Escape Artists!

[carcharios]

Well, I finally got my tegus their 10x5 dog kennel set up and of course Frieda figures out how to escape in the first ten minutes. The spacing between the bars is 2'' x 4'' but that was enough for her to squeeze her head and one arm through. Once that happened, she was on her way to freedom. Fortunately, she's slow and I was able to apprehend her.

What now? I'm thinking maybe put up some chicken wire along the bottom of the cage to keep her from squeezing through. Regardless, I've got to move on to plan B...

 

[mastroj]

I had my baby tegu try and get away from me today, but he was slow by no means. I went out in the yard with him, all the way in the middle and he was walking around nice and calm like usual, he would walk off slowly and I would crawl over to him and pick him up, no problems at all. We did this for about 10 min or so, so I tried the next step and stood up. I took a couple steps back then stepped towards him and reach down for him and bam! he was off and running. I have never seen him move fast it caught me off guard. When I went to catch him he opened his mouth at me a couple of times. Luckily I was far enough away where I had enough time to catch him before he made it to the woods. I then went back to step one and just let him crawl around me until he calmed down. It could have turned out really bad.

Good luck with your gu's new enclosure. I think lining the bottom 12 inches with plywood or something else opaque (non-clear) is your best bet. This will probably keep them more calm especially if there is alot of activity around.

 

[carcharios]

Mastroj, DON'T MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN! I did the same exact thing a year ago with my smallest tegu, Diego. I took him outside without a leash and he just lay on the driveway at first, barely moving. I took my eye off of him for literally 5 seconds and he bolted under the car. By the time my daughter and I got to the tire where we thought he'd run, he was gone. It took us 45 minutes of searching before my wife discovered him under a railway tie. I'll never make that mistake again. Now, my bigger two tegus are much slower and can be taken outside. But the little guys are deceptively quick.

 

[mastroj]

YEa I have to make a leash for him, Thanks for sharing your story. I would be crushed if I lost him. I just have to find the right material for the harness.......

 

[Jason]

carcharios, use Hardware cloth instead of chicken wire, it's alot safer. chicken wire can slice some ish up! hardware cloth is thicker gauge wire, and some even comes coated so it's even safer. I'd recomend the 1/2 inch. good luck with your houdini!
Jason

 

[carcharios]

Jason,
I passed on the chicken wire and went with the plastic chicken mesh instead. It's green and I think it's a heavy gauge vinyl material. I don't think the tegus can rip through this as the mesh size is small and it seems pretty tough. I just need something to put up along the sides now so that the don't climb out. I used the same plastic chicken mesh on the roof of the cage to make a cover but Frieda can slip out the 2'' wide bars so I had to put 12'' of the plastic mesh up along the sides. However, if she climbs of this, she can still get through the bars so I need to figure out another system to keep her in - or I need to wait one more year for her to grow some more so that she can't fit through the bars.