Blue tegu enclosure

[Jessmakayla23]

So I want to get a blue tegu preferably a female since they are smaller than the males but what’s the smallest size enclosure I could keep them in that they can permanently live in? I would add a climbing ramp to a second level where I would have a basting light. I would rather have it bigger in height than length to be honest but would that be okay for this type of monitor??

 

[Walter1]

Dear Jess,

Tegus only seem like monitors. They are only distantly related to them. Many aspects of their biology are very different. Tegus might climb but are not arboreal. Aum for floor space, not height as for many spo. of monitors.

 

[rats]

Depending on what age tegu you get, babies probably don't want to be in a full-size tegu enclosure -- too hard to chase down those darn dubias and crickets! We started out with a 10-gallon tank for our 1-month old (I think that's how old he was when we got him!), moved him to 20 gallons (long, not tall cage) and finally to his permanent home.

My blue tegu, Foley, is a runt -- not the size of other blue tegus I've seen online; he's about 1 foot long (body size, add 1' for tail) and is in a tank that's 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 2 feet high (he doesn't even try to climb out, we have a screen just to keep the cats out of his cage, but to tell the truth, they aren't interested in him!) which has a warm end and a cool end and he seems to be doing just fine in it.... he's 7 years old now So you probably need a bigger cage for a normal blue tegu.

Here's what this website (https://alchetron.com/Blue-tegu) has to say: "To accommodate their size, a lone adult should be housed in nothing smaller than a 6'x3'x2' size cage, with the largest floor size possible. For a pair, 6'x4' floor space may be sufficient with time spent outside their enclosure but bigger is always better."

 

[Mamasaurus]

6x4 and no less for a single adult. They aren't arboreal. Need the floor space not climbing space. Good luck!