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Hi, I recently acquired a 34" Argentine Tegu. He is in a 24" tall cage with 4" of cypress mulch. He has a 65 watt ceramic bulb on the top.

My question is...he takes all the mulch from all 4 corners of the cage and builds a massive mound leading up to the heat source. No matter if I move it, he rebuilds it. Then he gets on top and lays there like a king.

I have put a thermometer on his body when he is sleeping to find out the temp is reading at 120 (the gauge maxes out) When the substrate is at a 4" level in the cage, the basking spot is 100 degrees. Does he simply know better than me? What is a max basking temp for a Tegu of his kind? If this is a problem, how do I fix it? Thanks for any ideas, I never knew Tegus were this smart, or this intuitive.

I'm no expert, but 120 degrees is "as far as I know" about the max you want your basking spot to be, that is what mine is, but I shut mine off at night to simulate a real night time temp, you might want to put that thing on a timer. Hope that helps.

it is probably trying to warm up. I suggest getting a couple large bricks and putting them under the light. Stack them to get some height.
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I agree that he is trying to warm up, however, does he know when warm is warm enough and hot is too much? Or will he continue to make a mound out of the substrate until he burns? I keep having to use lower wattage bulbs because the temp on the spot is 120 degrees due to this mound of mulch. Is anyone following what I am saying or am I not making sense?

I hear your concern. You worry he may burn himself. Like you said these guys are smart, and I wouldn't worry too much about them getting too hot, they'll move away when they're warm enough. 120 as a true surface temp should be fine. Somebody told me that if you can keep your hand on the hot spot without it burning you, then there is no chance it will burn the thick skin of a tegu. I would just let him do whatever. After all, it is his house right? =) Hope this helps.
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this shouldn't be a problem at all as long as he doesn't come too close to the surface of the light, screen or whatever is at the top of the enclosure. the surface would be hot enough to cause burns, but as long as he isn't touching it, he should be fine. it is natural for them to thermo-regulate to find the optimal temp as needed (they are masters of this since their biological processes require specific temperatures to operate correctly, and they know how hot they need and will do what they can to find that temp). the only problem comes from things like heat rocks. Often, the ambient temps in the cage are too low but the top of the rock is hot, so they sit on it even though it's too hot since their body is telling them to warm up.