Housing 2 Tegus

[nikkijeannn]

I have one younger female Red Argentine Tegu, and we just got an older male B&W Tegu. They're about 8 or 9 months age difference, and they seem to not mind eachother at all. We have the correct lighting and size cage for both of them to fit. What are the downsides of housing them together?

 

[roastedspleen]

From what i heard is that if they breed the female will get scars from the males claws. Also if you feed inside you have to make sure one doesnt hog all the food ( seen videos were they would feed two tegus in the same cage and they would try to steal it from eachother until they threw another rat in).both of these problems can be avoided tho. You judt feed outside the cage. People usually use bins. Also the scars on the back only happen if they try to breed. I dont know about seperating them while theyre doin it though.

 

[new2tegus]

Doesn't happen often,but from what I've heard, they can just not like each other. The larger one will probably dominate the smaller one, and or could turn into a fight, in which case you will have to separate them and hope they don't hurt each other. The general consensus I've seen on here is that larger lizards, you normally don't want to house together, just because if a conflict does arise,and you aren't there, it could be disastrous.

 

[Rhetoric]

My hybrid has scars all over his back and neck from being attacked by another male. I'm not sure what led to the attack but he was housed with a group of tegus, I do not know if the group included females or just males. Gary and Rango had issues when I had Gary. Gary would mount Rango, bite his neck, pin him down, etc. Gary was lighter than Rango but they were about the same length. The place that took Gary also had to give him to someone else (I think hes with the reptile man now) because he would do the same things to their 4 year old male (who dwarfed him).

I don't remember where I saw it, I'll try to find it, I've read that the only time tegus really come together is for brumation/hibernation and that they are mostly solitary animals. I wouldn't really suggest mixing sexes, I'm sure it can be done but if the female were to become gravid and lay eggs, her personality can change greatly and I'd be worried for the male lol. During breeding there is a chance the male will damage the female with the clawing and biting.

I think you could house them together if they are of similar size and still fairly small. As soon as I noticed sperm plugs I noticed the increase in dominant behavior.