Cost of feeding a tegu?

[Alexandra]

I'm thinking of getting a black and white tegu and was wondering how much it costs to feed them? A good monthly/ yearly estimate would be very helpful!
Oh and how do you heat your enclosures? What heating methods do you guys use?

 

[Derek Doel]

I spend about $200 a month on food alone right now but he is starting to eat more(pinky mice, turkey, salmon, egg, beef liver, fruit and veggies) Mine is almost 2 years old and eats every other day. For heating I have 2 x 50 watt ceramic heat lamps, 3 x 75 watt sun glo basking spot lamps and 3 UV lamps. To keep the humidity up I have 1 repti fogger and 1 house hold humidifier that I have modified to allow for the moisture to flow into the enclosure. I have so many as I have a custom made enclosure that is 10 feet long one side with the other side 4 feet(it is shaped like an L)

 

[Matt Lesh]

Awesome enclosure Derek sounds cool! My enclosure is 8x4x4 and i use 2 150 wat repti halogen for the basking area and on the basking area i also keep a 160 watt mercury vapor bulb. For feeding i basically buy the food for it that ill end up eating as well... Fruits, Ground meats, eggs. etc. Mines about a year and 6 months old and eats every other day. probably costs me 100$ a month as i normally buy in bulk so ill buy a couple pounds of ground turkey meat and freeze it. Along with chicken gizzards mine seem to love those

 

[Josh]

Hard for me to say exactly as I end up eating some of her food and vice versa (aside from rodents, gizzards, etc) but I'd estimate it at about $100/mo? Maybe a bit less.

 

[khris1972]

HAHA! I am already noticing the food theft between me and Weston lol and it's only been a couple weeks.

 

[Alexandra]

Wow they are expensive little guys! Do any of you have any other lizard suggestions? Something a little less expensive to keep, but still friendly and seems to enjoy human interaction?

 

[Matt Lesh]

i mean if you're looking for big hardy animals like monitors/tegus they're all not very cheap to feed... As for smaller lizards i have great experience with crested geckos. They're extremely easy to care for and are excellent for handling. Maybe iguanas? I haven't had much experience with iguanas but i heard they're very rewarding as pets too.

 

[khris1972]

initially yes with the buying him and getting him setup it is expensive, but food wise at 100 - 250 ish 80% is food you would eat to, so just share lol.

 

[RickyNo]

I spend at least 120 a month. For heating I have two basking lights, about to install a third. 2 4ft uvb bulbs and a 150 watt heat emitter thats controlled by my herpstat 2 thermostat.

 

[Josh]

Yeah I guess maybe it's not as bad as we're making it seem? Like I said, a lot of the food my tegu eats I also eat so it's not all on her but she definitely consumes plenty and keeps me going back to the grocery store!

 

[kim]

Wow they are expensive little guys! Do any of you have any other lizard suggestions? Something a little less expensive to keep, but still friendly and seems to enjoy human interaction?

Bearded dragons are awesome and docile. mine loves crickets fruits and veggies. aside from the crickets, she pretty much eats what i eat. They are people friendly like the argeninian tegu ... just much smaller.