Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How friendly or tegus compared to monitors and beardeds? also i do not hear much about them where i am, what do they eat? how much do they go for and what are the temps in the tank supposed to be around?
bob

To answer all of your questions at the same time the best advice I can give you is to visit www.agamainternational.com and read through the care sheets section. I have never owned a monitor or a bearded, but have done a lot of research on both, and if you want a big docile lizard then you are in the right place, looking into tegus.
I have a 7 month old argentine black and white tegu that I got from agama international, and in the last 4 months alone he has grown 11 and a half inches in length (was 16 inches in August, is now 27 and a half inches), so this is something to consider.
They are omnivorous, mine at 7 months eats just about anything, from insects, to mice to oranges!! He is extremely tame, and very intelligent, I managed to paper train him within the first month of having him, and he now goes potty outside, on command. He is definitly the best pet I have ever owned.

Hope this helps, good luck...

Leyla x

Ha ha I feel the same way. Well at least the best reptile pet(s) I've ever owned. I mean don't expect your tegu to play fetch or go hunting with you like my dog used to. But my dog didn't have scales so the tegu wins out! I also have 2 bearded dragons. First off there is a huge size difference between them and a tegu so I don't think they're in the same class. Bearded dragons are really known to be gentle. The Argentine and blue tegus reputation isn't far behind. Monitors would have to come in last here. With bearded dragons and tegus you can be pretty sure it's going to be nice. It's so obvious my bearded dragons aren't nearly as smart as my tegu. Monitors are pretty smart too. My tegus actually seem more convenient then my bearded dragons: The tegus will patiently wait for me to take them out while my dragons will sometimes scratch on the doors, try to climb the walls and it's annoying, it's so nice that the tegus don't go the bathroom until I take them outside, and I can also depend on the tegus to put them selves back in their cage every night even if I take them down stairs. I'd say if a tegu doesn't seem big enough for you then start looking into a BT or even a water monitor (jeesh!).

Oh as for your other questions you shouldn't have to worry about ambient cage temps too much, 75-85 works. Surface basking spot at about 120ish. You do have to have a moist hide box for tegus and deep substrait. You can get an Argentine B&W for just under $100 from some were that should be pretty obvious around here.

I'm looking into getting some b&w argentine tegus. I was really interested in how yall (you all) say you have potty trained your tegus, in a sense. How might i go about that, when i get them. I should be getting babies so, any ideas? Thanks Everyone!!

It was really easy to "potty train" them. After they got adjusted and didn't mind us handling them before we’d let them walk around we would take them to the tub to go the bathroom daily. A lot of lizards will naturally like to go in the water but they got to the point were they didn't need water either. I could just as easily have laid some newspapers or I put a kitty litter box in there but it was easier to wash it down the drain instead. Another thing about my tegus is they don't want to go the bathroom in their cage. It didn't take them long to get to the point where they'd hold it until I took them out. Then I started taking them outside and they just go the bathroom out there, pfft I don't know why. They'll usually go within the first couple mins of taking them out even if it's not very much. Sometimes I'm amazed at all their convenient domestic like behaviors. They're really concrete about not going to the bathroom in their cage. When I went on vacation I had someone come over to feed them multiple mice daily which means they should have went the bathroom every day. Five days later I get back and find out the poor things had held it in the whole time! I think they just start to think of the rest of our house as their home too so they haven't went on the carpet oh for at least months now. Since it's too cold to take them outside I just started taking them to the tub again and that's been working. They even crawl out on their own right after they've pooped and put them selves back in their cage LOL how convenient. I'd never expect this from my bearded dragons. Here I even have a video of him heading from the bathroom back home. Notice how he knows to go past the other rooms in the hallway then around the door up the stairs ect...
video link

I agree with Rollin, it is extremely amazing to me that they are as clean as they seem to be...Amigo is only 7 months old and he VERY rarely will go potty in his enclosure now. We trained him using a papertowel (this was when he was 16" long) by putting him there over and over and telling him to "be a good boy" until he went, and the praise that he got was, in my opinion, what did it!! then he graduated to newspaper,and now I can take him outside, set him in the grass and say "be a good boy meego" and he will just go! We still praise him like crazy, every time he goes on command like that, and yes....our neighbors think we are completely nutz!!!!

Ley

I wish my tegu was that easy. Trying to keep him on a paper towel is like trying to stop a charging rhino with wet toilet paper.

He's always so insistant that I let him wander where he wants to wander.

Don't get me wrong Meego is still pigheaded when he wants to be, fortunately though, the important things like potty, and bathing he is ok with now Now if I could just get him to answer the door and the phone, we'd be all set!!

Ley x