Thinking about getting a tegu and need some information

[zer0velocity]

Hello everyone, new person here!

I've been heavily researching tegu's ever since I got to hold a very tame one at the last expo held in Orlando, Florida (and hit me on the head with his tail, but that was due to my inexperience with such a large beauty) and I've been seriously considering getting one.

I do have some reptile experience. I have 3 bearded dragons (one self purchased male, one rescued female, and one male I won at a expo) and all are in amazing health and super friendly. Even to the point where I can have all 3 out at the same time (which is usually taboo in the beardie community) and it not cause a blood-bath. The males don't even sleep in their enclosures as I have created little make-shift beds for them to sleep in.

My understanding is, is that tegus are larger yet still keeping a good temperment when being handled if you spend time with them, which I do with my dragons. I've heard a lot of opinions and different care guides say one thing or another (which I've read about 5-7 care guides from top to bottom) with a lot of varying information, so...

I came to you guys to see if you can provide any insight before I purchase something that may not work out for me or may make an animal miserable. To assist, I'll give you some guidelines.

I have somewhat of a decent sized backyard for anything that may require a tegu being outside.

I do have room for an enclosure, but I would have to build my own as some of the pre-build enclosures range in the mid thousands and I cannot afford that.

The family owns several dogs, ranging from a jack russell to german shephards.

As I said, I'm familiar with reptile needs (calcium/multi-vitamin supplements) and knowledge on lighting (basking lights/temps, UVB) which if I read correctly, since tegus grow at a high rate they need a lot of calcium.

ANY information on solid care, building a cage and what it needs, DIY, or maybe even if you think this creature is not for me, please let me know.

Edit: Imgur gallery for my dragons http://absolutionzer0.imgur.com/

 

[Lizard_boy]

What's the smallest bread of tegus

 

[RickyNo]

Building a 4x8 enclosure even without pertying up the wood if done correct will still cost you a grand...

 

[RickyNo]

What's the smallest bread of tegus

Blues. They are pricey. ..

 

[zer0velocity]

Building a 4x8 enclosure even without pertying up the wood if done correct will still cost you a grand...

A grand is feasible, that's why I mention mid thousands, which the cages were anywhere between 5-6 thousand.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

Blues. They are pricey. ..

Not correct. Blues can easily reach the same size as a b/w. Colombians (Tupinambis teguixin) are the smallest species of tegu in the pet trade.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

To start off, why don't you tell us what you are planning on or think is the recommendation of temps, humidity, substrate, cage size, and diet. I have not found a care guide on the net that I am happy with so taking a little info from all of them to mesh together and then asking other experienced keepers usually helps get correct info.

Growing fast and large doesnt necessarily mean they need more calcium, it just needs to be a balanced diet - and they eat A LOT! If you offer poor food choices such as ground meats, organ parts and eggs then yes you will need to supplement using both a calcium with and without D3 so that you don't overdose the D3. but if you feed a diet made up of a variety of whole prey then you won't have to supplement as much because those foods are whole and contain calcium etc. Fruits/veggies and insects should be supplemented though.

 

[zer0velocity]

To start off, why don't you tell us what you are planning on or think is the recommendation of temps, humidity, substrate, cage size, and diet. I have not found a care guide on the net that I am happy with so taking a little info from all of them to mesh together and then asking other experienced keepers usually helps get correct info.

Growing fast and large doesnt necessarily mean they need more calcium, it just needs to be a balanced diet - and they eat A LOT! If you offer poor food choices such as ground meats, organ parts and eggs then yes you will need to supplement using both a calcium with and without D3 so that you don't overdose the D3. but if you feed a diet made up of a variety of whole prey then you won't have to supplement as much because those foods are whole and contain calcium etc. Fruits/veggies and insects should be supplemented though.

Alright. For starters, from what I have read, the temp is similar to that of a beardie, 105-110. Humidity is 80%, so a humidifier would be necessary to make the tegu comfortable. Substrate is loose, the kinds escape me, but they like it 4-6 inches deep so they can dig a little since they love to dig. For cage size, I heard 6x4x2 is the minimum but as always, bigger is better and I would like at least a 8x6x2 which I could fit into my living room easily but again, I'd have to build the enclosure myself. I've also heard that some people have taught their tegus to live outside of their cages. Is this true?

As for diet, the information varies way too much. Live prey while young would be no problem since I already feed close to 150 crickets a day (thats low-balling) to my 3 current dragons, but as you probably know, a dragon's diet changes when they grow up so it becomes 80% veggies, 20% protein. For what you mentioned, that's what I saw was the standard, including youtube videos. Raw fish (salmon) ground beef, turkey, eggs, etc. If at all, I would like to avoid live prey at all since we do have smaller dogs and at almost 4 feet, a jack russell that doesn't even weigh 10 lbs would look really tasty.

