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I have a Arg BW about 32 inches long. We are building the adult enclosure right now. We changed our plans to avoid wasting some of the wood, and now the cage is going to be HUGE - 7.5Lx4Dx6H and will be 2 stories, giving a 60 square foot cage. Well, of course I started entertaining the idea of getting a cagemate for my tegu. Yes I have read and know the issues and potential risks, ultimately being that each individual could always do something unexpected. Has anyone here introduced juvinile tegus that were strangers? He is from Agama, so he has lived comunally in the past. I plan on getting the other when my new cage is finished, then I can introduce them to neutral territory. Again, I know the risks, I am just interested in experiences any others have had concerning introducting juvenile tegus that have lived alone for a period of time. Thanks a bunch.
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

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BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

Taz, my male tegu lived alone for 4½yrs. i recently put 3 females in with him. havnt had ANY problems. i didnt do anything special, i just put them in there with him. they are all eating fine without any problems. with my 2 younger tegus i had them seperate for about 2mos and also just put them in together into a new cage. (4x2x2. though now they are in a 5x3x3) tegus are VERY social, even 2 males getting along easily. and as far as "2 story" cage, its a good idea but keep in mind that adult tegus are not always the most active things. i tried it with my first cage with Taz and for about the first 2 days he used it just because he was exploring something new. after that he got bored with it and never used it again. good dimensions, make sure you give them lots of dirt your tegu will love you for it.
keep in mind, every tegus attitude IS different, so yes there are still risks with keeping tegus together. they mainly come up when feeding time comes around. so just watch them and see how the 2 of them do when you get another one.

My heating will be at the top level, so if he want to bask, he'll have to go up there, but I suspect he'll spend most of his time on the bottom level. I will have 1 foot of substrate on the bottom, so I think he'll be happy. I am pretty confident that there will be no problems with introducing another tegu. Like you said, they seem to be very social (Bert's video and other videos/pics I have seen on here show this, along with the numerous people who keep more than one together). He is a real sweetheart and never shows any signs of aggression. I am just trying to come up with a back up plan in the .01% chance they don't get along. Thanks for the reply!
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com

How have you guys controlled the dust with all that substrate?

I raised up 2 Gould Monitors in a 6x3 Vision with a sand/soil substrate, and and whole room became caked with black dust. It even got on the clothes in the closet. And I even watered the substrate like crazy.

Later I changed the substrate to Carefresh, then I had grey/white dust everywhere...the Gould dig like crazy.

Dave

I use cypress mulch, not dirt. Everybody says dirt/soil is better, but my cypress mulch does the job just fine for me, and my tegu digs the hell out of it, so i guess he likes it. It also holds burrows surprisingly well once it dries out a little. It actually compacts enough that it behaves like soil with respect to burrows. Your right about goulds, my buddy has a pure argus and a goulds/argus cross, and those guys are maniacs, tearing the place up and raising all kinds of hell!
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-Bill

1.0.0 Albino California Kingsnake
0.1.0 Colombian Red Tail Boa
0.1.0 Leucistic Patternless Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Red Flame Crested Gecko
0.1.0 Orange Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu

My Home Page

BoidsNTegus@insightbb.com