Can I let my tegu free roam all the time?

[littlelizard]

As in always leave the door to her enclosure open a bit and let her come and go as she pleases? I would keep her confined to one room. She's close to 3ft and spends a lot of time roaming our living room. She explores for a bit then goes back into her cage and basks for a bit then comes out again. She's super good, she's never pooped on the floor and only peed twice. She basically roams whenever I'm home but when I put her back in she is NOT HAPPY and flings herself against the door trying to get out.

Any thoughts? I would of course tegu-proof the room.

 

[Jer723]

i dont see any problem with it, as long as you can supervise what she is doing and she is able to get her needs.

 

[ashesc212]

You probably can do this as long as you make sure of a few things:

1) The tegu absolutely can not get into another unsafe room.

2) The room is completely tegu-proof. Meaning, there's no unsafe and exposed wires or outlets, no broken windows or screens, no unsafe holes or potential hiding spot that you would never be able to get her out of, nowhere she can get stuck where she'd suffocate (like potentially under a couch cushion), no other animals in the room, etc.

3) The basking light and UVB stay on in the tank and she can easily get back in to access them.

4) The humidity in the tank stays at a safe level.

When I am home I usually let my tegu roam free in his room as well. He can get back in the cage and all is well. However, I have caught him doing things that were surprising, such as climb up the ferret cage once, hide behind a radiator, etc...so all the dangers have to be removed from the room.

 

[cornking4]

How do you prevent them from peeing and pooping all over the floor??

 

[Charming Anarchist]

I have often wondered about this myself. Thanks Ashes for the information. It seems close to impossible with our tegu -- she manages to burrow into practically everything! I can see ourselves accidentally sitting on a sofa cushion and crushing her. Yikes! That would be nasty.

How do you prevent them from peeing and pooping all over the floor??

I thought they can be litter trained.

She basically roams whenever I'm home but when I put her back in she is NOT HAPPY and flings herself against the door trying to get out.

Hopefully her enclosure is strong enough to prevent her from breaking free before you prepare the room! :doh

 

[Toby_H]

My Tegu seems to wait until she is taken out of her cage to use the bathroom... as if she holds it in order to keep her home cleaner...

Now that she is freeroaming a lot, she has picked a favorite spot to use the bathroom... it's not the most practical location in the world but at least I know where it's going to be (note: she free roams on an outside deck so she's not using the bathroom in the house )

I do not believe we can teach our Tegus to use the bathroom in a certain area... but I do believe we can learn where they prefer to use the bathroom and then make that area suitable for them to use...

A few special cases may prove my theory wrong, or a few special 'trainers'... but for the general consensus this is what I believe about 'potty training'...

 

[ashesc212]

Yeah I heard that they can be littered train too, but I think they really just train themselves and follow a routine. Lucky will hold his too until I let him out. When I open the tank doors, he comes out, walks down the hall, and goes on the bathroom floor lol. It's interesting that he picked the bathroom in the first place...

Anyway, I've just learned to cope with it. Fortunately the floor is tiled!