs of keeping one. Does it cost an arm and a leg to heat a viv that size and how much do they eat? What kind of special requirements do a full grown teg need?

Broad questions I know but the kind that a care sheet don;t give you

Any advice would be very welcome

Thanks Simon


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## skippy (Feb 26, 2010)

i spend $10-15 a week on food for my male(depending on how many mice he gets) and the heating bill isn't too bad but that would depend on your location as to how much juice you're going to use and how much you're going to pay for it.

as for cage size, 8x4 isn't all that big and it's really the minimum for a full grown male. mine is in a 6x3 and he's rapidly outgrowing it. as a general rule, you want the length of the enclosure to be at least twice the animals length and the width to be at least the length of the animal. so if your tegu reaches 5 feet... you know. a smaller cage size can be alleviated by roaming time, especially in the warmer states.


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## White_Lotus (Feb 26, 2010)

i believe there is no true cost for a tegu. it's all based on different points such as the individual tegu, the area you live, the food that is available to you and how much it costs. to heat large viv you should use flood lights and a UVA/UVB bulb(needs changing every 5 or 6 months based on the bulb type). but once again its all relative, if the area you live in is a dry hot place you can use less heating and buy a humidifier, fogger, or spray the cage more often. if you live in a colder area you can add a light bulb and get a space heater for night time. i can say a week i spend around $60 on my Gus..but i have 3 2 male argentine black and white and 1 female chacoan


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## reptastic (Feb 26, 2010)

White_Lotus said:


> i believe there is no true cost for a tegu. it's all based on different points such as the individual tegu, the area you live, the food that is available to you and how much it costs. to heat large viv you should use flood lights and a UVA/UVB bulb(needs changing every 5 or 6 months based on the bulb type). but once again its all relative, if the area you live in is a dry hot place you can use less heating and buy a humidifier, fogger, or spray the cage more often. if you live in a colder area you can add a light bulb and get a space heater for night time. i can say a week i spend around $60 on my Gus..but i have 3 2 male argentine black and white and 1 female chacoan



that is very true i have 2 b/w males and nero for instance it cost about $10 a week to provide rodents and achilles maybe $4 a and other foods i just lump together like ground turkey ect. i spend maybe $10-15 every two weeks! i spend maybe $50 every six months for uvb lamps for the two, and the heat lamps usually last a little longer and cost around 25 for both.other than the housing i dont spend a lot of money for my tegus care. now when it comes to all 10 pets together thats a different story lol!


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## TeguKid80 (Feb 26, 2010)

It also depends on how well you are hooked up on frozen rodents and such. I haven't bought a frozen rodent for my tegu since December, I have a lot of friends who stock up and give away extras.


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## joejacobs (Feb 26, 2010)

really man i dont spend that much money on feeding him. i mean ground turkey is pretty cheap. i breed my own mice. thats pretty much free. i have a 6x3 enclosure and i plan on having him in the that the rest of his life. as long as u let him out to walk around or whatever. i defintly dont spend $60 a week..


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## Toby_H (Feb 26, 2010)

I bought 750 frozen hairless 7~10 gram (medium) mice online for $55 or .0086 per gramÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

One pound (450 grams) of Ground Turkey costs about $3... Or .0067 per gramÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

My young adult Tegu eats around 50~75 grams of food per dayÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


A $10~12 container of high grade Calcium Powder will last well over a year, possible a few years. It depends on how much you use and if your Tegu hibernates.


If I were creating lighting for an 8Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ x 4Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ cage I would go with:
Two 100W incandescent bulbs (heat/basking) one on for 4 hours a day the other for 8 hours
3Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ fluorescent UV-B bulb (30W) on for 12 hours per day
4Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢ fluorescent (40W) standard bulb just for light on for 12 hours per day

This comes to 2,040 Watt per hour, per dayÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ electricity typically costs .08 per KiloWatt/Hour (tax, etc included) in the USAÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ 


Personally I would also have a nice heater water dish with a small filter.
Small water filter/pump running 24/7 at around 10WÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦
Small aquarium heater running (estimated) 20% of the time at 25WÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦

Comes to 360 W/HR per dayÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ 




Summary per month (30 days):
Food - 1,875 grams per month = $14
Electricity - 72.000 KW/Hr = $5.76


Round it up to around $20 per month if you spend wiselyÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ obviously far less if/when itÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â??Â¢s hibernatingÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦ 
So $100 per year not including the cage and the Tegu itselfÃ?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã?Â¦


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## simonas (Feb 27, 2010)

cheers for the replies

I know its impossible to put a true cost on but I was just looking for an owners insight into the extra essential costs which the care sheets don;t always display

I'm looking forward to that bigger house now this year so I can finally house one of these beauties

cheers


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