Thinking Bout Gettin a BW

[Deac77]

looking into gettin a tegu been thinking about it along time just had a few questions ive done alot of reseach and found a nice dresser that will be converted into a cage (8x3x4 LxWxH) ive kept numerous reptiles before and favor the Bearded Drags the personality is just great My current bd is house trained and wont go outside his cage he kinda did this on his own so the questions i was wondering about is How to train a tegu and what all are they capable of learning ive heard they can be taught simple commands like sit,stay and others has anyone had any expirence with this? how fast do they grow (when fed properally) i dont plan on feeding mice reguarly and will never feed live the humidity and temps are easy to figure out and housing is simple enough from what ive seen but from what ive sen they take about 3 years to hit adult size is that correct (or are those just malnurished individuals ive read on) since most monitors ive seen grow exceptionally fast (i know they are not really monitors) also the fat jowels is that always there on a healthy tegu i was debating between a tegu and a monitor simply becuase ever tegu i see has those fat jowels and i like the sleek head of a monitor (after handling and seeing tegu's in person they are just way to sweet to pass up and seem healthier choices from the tree monitors i was looking into that can only be interacted with for 15-30mins tops before dehydrating outside of their cages) if a tegu isnt fed mice primarily will they develop the fat jowels ( i know mice contribute to fatty liver disease and if your mice are not fed properally can cause other problems ie: MDB Calc Deff, Bacterial Probs) and any other info you think i may need to know before i aquire a tegu would be muchly appriciated (also do they need more than one cage BD's for example can stress easily if you were to put them in their adult cage right away do tegus go through anything like that)

 

[babyyitslove]

Their growth rate depends a lot on whether they hibernate regularly.
All foods other than rodents should be dusted with calcium WITHOUT D3.
Tegus love eggs, but should only get them once a month or so, as they have no nutritional value and prohibit them from absorbing certain nutrients.
Make sure your tegu basks after eating to ensure digestion and avoid belly rot.

These are just a few things that were helpful to keep in mind with our tegus.

There is much more to learn!

 

[spidersandmonsters]

First a quick and simple answer: Male Argentines have the big jowls, females are smaller and don't. It's not a dietary thing (of course over-fed females may appear to have them, as well as underweight males may appear not to.)

As far as training goes, it really depends on the individual animal as with any species, but mine is three months old and has learned to come to her name and go to her cage on command about 90% of the time, so it's definitely possible to train them to limited commands. Keep in mind though, you're not going to ever make a four-foot lizard do anything it doesn't want to do.

 

[james.w]

Yes they grow fast, mine hibernated and has reached 44" at 13 months old. In my opinion, you can start them in their adult enclosure. In order to keep track of him better tough, you could put a temporary divider up.

 

[reptastic]

Like James.w my tegus hibernated and are about the same size/age, they will grow fast if you provide them with the essentials, however every tegu grows at different rates, some grow slower and some faster, As far as training, you can't train a tegu to sit,lay down or stay, they can be somewhat potty-trained, I am working on clicker training with my tegus, and we have made some progress but its just for free roaming and feeding purposes,also only males get the nice huge jowls some females will get a lil fat under their necks but not nearly as much as the males, good luck on getting a nice tegu

 

[Deac77]

sweet thanks may just have to suck it up and deal with the fat-looking lizard do females lay unfertilized eggs? i know in the bd's and other lizards the females would lay eggs and you'd have to amp up their calcium and vitamins to prevent mbd (not comparing to other lizards just something i think i should know before i get one i generally stick with male reptiles for this reason)

 

[reptastic]

If I'm not mistaken females won't lay unless they breed

 

[Deac77]

ok good i dust everything on my herps anyway but thats good to know that that probably wouldnt be a problem