Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, haven't posted here in quite some time, but wanted to share two new pics of Squishy. He is now about a year and a half old and just over 4 feet long. What a big beautiful boy he is! Anyway on to the story....typically, every weekend I let him out on my front lawn to soak up some natural sunlight and enjoy the outdoors. He's very calm and will just hang out until he's had enough and then slowly mosey on up into the shade. During one of his sunning sessions, I decided it would be a good time to mow the lawn, and though I will usually put him back in his enclosure when I do this, I decided to leave him out to see how he would react. As I was mowing and getting closer he just kept watching until he was directly in the path of the mower. He finally moved, but stayed on the uncut grass. Next pass with the mower and he did the same thing - moved out of the way, but stayed on the uncut grass. On the third pass though, I think the little light went on upstairs and he finally moved over to the already cut grass where he knew he could just hang out and not be bothered my me and my loud, annoying mower. I know many of you have similar stories about your tegu's smarts so let's hear em! Enjoy the pics. Billy

>>n/p

Wow! Marvelous photo. You should enter that one in one of the reptile photo contests. Seriously. Bet you'd win with that one.

One question.... How did you get your tegu ok with going out doors. My male just freaks if I take him out. I'd like to be able to let him wander about, but I don't want to stress him.

Leslie

Hi Leslie. Thank you for the compliment! I really appreciate it! With regards to taking my big guy outside, I started him fairly young by taking him out in a big rubbermaid storage container with a screen top. I have always done this with my lizards so they could get the benefits of natural sunlight along with the daily UV from their lamps. Anyway, he always acted very calm even after being left alone in the sun for extended periods of time, and he's always done the same when allowed to have "out" time in the reptile room. His laid back personality never changed in either circumstance, so when he was about 3.5 feet long, I decided to let him free roam in the front yard. I was kinda nervous, but knew there was really no place a lizard his size could escape too. So after watching him for awhile I decided it was safe to leave him out. Like I said, he just likes to hang out in the sun for an hour or so and then wanders up into the shade. He has also gotten in the habit of only pooping when he's outside now. He absolutely refuses to go in his cage which is 7' x 2.5'. The funny thing about that is, that he I only built that cage for him back in the beginning of June. Before that he was in his rearing cage which was only 4' x 2' and obviously much too small. He used to scratch at the doors to be let out so he didn't have to poop in his cage but if I couldn't get to him, he would "go" in his cage anyway. Now that he's in a much bigger one, he just refuses to go in it. I mean, he'll hold it for over a week until I take him outside! Silly lizard. Anyhow, good luck with taking your guy outside, and start slowly. I highly recommend some sort of sun terrarium to get him used to the sights, sounds and smells of outside. If he reacts favorably to that, then maybe try taking him out on a leash and harness setup (figure 8 harness for cats works best) and just let him lead you around and then just go from there. Best of luck! Billy

>>Wow! Marvelous photo. You should enter that one in one of the reptile photo contests. Seriously. Bet you'd win with that one.
>>
>>One question.... How did you get your tegu ok with going out doors. My male just freaks if I take him out. I'd like to be able to let him wander about, but I don't want to stress him.
>>
>>Leslie