Housing Tegus Together

[Tiamat]

So my story=

I had a female argentine red. This was my first Tegu. At some point she escaped and began roaming the house. After a few months of setting HavaHart traps and boxes with substrate to lure her out, I gave up and assumed she was dead.


Half a year later, I got a male argentine red hatchling and put him in my female's old cage. I had learned my lesson... no taking your eyes off a tegu when they're outside the cage.

Just today, I felt something at my feet and lo and behold it was my female... alive and much larger!

The two have very different personalities. The male tends to hide or stay burrowed most of the time and I almost never see him eat (I'm pretty sure he is eating because I've had him for 6 months and he hasn't starved.

The female is far more active. She explores the cage quite often. She goes after food pretty much the second it is placed in the cage.

The female is also about 3 times the size of the male.

Would it be safe to keep them in the same cage? Right now, I'm playing it safe and have removed the male and placed him in a makeshift "terrarium" to separate him from the female.

 

[AlphaAlpha]

Have they being introduced together ?? ..... I don't believe there is a correct answer for this and it will depend on each lizards behavior and your gut....If I was in your situation though I'd be introducing them slowly and calmly giving them more time together eachtime, first outside the enclosure and then once you feel comfortable inside it..... Remember everyone squables for leadership in life but these shouldn't become dangerous and should be cut out by a nudge, noise or some believe in a water spray as soon as you see it so it doesn't esculate.

 

[Walter1]

They ought to be alright but no guarantees. Try play dates on neutral ground. I expect lots of tongue-flicking followed by a lot of nothing. After several increasingly long play dates, then try co-habbing them. Can even put a poop from the male in her enclosure during play date times.

 

[beardeddragon111]

I'm more interested in what your female was eating for 6 months than anything lol.

But yeah, cohabbing mostly comes down to the individual animal. The way my male is acting right now, he'd probably try to eat his cage mate, even if it's larger than him. You just have to know their personality, and see how each animal reacts to the other presence.