When does it stop?

[tresh]

When will my male adult quit acting liking a hormonal teenage boy, attempting to mount everything from warm feet to dirty laundry? Yes. He's attempted to mate with a shirt that smelled like a female tegu. He sits at the door to the room she's in and makes the tegu mating call.

And the constant leaving of sperm plugs EVERYWHERE is about to make me crazy. I swear...how can one lizard produce THAT MUCH?

He's driving me to distraction. I wish I could present him with a female and say HERE, HERE IS A RECEPTIVE FEMALE. GO HAVE FUN.

Right now, I'm wishing there was a way to neuter a tegu. >.<

Just had to vent. She's too young (and according to the local reptile experts, the one time he did get in there with her did not result in them making eggs), so I'm keeping them very strictly seperated, but he's about to make me a crazy person.

 

[chitodadon]

Lol thats crazy

from Samsung Galaxy S3

 

[tresh]

Yes. Yes it is. Particularly when she hates his guts and wants nothing to do with him or anything he keeps trying to do to her. He gets near her, she turns into an angry puffed up female who wants to kill/maim/destroy, and he's too busy doing the "Big Sexy Lizard Dance" at her.

It's kinda been the last straw around here when he tried first to bite my foot (I guess he thought my foot was a female neck or something), then he tried to hump it.

Yes. He tried to hump my foot.

 

[james.w]

Are they in cages?

 

[tresh]

No. I've tried to keep them in enclosures, but they refuse to stay, despite the enclosure being quite large enough and having all the things a tegu needs. So, right now she's free-range in the spare bedroom, and he's got the rest of the apartment to wander around.

 

[james.w]

If you put them in an enclosure, they have no choice but to stay. They can't refuse, unless they are able to open the enclosure themselves and climb out.

 

[tresh]

I've had both of them beat their snouts bloody on the lid, trying to get out. Even when it is covered, even when the lid is securely latched and there is no possible way to escape.

 

[chitodadon]

Thats crazy

from Samsung Galaxy S3

 

[james.w]

What size/type enclosures were they in? Did they have screen tops?

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Anything with a screen top is likely not big enough for an adult tegu if that is the case. How do you do heat and humidity with them free roaming?

 

[tresh]

Humidity, we have humidifiers set up near where they like to bask. Have heating lamps and a heating pad (he prefers his heating pad most of the time, lol).

We have an enclosure that is...something like 200 gallon sized? It's custom, so I'm not certain exactly on the size.

None of this really has anything to do with the original question though, about how long a male tegu acts like a randy horny little teenager.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

That's not your biggest problem. I suspect you'll have health issues if you continue to keep them free roaming but it's your choice as an owner. Once breeding season stops he should too until next season.

 

[tresh]

Indeed, it is my choice. I made the decision, with the advice of the exotics vet who also keeps tegus and the folks at the local pet store who have tegus, on how to handle the problem when it started. Despite all the conditions being spot on perfect in the enclosure, neither of my adult tegus ever wanted to stay in the enclosure. So, I asked the vet what I should do, and he suggested I go ahead and let them have free range as long as they always have an available heat source and available burrowing material.

Up until this whole breeding thing started, they were completely fine with how everything was set up. Good solid shedding, good weight, good bowel movements, everything was normal. And still is, except for the randy lizard running around trying to hump feet, lol.

I know, I'm a bit defensive. I don't like anyone to think I'm being a stupid pet owner. I'm not. I didn't make the decision to let them free-roam lightly. I really didn't. My tegus are like my children, they eat better than I do most of the time, and their care is my #1 priority. A person only has to look at mine to know I take good care of them and spoil them rotten.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

I think the reason they didn't like the cage is because it's a clear glass tank from what I understand. Tegus normally don't do as well in such cases as they do in wooden ones in my experience.

 

[hadriya9091]

If I buy a set of the blocks can I house them all together or do you think they'll fight? And just a side note...i've heard they are a b!&@h to get them to eat...haha