hey everybody. So I have my tegu is going through his teen stage and decided to break out of his tank today via his sky light. I have one of those vision tanks so it doesn't seem to bad. what are some pointers for letting him free roam? He's about 3 feet long and gets into everything
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Free roam
- Thread starter drennonsm
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I wouldn't do it where people actually live. A room exclusively for a tegu is ideal.
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I appreciate your comments. I'm a cautious man. I stand by my opinion.
Thank you though for replying
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With you brother.
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- 378
I have had my tegu free roaming for around 11 years. For awhile he had access to pretty much the entire house with some exceptions where it could be dangerous. For the last 8 years or so I have given him his own bedroom - the door is normally closed but he has some opportunity to explore the rest of the house under light supervision.
Here are some considerations:
1) He just goes to the bathroom on the floor so you'd want to protect your carpets somehow. Don't neglect to do this or you will have a big mess. I use plastic sheeting over the carpet in his bedroom. It's easy to clean up. There are other alternatives, this was what I chose.
2) He still needs access to heat and UV. You can set up a lighting station somewhere in the room.
3) Humidity. You could keep the room very humid but that could cause mold or mildew growth on your walls (trust me). I keep the room moderately humid and provide a more humid hide box.
4) Enrichment. One nice thing about having him in such a large space is it gives you many more options for providing things to play on and explore. Enrichment items don't have to fit into the enclosure anymore.
Here are some considerations:
1) He just goes to the bathroom on the floor so you'd want to protect your carpets somehow. Don't neglect to do this or you will have a big mess. I use plastic sheeting over the carpet in his bedroom. It's easy to clean up. There are other alternatives, this was what I chose.
2) He still needs access to heat and UV. You can set up a lighting station somewhere in the room.
3) Humidity. You could keep the room very humid but that could cause mold or mildew growth on your walls (trust me). I keep the room moderately humid and provide a more humid hide box.
4) Enrichment. One nice thing about having him in such a large space is it gives you many more options for providing things to play on and explore. Enrichment items don't have to fit into the enclosure anymore.
I let my tegu free roam for about an hour each day as he starts jumping around and scratching looking for a way out of his enclosure.
I take him outside to use the bathroom on a leash and let him walk around till the magic happens normally 5-10 minutes.
I then take him inside and let him run loose as his food thaws. I keep an eye on him as he loves to get into things.
I take him outside to use the bathroom on a leash and let him walk around till the magic happens normally 5-10 minutes.
I then take him inside and let him run loose as his food thaws. I keep an eye on him as he loves to get into things.
Reptaholic
New Member
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- 17
mine does fairly well free roaming my apartment, just gotta hide the cat food and wedge a towel at the bottom of the fridge and oven as a precaution.
ophidia
Member
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- 59
Yeah, the fridge seems to be absolutely irresistible. A towel doesn't even work, my girl still gets under there. Her exercise time is now in the bedroom. Dragging the fridge out to retrieve her without the wheels cutting her in half twice was enough for me.
Dee-Dee Idrais
Active Member
- Messages
- 201
- Location
- Merrimack Valley, MA
I let Rockie and Dozer free roam their fill (with supervision). They always find their way to the inclosure for water and heat. Lately, while Rockie is brumating (and Dozer still refuses to), he seems to find his way straight to my bed. Loves my feather blanket. I can only afford to let them do this couse they are house broken. They both go to the bathroom in the bathroom when in the house. I found out, that Dozer loves our xmas tree too (a little too much). He actually tried to climb up it lol
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How'd you get him potty-trained?
Dee-Dee Idrais
Active Member
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- 201
- Location
- Merrimack Valley, MA
At first I would take them out of their inclosure, give them a bath and stay with them in the bathroom after with door closed until they went. Praising a lizard the same way you would a dog works. Then later I would sort of lead them to the bathroom from the inclousure and now they do it on their own. It takes a lot of patience, but it's worth it. Funny thing is, when they are outside at summer time, they usually go to the same spot to relieve themselves as well. I never have much of clean up. I'm just lucky I guess. I never knew how intelligent there guys really are. We have 9 pets in my house and they all coexist better then people.
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Hard to beat that and no emotional baggage to boot!!
Johnathan Gibson
New Member
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- 1
Hi idk if I'm doing this right just need some pointers I have a year old black and white she was in a 75 gallon and hated it she always wanted out so I turned a closet into her enclosure using tarps heaters humidifier heat lamps she has a hot spot of around 120f the closet stayes around 85 90 humidity around 75 80 but I have a rubber made toat with moss dirt heat pad under it stays very humid anyways she hates it she wants to be cool like she just tries to escape so I let her out she will go somewhere and the bedroom and sleep I'll find her put her back in the closet she breaks out finds a cool place she just went to the vet for a check up he said she was healthy I'm just worried about her getting to cold why doesn't my lizard like heat ask me questions if that was confusing lol I just saw u let urs free roam for years just wondering if I should force her to stay in there
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- 378
I don't mind helping you out, but could you please, please use some punctuation in your posts? Actual sentences are much appreciated in this forum. This is honestly really painful to read and even harder to understand. I usually don't even respond to unpunctuated posts like this but you asked me a question specifically, so I will try.
The setup in the closet sounds fine, at least for now. But soon you will very likely start seeing black spots on your walls. That is a super high humidity level to have in a room. In a free-roam situation I would be more inclined to drop the humidity in the main area and provide a humid hide box. Otherwise you will be dealing with mold and mildew integrating into your walls and that is no good for your tegu (or for you). My tegu has been kept like this for over 10 years and has never shown any signs of respiratory illness, which is what you might expect to see if humidity was not adequate. I feel that the high humidity requirement for tegus is mostly overstated. Yes, they experience humid conditions in the wild but do they require it, I doubt it.
You seem concerned that she doesn't want to bask / she seeks out cool temperatures. Do you mean that she doesn't bask at all and spends all her time seeking cool areas, or that she only basks for a short time, then moves on. What you should see in a normally-behaving tegu is basking for awhile and then moving on to other activities. Could you explain a bit better what she is doing, it is hard to tell from you post. Once you give us some more and clearer information then maybe we can help you.
The setup in the closet sounds fine, at least for now. But soon you will very likely start seeing black spots on your walls. That is a super high humidity level to have in a room. In a free-roam situation I would be more inclined to drop the humidity in the main area and provide a humid hide box. Otherwise you will be dealing with mold and mildew integrating into your walls and that is no good for your tegu (or for you). My tegu has been kept like this for over 10 years and has never shown any signs of respiratory illness, which is what you might expect to see if humidity was not adequate. I feel that the high humidity requirement for tegus is mostly overstated. Yes, they experience humid conditions in the wild but do they require it, I doubt it.
You seem concerned that she doesn't want to bask / she seeks out cool temperatures. Do you mean that she doesn't bask at all and spends all her time seeking cool areas, or that she only basks for a short time, then moves on. What you should see in a normally-behaving tegu is basking for awhile and then moving on to other activities. Could you explain a bit better what she is doing, it is hard to tell from you post. Once you give us some more and clearer information then maybe we can help you.
Most likely you tegu is trying to sleep they normally sleep in cooler areas it could also and most likely is related to the winter slow down. Mine comes out every morning about 7am-9am and then goes to sleep not to be seen again till the next morning.
