Tegus only and how long before I would need a large cage

[aron77]

I am probably going to get a tegu but I am not in a rush. I have two questions right now

1. I am strongly considering using Rodney at tegusonly eventhough I don't like the idea of wild caught I love the idea of getting these invasive species out of the wild without killing them and he seems to have pretty good prices for well established animals. I have not seen any major complaints on him to this point. I did have a bad experince with wild caught blue tongues so that gives me pause. Thoughts?

2. I don't have a large enclosure yet and I plan on going nuts on this. I made a pyramid out of Styrofoam and grout before and it came out nice, until it broke but I think I can do it better now. My plan is to turn this into a big castle landscape on the inside like maybe a game of thrones theme, look up lizard landscapes on youtube to see what I am talking about as far as grout and styrofoam. Just wait and see if this comes out like it is in my head. But I have a 90 gal tank if I was able to find a yearling or younger one from Rodney how long would this tank last before I would have to have the enclosure completed. See the attached photo for the cage size. Also I want a male so how old would it have to be to guarantee sex? ​

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

If i'm correct a 90 gallon tank dimensions are normally around 48x18x25, I have my 7 month old female tegu thats about 24" in a 75 right now which is around 48x18x20. She's still in a winter cool down so she's not doing much eating or growing so it'll be a few months at the very least for my tegu until she needs her 8x4x4, probably depends on what size you get and if its in a winter cool down or not.
I do know for a fact she'd already be in a 8x4x4 if she didn't go through a winter cool down because within a month of having her she suddenly got to 20 inches long from only about 10 inches long.
(She is my first tegu so that's probably normal for them to grow really fast, I'm just more used to slow beardie growths which is why it surprised me a bit)
If you got a really young tegu a 90 gallon would probably last a year or so. However I know some tegus can get pretty big in their first year compared to others.

I haven't heard anything bad about tegusonly and honestly was going to get a tegu from him but I decided that I wanted to get a Ultra purple tegu from underground, I really like the coloration that the cross has and each shed the red markings on my tegu's tail and legs from the red tegu in her gets even more noticeable, but regular B&W, Blues and reds are just as good. If I ever got another tegu it would definitely be from tegusonly most likely.

As for sexing I have no idea, hopefully someone far more experienced will help out with that and anything else.

That blue tongue skink in the picture is adorable by the way.

 

[Zyn]

Underground reptiles probes their babies for their sex as a young age. But they are some of the only ones. I haven’t heard of any wild caught blues in the US. But Rodney does great work. In my opinion a set up like you have there for your skink would get destroyed. Simple is best I’ve found for Tegus. Deep substrate, large water dish and maybe a tile or something and a humid hide. I just use a large Rubbermaid with a hole cut in it. Cheap and easy anything else will get out grown or destroyed. I’d recommend atleast an 8x4x4 within the first year or so.

 

[Walter1]

Ditto to Zyn's post on Rodney and the trashing the tegu will do to the set-up. As Venus said, overwintering buys you time in a small enclosure.

Personally, unless there is a specific tegu and you know a large enclosure can soon be built, I'd wait until I have everything, then seek out a tegu.

Tegus are just becoming more active, and hatchlings appear beginning in July down there.

 

[aron77]

Ditto to Zyn's post on Rodney and the trashing the tegu will do to the set-up. As Venus said, overwintering buys you time in a small enclosure.

Personally, unless there is a specific tegu and you know a large enclosure can soon be built, I'd wait until I have everything, then seek out a tegu.

Tegus are just becoming more active, and hatchlings appear beginning in July down there.

That is pretty much the plan but if I could find a young one that would do ok in that tank for 6 mos to a year while I build the big one I would do it, I'll probably have it done sooner but I don't want to rush.

I could go bare bones and build a box and get the lizard and everything for around 400-500 total but I want the lighting and humidity to be perfect and I have some plans for the aesthetics to make this look awesome. I get the thrashing but I plan on building a wood shelf with maybe some kind of tile or mix of grout which will also conduct heat. I was reading on here last night to see what people were spending to build so I am kind of in the planning phase now but once I make my way into a hardware store I am sure I'll be knee deep into this and have it done in a week or two from that moment depending on free time to build and what kind of help I can get from my more mechanically inclined family that own more tools than me.

 

[aron77]

If i'm correct a 90 gallon tank dimensions are normally around 48x18x25, I have my 7 month old female tegu thats about 24" in a 75 right now which is around 48x18x20. She's still in a winter cool down so she's not doing much eating or growing so it'll be a few months at the very least for my tegu until she needs her 8x4x4, probably depends on what size you get and if its in a winter cool down or not.
I do know for a fact she'd already be in a 8x4x4 if she didn't go through a winter cool down because within a month of having her she suddenly got to 20 inches long from only about 10 inches long.
(She is my first tegu so that's probably normal for them to grow really fast, I'm just more used to slow beardie growths which is why it surprised me a bit)
If you got a really young tegu a 90 gallon would probably last a year or so. However I know some tegus can get pretty big in their first year compared to others.

I haven't heard anything bad about tegusonly and honestly was going to get a tegu from him but I decided that I wanted to get a Ultra purple tegu from underground, I really like the coloration that the cross has and each shed the red markings on my tegu's tail and legs from the red tegu in her gets even more noticeable, but regular B&W, Blues and reds are just as good. If I ever got another tegu it would definitely be from tegusonly most likely.

As for sexing I have no idea, hopefully someone far more experienced will help out with that and anything else.

That blue tongue skink in the picture is adorable by the way.

You are correct, it is the same dimensions as a 75 gal but taller.Unfortunately the cute BT died which is also why I want to plan out the big cage to make it perfect.

I'm not too concerned with any color phases I just want a big black and white argentine male. If it was high white that would be cool but I just want a big lizard that I can let roam while I am home and that is big enough to not get lost and hold his own with my dogs. That was the down side to the blue tongue, I couldn't spend as much time with it because I was afraid of it getting lost in my house or getting trampled by my dogs, so when I saw these guys with their temperament I was hooked.

 

[Walter1]

Good thinking.