Hello. New guy here. Still looking for my Tegu.

[DHoff24250]

Hello all,
My name is Dan. I am currently in the process of researching, building and looking for a tegu. I am looking to get a Black and White and look forward to learning from the seasoned vets here to be able to make the new family member as happy as I can.

 

[RomanPort]

Hello! Welcome to the forum! Really glad to have you here.

I'm in the same boat as you and I'm also in the process of getting ready for a blue. What're your plans for an enclosure so far?

 

[DHoff24250]

Ive been reading and watching videos on youtube. I have two spots in my house that Im deciding on. My bedroom and my living room. Im going to ending building a "custom" enclosure. Found a framing kit online for building sheds. I used them for a dog house. They are sturdy. Gonna use 2x2s for the frame. Gonna raise the main enclosure off the ground so I can build a "basement" into the unit for burrowing. Ill make that part like a drawer so I can pull it out for maintenance. Hard wire the lights.
Thats my rough idea. Im hoping to take a bunch of pics as I go... and Im sure as I watch more videos and stuff Ill modify the design

 

[RomanPort]

Ah! Awesome! My plan is to put my enclosure in the room that I'll be in the most, this office kind of room. I'm using Autodesk Inventor to design a CAD model of my enclosure before I build it. It might help you too. It's free for students if you are one. I can send some pictures if you'd find it helpful. I also have a bit of a "basement" for mine to raise it off the ground and to provide substrate too. The main problem that I've had is how I'm going to get my parts through the door, so I'm planning on making all of the parts outside and actually putting the thing together inside.

Your enclosure design sounds good to me. I can't wait to see it!

 

[DHoff24250]

Ill draw my plans out by hand. I would def like to see your drawings. Im going to make my height the size of my doorway so itll fit in or out if it has to me moved.... the main level and basment level will be separate parts that can be taken apart for moving if ever needed.

 

[RomanPort]

That was exactly my plan until I realized how tiny my doorways are. Yours might be better. Here's a link to what mine looks like: https://imgur.com/gallery/4jtGvXR, and a link to the sources for it: https://github.com/Roman-Port/tegu-enclosure

 

[Debita]

Impressive stuff - maybe you guys will start a trend, and I'll just buy one of your enclosures. I live up in the mountains, and it's just too cold, and dry much of the time. I'll never be able to do more than let them be outside to bask temporarily in the 90 degree temps of the summer, while under a mister! We're expecting 1-3" of snow possible tonight! Sounds like you guys are doing good preparations. I checked out your plans RomanPort - looks like you're getting close!

 

[RomanPort]

Thanks! Don't worry, it's snowing here too. Minnesota in mid may, everyone! Haha.

 

[Debita]

Oh wow - How much summer do you get? I'm just above L.A., at about 5,800 ft. We should def NOT be having snow. A fire almost took us out last July - came so close...we were evac'd for a week - luckily, they caught the moron arsonist. I wish I could keep the Tegus outside in the summer at least but I fear the lack of (any) humidity wouldn't be good for them.

Anybody know what exactly would happen to a Tegu that lives long term in a low humidity dry climate?

 

[RomanPort]

Whoops, sorry about the delay. Didn't get the watched thread E-Mail for some reason. I really wish there was a better way of getting notifications there....

It's pretty hot and humid for the three months of summer we get. When it's not hot and humid, it's -20 below and we're getting tons of snow, haha. It's pretty dry here when it isn't summer, so that's one of my concerns too.

I'm sorry about the fire. Those kinds of things scare me a lot. I'm pretty sure low humidity is mainly bad for shedding and can cause some other problems. I've never specifically looked into it though. Keeping Tegus outside, even for part of the year, isn't really something I could do here unfortunately. It becomes too brutally cold here for most of the year and I'd really be worried about them.

 

[Debita]

Sort of what I thought - thanks. I'll look it up too...