I rescued a tegu and have some questions.

[Tana]

This is my first post on Tegu Talk. I rescued an Argentine black and white a little over a month ago that was found in a neighbor's backyard munching on his tomatoes here in Minnesota. She (I think she) is about the size of tegus I have seen in some YouTube videos about tegu puberty (she is growing very fast though). We posted info about her online in the Twin Cities and checked multiple sources for a lost tegu message, but no luck. I don't mind a bit as I had been hoping to add a reptile to our family and this seemed like kismet. She is very tame and although the first week of her new captivity I didn't think we should disturb her much after she had been out in the wild so to speak, I began slowly petting her and a week later started taking her out to socialize. It is obvious that she was handled frequently before she escaped. (I hope it was an escape, as it would've been very cruel to release her anywhere, but especially here in MinneSNOWta!) She is pretty calm, nodding out on my (or my husband's) chest or in the crook of our arm when we take her out, especially when we stroke her head. I am a singer and she seems to enjoy me humming gently to her (or am I just kidding myself?). She has been leaping at the screen on her aquarium, banging against it and crawling around as if she is looking for the door leading back to my neighbor's yard and the freedom she had (for who knows how long?). I wish I could let her know that she would be dead by now if I hadn't brought her inside with the freezing temps we have already been having. We could only fit a 40 gallon aquarium in our little apartment but my husband and I are buying a country home in the spring and plan on building her a plexiglass cage approx. 8' X 4' when we move. I am concerned that she will grow too quickly and outgrow her space before spring. (She seems to get bigger right before our eyes and eats like a horse!) I have been feeding her plenty of protein like ground turkey and chicken, a little shrimp, some cooked egg and she occasionally likes fruit like blueberries and tomatoes if nicely ripe. I have been putting Exo-Terra calcium on her food daily and Reptivite once a week. Her (?) name is Cleo.
I have some questions. How can I tell at this age if she is actually a she? (I don't see any swelling at her vent area.) I was told to use cypress mulch but also read somewhere that it can be too dusty. What is the best substrate for tegus? Also, I have read differing temperature recommendations for tegus. Can anyone please tell me the optimum temps for day, night and the basking area? She has a good sized soak and a hide plus some slate surfaces under the heat/UVB light. I put a reptile heating pad under her enclosure for nighttime as it can get chilly in our apartment. I had to put up some cardboard barriers because my dog apparently thinks Cleo's aquarium is her tegu tv and I didn't want Cleo to feel intimidated by the staring. My dog will settle down about her eventually. She already has a lot, even when Cleo jumps at the screen on her aquarium. Our Umbrella cockatoo, who we've had for 31 years since her hatchday last month (she was hatched in our backyard in S.B. Ca.) freaked out at first but is just curious now.
I didn't plan on writing such a long message but - here it is! I welcome any and all comments and suggestions and thank you in advance for answering my questions.

 

[Dylan koch]

Can you post pictures of your new tegu! She definitely will need a bigger cage! That is very tiny. Also your tegu probably just wants attention or more room! Depending on age/size and type of tegu we should easily be able to find male or female if old enough. But I personally use big bale they sell at lowes or homedepot of 100% organic peat and spagnum moss mix looks like soil once wettened and then I put cypress mulch only meant for reptiles on top of the deep soil. My guess your 40gal in a top access and you'll probably want to cover up the screens to keep humidity out! And honestly it's odd if it's that cold already and your tegu isnt in brumation already!

 

[Debita]

I'm amazed you found her. Kismet is right. I think Dylan K meant that you want to keep the humidity in...not out. They require at least 70% and don't mind more. If it has very large jowls, it's a male, and the only way to tell from the vent area is that there are 2 very indistinct scale bumps. If it's too young to tell, then it's prob under a year old even under 8 months. My male (B/W Argie) developed his jowls clearly around 5-6 months if I remember correctly. She could be a female if you don't see an obvious pronounced bulge there, especially if she's over 2 ft. Hard to know without knowing what type of Tegu landed in your lap. Dylan's right - sending a pic would be good, maybe even a measurement - nose to tail.

I'm not big on messy substrate, and prefer a simple built enclosure for the hide. Like a mini-garage without the door. I do have repti-bark, and it goes unused. No need to burrow, if you have your nice swampy hide to retire to. (Moist sphagnum works well here)

Your food detail looks good to me. I always give frozen/thawed prey every week too. For my adult, he gets adult mice, for the babies, they will need pinkies, or hoppers depending on their size. The reason your tank is too small is that you have to provide a bask spot of about 115 dg for an adult (10+dg less for young) as well as a cool side that's around 70dg. That's not going to be possible with that small of a tank. They need their bask to process what they've eaten, so that's not negotiable. If they can't get out of the heat, then they can't cool down which presents it's own probs.

Humidity is important for their skin.

Good luck!!! Let us know how it's going!!