Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What do you keep your tegu in??

is it custom made? how big?

I was going around the Expo on Sunday... and I got so many different answers...

-Lou

First off you will need to know which species of Tegu you want.

For the Argentines, which are the largest of the Teiids, a minimum legnth of 6' would be required. Remember, bigger is usually better in nearly every case. With that said a larger cage will require more heating accessories to achieve the desired temperature gradients you'll need.
Cages such as the Vision model 632 should be sufficient to house a single Argentine Tegu.

Tegus are terrestrial lizards, so more ground space is desirable and depth, these guys rely heavily on their burrows to retain moisture with is critical to their health. A long and deep cage is the general rule of thumb. If you can provide an adult Tegu with 2 to 3 feet of substrate, perferably mulch or soil it will go far in providing them a great environment and you'll get to observe them dig their burrows which is alot of fun in of itself.
Of course your choices are wide and varied, another popular choice is to find a stock tank or feeding trough, the kind used for providing water to cattle. These come in sizes over 8 feet in legnth and three to three and a half feet deep and cost wise they are reasonable. All that you need to do is construct a custom lid to cover the cage and hang your lighting.
Just remember regardless of what the cage is made out of consider the following:
1) Retains air moisture to maintain relatively high humidity.
2) Allows for the animal to move, dig, and thermoregulate effortlessly.
3) Provides sufficient depth for burrowing.

I am sure others will have ideas as well, but hopefully this will help give you a start.

Good Luck and Take Care,

-Kit

I have my colombian in a custom made tank. It's 6.5'L x 3.5'W x 4'T. I made it so tall because there are two other levels for him to climb around on. It allows him to have three different basking spots. Each at a little different temperature. He LOVES climbing around in that cage. It did take a lot more heating implements to heat it, but I find it definitely worth it. He seems more content in this cage. His substrate is almost a foot deep, but he likes to go into his hide box (large Rubbermaid container on the cool side filled with damp moss) mostly.

Since my blue is only about a month old, I have her in a 100 gallon Repatarium for now. Gives her lots of room to run around and also allows for growing so that I'm not constantly having to upgrade the size of the tank she's in.

Lindsay

just goes to show.. just because they sell them... it dosent mean they know how to take care of them...

thanks guys...

i live in so cal so i keep my argentine tegu outside in a 10'x5' enclosure. ever since i moved him out their he has been growing more and is much more tame and happy. if you can i would defintely recomend keeping yours utside or at least having a cage outdoors for sunning because they love it out there.

Many of the vendors at shows are just importers. They have no real long term investment of the time and care it takes to captively breed reptiles. They are there to make a quick buck and then you will never see them again. There is no follow up support and the information on care and housing is inaccurate at best and a downright lie at the worst. By telling a potential customer that they will need a cage in excess of 6' and the amount of food a healthy growing tegu will consume, they are afraid of frightening off the buyer. I have heard the most outrageous lies at some of these shows. The lies told to potential new reptile owners will surely lead to the demise of their new pet. This forum is the best place to be. The amount of experience and the love of their animals makes a perfect combination to help even the most inexperienced owner down the right path. Good luck with your new tegu.

Pam