Thinking of getting a Tegu, hoping for some personal experience stories.

[Skyshadow]

My boyfriend and I are considering getting a Tegu at some point. I've just begun doing research and figuring everything out. I know they need a big cage so I've got that. I've heard they eat "a lot" but that is relative. Can someone give me a run down on how much you feed your Tegu both young and adult?

The man at our local reptile said you had to target train with them or they will bite your hands and that they need handled a lot every day to keep them tame. Is this true?

A bit of background, I've owned snakes and lizards for years. We currently have a breaded dragon in the "eat us out of house and home" phase but once he hits his slowing down we were looking at a Tegu. There is a reptile show in November we were hoping to scope out. We are looking for a friendly, interactive lizard and are thinking a Tegu might fit the bill.

The main thing I'm after is answers to those two questions and some personal stories about owning your Tegu and what is like.

 

[loweryrr]

My personal experience is very limited as I have only had my tegu for a few weeks now. I bought her as a sub adult with roughly a 12 inch long body. Mine is a wild caught tegu from south Florida I purchased from tegusonly.com. Even being a wild caught tegu she is quite possibly the easiest lizard I have tamed yet and I have had a lot of different lizards over the last 24 years. She never even tried to bite me. She seems to be bonding with me more everyday. She is however a lot of work. Keeping cage humidity at higher levels does pose a challenge here in Oklahoma, and preventing mold growth while keeping humidity high adds to the work. She does eat a lot compared to the other reptiles I have had in the past. She probably puts down a package of turkey every week and a half (mixed with other dietary necessities) not to mention an occasional mouse or frog. I would recommend daily handling or atleast letting them out of the cage daily to explore and exercise. If they don't get out they become cranky and will fight to get out and sometimes injure themselves trying to escape. If your looking for a reptile you can hold this probably isn't a good option. Mine will let me hold her early in the morning or late at night but the rest of the day she just wants to play. If everything sounds good so far I will say this is my favorite reptile so far. Shes funny to watch and loads of personality, just not the right reptile if you can't interact with them almost daily. Hope this helps

 

[Skyshadow]

Loweryrr, thank you for your reply! I also live in Oklahoma! I'm surprised as humid as it is that it's difficult to maintain humidity.
I just had one clarification question, when you say a "package of turkey" how big is the pack lbs wise?

 

[loweryrr]

Ah you must be from the eastern side of Oklahoma. You Wouldn't have as much problems as me with the humidity. I'm from western Oklahoma. Not many trees here so our humidity stays around 30%. The package of turkey is 1.25 pounds plus She usually gets some fruits as snacks.

 

[Skyshadow]

I am pretty dead center, just to the west of OKC and it is muggy all the time it seems.

Thabk you for the clarification on the turkey. When I think of eating a lot I was expecting more so hearing that amount puts it into a better perspective for me.

Did you have good dealings with tegusonly? I was considering buying from him but over the web reptiles can either go well or terrible so it makes me nervous.

 

[loweryrr]

I use to live in Edmond. It is a little more humid up there. Yeah rodney at tegusonly is a pretty good guy to deal with. Just tell him what your looking for size, sex, and color wise or just tell him your budget and he will send you some pictures if he has what you're looking for. Only thing I didn't like was he ships usps overnight instead of fed ex overnight but if you receive mail at your house its not really a problem. I don't here so I had to swing by my post office and ask them to call me as soon as she came in. Other than that rodney is an honest guy and he will send you the one in the pics he sends you. My budget was 90 plus shipping and he had one for me so I'm happy. The one I received was a little skittish but not at all aggressive. She is over her skittishness and now seems to enjoy being around us (its been 3 weeks). Shes not afraid of our dogs either. I prefer saving a tegu over buying from a breeder but everyone is different. These are really amazing lizards and probably the best large lizard you can keep as far as temperament and requirements go. If you want a big lizard Argentine tegu's are the way to go.

 

[Skyshadow]

Wow he sounds great! Thanks for the testimonial. I'll talk more to my boyfriend about getting from him.

 

[MrMycetes]

I have a two year old male. He can recognize faces, and can tell you from people he hasn't met before. You're going to have to care for yours like a toddler; give them a varied diet, access to water, and give them plenty of room to move around. A lot of people don't like free roaming, but imagine if you were stuck in a room for most of your day, with nothing to do but pace around. Humidity is key for shedding, and I suggest getting a decent collar for taking walks. They're curious animals and will get into places where you can't get them out of, so be wary of that, as well.

They do hibernate, so at some point in the year they'll start to slow down and stop eating, and sleep a lot more than usual. Other than that, give them UVB and lots of meat, maybe with some veggies mixed in. My guy will track down mice and voles in the grass, and I give him live mice every now and then. Tegu's are made to kill stuff, so I like to just throw a small mammal in front of him and let him do his thing. The only time he bit me was when I put my hand in his mouth, along with a piece of chicken, so even with the live prey, he doesn't consider me as food. Just treat them like a child, and you'll be good!

They also **** wherever they want, so you may need to train yours to poop in the tub, or somewhere easy to clean up, If you make it part of the daily routine, it gets very easy to manage. You don't want a half cup of brown/yellow watery bird **** on your floorboards, carpet, or laptop, for that matter.

 

[Mytegusarefun29]

I think a tegu is a great animal to keep. I do not feed my tegus in their enclosures because they tend to become frustrated when forced to be in a cage all day. As long as you take your tegu out everyday and handle them, they will love and trust you. Tegus are very jumpy until they get to a certain age and size and then they will lay in your arms for as long as they are comfortable. Tegus also need humidity in their enclosure or they will have trouble shedding their skin. My older tegus can eat about a pound of ground chicken or turkey in one feeding together. My baby tegu will eat 5 pinkies or 2 bigger hornworms. If he eats an egg or some salmon that won't fill him up so I have to give him a pinkie afterward or some roaches. Tegus should eat everyday until they are about 1 1/2- 2 years old and then you should feed them every other day. As long as you don't hand feed your tegu then they won't bite you unless you put your fingers in their mouth. You do not need to target train them you just need to make sure you handle them and pet them alot (especially their head). If you want a personal story; I take my two females in my yard everyday to go to the bathroom and they try to mate with eachother sometimes.( yes I'm sure they are girls)

 

[28sensle]

I think a tegu is a great animal to keep. I do not feed my tegus in their enclosures because they tend to become frustrated when forced to be in a cage all day. As long as you take your tegu out everyday and handle them, they will love and trust you. Tegus are very jumpy until they get to a certain age and size and then they will lay in your arms for as long as they are comfortable. Tegus also need humidity in their enclosure or they will have trouble shedding their skin. My older tegus can eat about a pound of ground chicken or turkey in one feeding together. My baby tegu will eat 5 pinkies or 2 bigger hornworms. If he eats an egg or some salmon that won't fill him up so I have to give him a pinkie afterward or some roaches. Tegus should eat everyday until they are about 1 1/2- 2 years old and then you should feed them every other day. As long as you don't hand feed your tegu then they won't bite you unless you put your fingers in their mouth. You do not need to target train them you just need to make sure you handle them and pet them alot (especially their head). If you want a personal story; I take my two females in my yard everyday to go to the bathroom and they try to mate with eachother sometimes.( yes I'm sure they are girls)

I will say though it depends on the tegu my baby Tegu refuses to eat more than 3 times a week so when I feed him I let him eat as much as he can