Potential B&W Tegu Owner!

[british]

Hi all. I'm a 16 y/o male in the UK, been into animals all my life, more recently I have acquired quite a few reptiles and I love them and find them fascinating.

I have been looking into tegus for a while now as they seem like reptiles that are not only fun to watch, but they actually want to be interacted with, unlike my royals which seem to just about put up with me holding them.

I have a few questions that are not covered in most care sheets:

If I were to go away for a few days to a week, and leave someone in charge of my tegus feeding, would the tegu lose confidence in people and become less tame due to lack of handling? I really want a tame tegu and don't want to put pressure on the person feeding it to handle the tegu as it would be unfair.

Another question is do they get on with dogs and cats? I have a big dog but she is an absolute wimp when it comes to anything that she is not used to so I wouldn't be worried about her hurting the tegu but would the tegu be aggressive towards the dog?

I have seen a few videos online, most notably MacGyver the tegu, where they are completely free to roam around the house. To me this looks harmful to the tegu as it never has any privacy or place to burrow, but is it healthy to do this?

Thanks to all the people who took the time to read this post and any potential replies!

 

[Walter1]

Hi- a tame tegu won't lose its gentleness after a week or two without handling.

Tegu-dog/cat interactions vary among lizards. Most seem not to care about dogs anyway.

Free-roaming CAN be dangerous. A tegu-proofed room is a workable option.

 

[british]

Ok thanks for the reply, another thing is does the temperament vary between males and females at all? I would not be planning on breeding but the smaller female does appeal to me more I think.