Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a forty gal breeder for a baby tegu and already started constuction on a huge permanent enclosure 10 ft long 5.5 ft tall and 5 ft deep, is that large enough i will post pics once i have gotten a decent build going. I am able to hold the temp gradient well but have a question about humidity, how high should it be? I have access to an unlimited supply of cypress, or soil. my parents own a plant nurserey. I can afford lighting, heating and food for a large lizard. What kind of fruits do you recommend feeding a arg black and white? Also I heard that they need UVA, Is it a large ammount or like a standared uvb bulb. Is there a special bulb I need to buy or is there enough uva in a standard uvb bulb? Also what percentage of uvb do you recommend? I was thinking 7 -8%? also just one last thing, I take my water monitor swimming in my pool alot and she loves it, are tegus decent swimmers? or should I just limit them to the bath to soak?

Tony Butler

The size of your enclosure sounds fine for a tegu, The humidity should be around 70% but I have never been able to keep that a constant. From talking to others here they say as long as the hide box is damp that is the main thing. I would use a rather large water dish to help with the humidity as well as allow him a place to soak. As for the uva needs you will not get enough uva out of a regular bulb. You can either get a power sun bulb from big apple herp or something similar from another place. You could even put in flourescent light fixtures and use that type of bulb. I use the power sun bulb since it gives heat as well as uva and uvb. You will need to do the research to see if you want an all in one or different lights for each purpose. My tegus like to swim in the bathtub but I do not know if I would put them in a pool since the chlorine in there may hurt them I would just be afraid to take that chance. Mine have gone for a swim at a friends house who has an outdoor pond but it slopes in so they can get out whenever they want and there are no chemicals in it that could harm my little guys. Good luck
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Beau W.

"There are no athiests in foxholes. It is not an argument against athiesm but rather one against foxholes." James Morrow

You got the right idea. Are you making a 2 story? If not, is there some reason you are making it 5 feet tall? I just finished mine, and it is 6 feet tall with 2 stories. Even with the 2 stories, I still had to build a stack to get the basking spot right. Taller enclosures make it much harder to keep temps and humidity up. I agree with the first reply that relative humidity is not as important as the burrow humidity. I just keep my substrate moist and everything is great. Baths every week or so. For lighting, I use a 160W mercury vapor and a seperate normal 150W flood. Temps are great. Just a suggestion (the reason I built 2 stories), you save tons of floor space. Of course if space was no problem, I would have built a huge 1 story also. If you stick with the 5 feet height, you will either have to build stacks/steps/ramps to a basking spot near the ceiling to get temps right. And tegus are lazy, mine will fall a foot before walking the extra 3 feet to use the stairs to his spot! A foot or so doesn't hurt, but 4-5 feet may, and that's where your spot will be. You could hang the lamps from the roof, but then your tegus very well may either burn itself or destroy the lamp, who knows, maybe even a fire hazard. You could build the light sockets at an angle in the side of the cage, but that really shortens the lifespan of your bulbs, and mercury vapors are expensive! Another option would be to build in an overhanging box on the inside close to the ground and mount the lights inside it shining down, but I don't think that would look too good. Lot's to think about when designing a cage this large. Tegus are the best IMO and my favorite species by far!

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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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