New Guy Looking for Info! (prospective tegu keeper)

[mr_andrew]

Hey, I joined up here to do some learning and get some firsthand advice to help decide if a tegu is right for me, or if I'm right for a tegu. I have always thought they were awesome animals. I have kept many different small lizards before, as well as a few scorpions. Never had a large reptile before, although I have always wanted one.

I have more than enough space to have a large enclosure. I have read so far that I should be looking at something in the neighbourhood of 4'x8'x4' and that can be easily accomadated, if not larger. I plan on building my own enclosure, wood sides and glass front.

Do I need to go with tempered glass? What is the best substrate? I know I need a spot for it to soak, I will probably build a small pond into it. Should I include a waterfall? Then I can work a filtration system in. Also, a basking spot reaching 100F, as well as UV light.

Does it need heatpads?

What is a good wood to use? Could I use malamine?

Can someone recommend a good book, both on building enclosures, as well as caring for the tegu?

I look forward to learning, going to check out a reptile store tomorrow and hopefully find some good info there!

 

[Dana C]

Welcome! I will give you what I think works with the understanding that it is just my opinion and experience which some may disagree with.

1. Tempered glass is a must. Window glass is to thin and fragile, although much cheaper. If glass is incorporated in to doors, only tempered should be considered

2. I use aspen shavings in one and a mixture of cypress and fir bark in another. Aspen in the quantities I needed was available while cypress this time of year in Idaho wasn't. Aspen, being much lighter, needs to be misted daily or twice daily as it doesn't retain moisture as well as cypress. For an adult, a large water bowl is necessary. A pond is nice but IMHO, a nice warm bath in your bath tub is just as good if not better. Waterfalls are a consideration only from a display standpoint. If you want one, go for it but it isn't a a must.

3. Many people have 8x4x4 enclosures and some use 6x3x3's successfully. Many people five their Tegus lots of time out or complete run of the house. With lots of out time, I don't think an 8' long enclosure is a must. If you are buying a baby, a 40 gallon breeder tank will work for a while. Too large a habitat for too small a lizard creates stress in many cases.

4. Heat pads aren't necessary IMHO. I use a UVB / AVA basking bulb with the surface temperature of a rock underneath it hovering between 103-108 depending on how warm the house is. I also use a ceramic heat emitter to maintain a cool end right at 65-70f. I have a dimmer on it so I can limit the amount heat I want coming out of it.

5. Melamine works great. I didn't use it because it was too heavy for me to work with should I need to move the big enclosure. Mine is framed in 1/2" and 3/8" plywood. The interior floor and walls are lined with plexiglas with seams sealed with aquarium sealant. Premium plywood was used and finished with urethane to enhance the appearance.

6. If you read the articles on this site, you will find just about everything that known about captive care of a tegu. I may be wrong but I don't know of a comprehensive book on them.

 

[mr_andrew]

Thank you! You answered a tonne of my questions in that one post!

I have heard that a big issue with keeping tegus is food cost. I doubt that it would be prohibitive for me, but someone told me there black & white (which is what I would be interested in) was eating 3 mice every 3 days or so.

I'm just curious a)is that a good diet for it and b) what are the real world feeding costs for these guys?

And with giving it full run of the house... That sounds cool, and maybe its a dumb question, but can they do stairs? I have high ceilings on the mainfloor, so the staircase is taller, and I was thinking of keeping it on the 2nd floor.

 

[Dana C]

I don't think it is. If you feed according to the the list on this site you will find it to be relatively inexpensive. I buy ground turkey, four or more pounds at a time, marked down stew meat (beef or lamb), chicken wings on sale and veggies. I also buy chicken gizzards which are cheap and beef liver which isn't expensive either. I have a large food processor which I use to grind beef, lamb and venison when I get some and mix calcium, liver and gizzards in the mix. I package it in sandwich baggies and package a dozen or so in large one gallon freezer bags. I also feed scrambled eggs with extra calcium once a week and a rodent once a week as a treat. If you can purchase whole fish, they love that as well. I have a Tilapia farm close and I fish as well. Small fish will be eaten whole and the larger ones I chop up bones and all with a meat cleaver or the blender.

I buy my rodents from Rodent Pro. I can buy 400 different sizes for $.35 each shipped. Like I said, I only feed them once weekly as a treat. Of course you can feed frozen rats but the cost will be greater. Naturally, if you have a wife or a girl friend, having 400 hundred dead mice in your freezer won't exactly make you real popular.

All in all, I think my cost to feed one adult, one juvenille and 6 month old is about $25.00 per month or less. The key word is ON SALE.

I forgot to add that I save all my egg shells and grind them into almost a powder in an electric coffee grinder as a source of calcium. I do use a D3 enriched calcium and a vitamin power weekly as well.

 

[mr_andrew]

That sounds easier than I was thinking! I also fish too and only ever manage to catch little fish. Although I don't know if I would want to feed it anything from the cesspool that is lake ontario...

Single, and I've got a 3500 sq ft house all to myself. So I like the company, and my cat that I've had forever died recently. So I could feed it some leftovers from dinner sometimes? And its ok to feed them small fish with the bone in?

 

[Dana C]

Bone in is actually best. Great source of Calcium. Leftovers probably aren't a good idea because of seasonings, salt etc. You could chop up veggies before you cook them however and slice off some chicken, beef, lamb or pork before you cook it. Make sure you just use the lean muscle to feed.
Last night, I thawed out some chicken wings for dinner. I took one of them before I cooked tham and cut it in chunks, bone and all. Gordo was in hog heaven!

 

[mr_andrew]

Loves chicken wings?? Sounds like I would get along great with it .

 

[TegusRawsome80]

Tegus are great pets, and can be great companions. If you have a 3500 square foot house then you can probably go as big as you want on enclosure size. In my opinion the bigger the better for an adult tegu. They get 4-5 feet long and are pretty active and bulky, and although 6 or 8 feet is good I don't think you can really go to big. Just my opinion on housing.