Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had a hatchling B/W tegu for two weeks in a very large custom made indoor enclosure. I decided to get a cagemate for him but when I introduced the hatchlings to eachother the one i had for a couple of weeks bit him. What is the best way to introduce cagemates if one is already accustomed to being alone in a large cage? For now we've seperated them into smaller cages but I don't know what to do. Please Help!

If your plans are to house them both in the custom cage then keep them separated in smaller enclosures for a while and then introduce them in the larger cage. That way it will be neutral territory. Works most of the time!

yeah, that was my first idea. they're separated into smaller cages for now. i'm gonna clean out the big enclosure, get rid of all the substrate and old scents, then try putting them back in it. but how long should i keep them apart in their smaller cages? should i try introducing them every now and then outside of the cages? sheesh, everyone else has multiple tegus... i thought this would be a breeze! thanks for your help, but i could still use more from anybody that has anything else to offer.

We just went through the same process. Brought home a 5 week old Blue, and wanted to introduce him to our 5 month old Arg. Red, and he bit her - just a nip and no latching on. We were just too excited and rushed the intro. They need to settle in to their new surroundings. You only had your fist one for 2 weeks? Yours are both brand new and still getting settled in.

Keep them seperated for at least a couple of weeks. You will want to "quarantine" the new one anyway and observe him/her for any signs of illness etc. Then begin to give them brief, supervised introductions in neutral territory. Watch how they react, and if they are not aggressive toward each other, extend the frequency and duration of their time together. Then put them into the cage and WATCH them again, and go through the same process of introducing them inside the cage.

This worked for us, and after that first time, the two of ours get along like family - OK better than family - like friends. Since the first day we left them in the cage we have always found them sleeping, and sunning themselves together.

Good luck.

MAP

that's more or less what we planned to do. i may have jumped the gun a little on the whole quarantine thing, but i figured that we got them both from agama international within weeks of eachother... how long did this take for you? you said you have a female red and a male blue right? and the new one (the blue) did the biting? these are both males, but i talked to both bluetegu.com and agama international about housing males together. they both said it was okay and did it at their breeding facilities. bert at agama said that they'd be fine as long as their wasn't too much room for them to develop territorial behavior, instead they'd share. ron st. pierre said that housing two males together would be fine, as long as there wasn't a lone female in their with them, but no females or multiples females would be fine. i guess i'll just have to wait it out and hope for more good luck and good advice. thanks a ton!

We gave them about 10-12 days alone, and then 15-20 minutes together, twice daily for about a week, and then into the large cage together. Probably could have done it quicker, b/c neither of them showed any signs of aggression after that first day. (I think that was just a result of our over-excitement about having the new Blue home and rushing things.)

Ours are very young, and we have no way of knowing the sex. Our Red "looks like a girl" to my wife and daughters, therefore she is a she. ("Maggie" The Blue ("Bogota" is a male for the same reason. Very Scientific !!

MAP

okay. where did you let them have their daily together time? were you holding them? well, i really appreciate your help. i'm glad that this is a problem that other people have had and solved. i'll try it and tell everyone how it goes. keep sending the great advice and experiences!

thanks,
steele

well, today i took the two tegus, butch and sundance, out together. at first my girlfriend and i were pretty wary, but after a while, we relaxed a bit. neither tegu tried to bite the other at all. they'd sniff/tongue eachother, follow eachother around a little bit, but not once did they exhibit any aggressive behaviors. in fact, they both ended up crawling onto my girlfriend's chest and taking a catnap together after i fed them. i'll keep giving them "together time" once or twice daily for a week or so, then i'll try reintroducing them into the big enclosure, which i've completely cleaned and redone (so that it's new to them both). the new tegu (sundance) hasn't warmed up to eating like the other one (butch) has, but he nibbles now and then on what we offer him. but for now, the outlook seems good for butch and sundance. i'll post pictures of them once i actually get some good ones out of my digital camera.

i'm feeling more and more like that first incident where butch bit sundance was either just curiousity or butch being territorial. they've been out around the house together and in the tub together. they've been sleeping on eachother and even giving eachother "piggy back rides." i'm feeling better and better about this every day.

butch and sundance have now been living together amicably for two days. they bask together, sleep together and prowl around the enclosure together. there have been no more incidents of aggression. i seperated them for a few days in smaller cages, took them out twice a day for a while so that they could meet on neutral ground, then, i started placing them in the completely sterilized and reorganized enclosure together. after this went on without a problem, we made the permanent change over to the large enclosure. after two days of living together under the close watch of my girlfriend and i, we've come to realize that the biting was more of an overexcited manifestation of curiosity or perhaps butch's response to having to share an area he viewed as exclusively his with another animal. now that we reorganized and sterilized the cage, it's new ground for them both and they've accepted that they'll be sharing it. hope this helps anyone else who might be having similar problems.