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

My suggestions would be to bask at 115-120 for babies, 120-135 for adults - this is surface temp, need a temp gun to measure it accurately. 70-75% humidity, humidifier is not necessary if you have a cage enclosure set up. Not a fan of glass tanks, for babies nothing smaller than a 4x2 wood encosure is ideal, they grow quick! and quickly needing bigger, standard is 8x3 or 8x4, 2ft tall isnt tall enough to allow substrate depth and have lights inside the enclosure. Ive found 3ft to be best with at least 8inches of a burrowable substrate. Many use organic top soil, peat moss or mix the two. Cypress mulch is also okay but seems people are fading out using that as its sharp, can cause impactions if ingested, expensive and doesnt hold burrows well.

Everyone has their own opinion on whats right and wrong. I, personally am very against free-roaming a tegu outside of an enclosure and have personally seen the long-term damage it causes.

Insects are more part of a diet for young colombians, young argentines will readily eat insects as well but I would not say that its a main part of their diet. Roaches are going to surpass the nutritional value of crickets by a long shot. I advocate a mostly whole prey diet, even for young tegus this is easy to accomplish. Whole prey (frozen/thawed, not live!) just means the whole form of the animal. vs ground meats, organ parts and eggs. So rodents, quail, chicks, fish, shrimp, crawdads, snails, rabbit kits, etc etc etc... anything whole is best. IF you decide to go with ground meats or organ parts then you really need to make sure you supplement CORRECTLY. Meaning offering balanced calcium and phos. ratios and even then - that diet wont compare to a mostly whole prey diet. Also no need to feed live prey, its safer for your tegu to eat frozen/thawed or prekilled.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Loads of misinformation before Kayla's entry into this thread. =). I can build an 8x4x4 that will almost certainly outlast whatever you threw together for a grand for 400 or less dollars. Just saying. As SnakeCharmr said, blues are likely the same species as Black and Whites and Columbians are smallest. I'll touch on enclosure building as she covered just about everything else. I use 3/4 inch Oak as wood. When I built mine I made two doors out of plexiglass with no vents(unnecessary and allows humidity to escape). Three basking bulbs although I may switch to only 2. 8x3.5x2.5 although cost would have been very close to the same if not the same for an 8x4x4. It was about 350-400 dollars.

 

[RickyNo]

Loads of misinformation before Kayla's entry into this thread. =). I can build an 8x4x4 that will almost certainly outlast whatever you threw together for a grand for 400 or less dollars. Just saying. As SnakeCharmr said, blues are likely the same species as Black and Whites and Columbians are smallest. I'll touch on enclosure building as she covered just about everything else. I use 3/4 inch Oak as wood. When I built mine I made two doors out of plexiglass with no vents(unnecessary and allows humidity to escape). Three basking bulbs although I may switch to only 2. 8x3.5x2.5 although cost would have been very close to the same if not the same for an 8x4x4. It was about 350-400 dollars.

I spent that much Just in wood practically. I'm curious how you achieve this with $400 while including lights, heat emitter, fogger/mister system, UVB and thermostat. Please enlighten me I really wanna hear this...

 

[TegusRawsome80]

What wood did you use? I use 3/4 inch Oak. I use halogen outdoor flood lights(cheap) that are also the "heat emitter" part of this. Fogger/mister system is entirely unnecessary when you build a proper cage that can hold humidity and deep substrate. I don't use UVB and have never had a reason to use a thermostat. Entirely different way of keeping. But I'd be willing to bet more effective. My cage isn't pretty but it's dang sturdy and well put together.

 

[RickyNo]

No uvb? Wowwwww.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Tegus don't need UVB IF they're provided with a proper, whole prey diet. None of my tegus have MBD or any health issues. It's completely unnecessary. I have UVB tube receptors in some of my cages but I stopped using the tubes quite a while ago. No need with the diet I provide.

 

[AssassinExotics]

UVB is highly essential to the synthesis of calcium I have no clue how your animals are healthy that's quite odd. :?

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Not in carnivorous or omnivorous animals. Do some research please. I'd be glad to post pics of my non-obese, highly active tegus later today though if you doubt me =).

 

[AssassinExotics]

Oh I don't doubt it I've seen your animals there in immaculate condition but I would rather provide it than not just in case.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Thanks man. Yeah that's fine and I don't know if everyone should do it. The diet I feed is expensive and not always easy to provide but they are quite healthy and very active. It was hard for me to imagine them not needing UVB but after experimenting with it myself I don't think they do. Cheers!

 

[SnakeCharmr728]

I have raised Rex, for 10 years.... He has never had UV and he hates the outdoors so he doesn't get sun either. Hes incredibly active, healthy with great calcium levels and bone density proved by blood work and xrays. MANY experienced people don't use UV but they just don't come out and say it. With proper diet (WHOLE PREY) and HEAT, most carnivores and omnivores do not need UVB light as their food provide them with all the D3 they need for proper body function. However, I strongly recommend UVB source for all herbivores as vegetable do not contain usable form of D (D2 must be converted to D3 by UVB radiation). I do however recommend that baby tegus are provided with UVB source, as caution, because their need for them is much higher than adults as they grow at extreme rates.

 

[RickyNo]

Not in carnivorous or omnivorous animals. Do some research please. I'd be glad to post pics of my non-obese, highly active tegus later today though if you doubt me =).

Whats their diet