Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i added vents( they look terrible) and i made it lood almost 3d on the inside of the cage. friday i am going to start pricing wood, vents, new lighting, ect...

also i am going to make it so the door fold down. that way i will not be coming from above to pick up my tgu and all of my other lizards.

also do tegus ussaly calm down with age? mine runs away but when i pic him up he likes to walk on my arm(and on occasion jump off and hid under my bed!) but do they calm down? also what are some other food items i can feed him? he doesnt like crickes or anything that moves(he is very lazy) he likes chicken, dog/cat food, eggs, and a pinkie once and a while, he loves that monitor diet that you can buy in the pet stores.

Looks great! Just curious though, how deep is the cage? It should at least be 3' wide.

Tegu's "usually" calm down with age. Mine had always been hissy with me up until he was around 8 or 9 months old. Now he's not scared of me and doesn't try to run away when he's out roaming the house. Although, he doesn't like to be held, I consider him VERY tame.

Here is a list of foods Tegu's can eat. I blantently ripped it off of a old OLD post in here:

Safe Foods for Lizards

Common Name //// Form of Plant

Apple No Core or Seeds
Avacado
Banana Peeled Fruit
Beans Leaves, Stems, Sprouts
Beets Stems, Flowers, Grated Roots
Blackberries Fruit
Blueberries Fruit
Broccoli Heads, Leaves and Grated Stems
Brussel Sprouts//// Heads
Cabbage Dark Green or Red, not White
Carrots Root, Chopped or Grated
Corn Kernels off the Cob
Elderberries Fruit
Grapes Fruit (No Seeds)
Melons
Papaya
Peas Pods, Fruit
Peaches Fruit
Pear Fruit
Pumpkin Fruit
Squash Fruit
Strawberries Fruit
Tomato Fruit only
Turnip Leaves, Grated Root
Zucchini Fruit

Insects and Bugs

Mealworms
Lg Crickets
Butter Worms
Wax Worms
Earth Worms
Cockroaches

Meats and Misc

Mice Pre-Killed or Thawed
Rats Pre-Killed or Thawed
Chicks Pre-Killed or Thawed
Cooked Turkey
Ground Turkey

Raw Turkey
Canned Turkey
Cooked Chicken
Chicken Gizzards
Canned Chicken
Raw Boneless Chicken Breast A Tegu's Favorite!
Cooked Pork Tegus Love Ham Sandwiches!
Raw Boneless Pork
Raw Boneless Beef
Beef Heart
Cooked Beef
Eggs No Tegu can Resist a nice, big Hard Boiled Egg!

Canned Salmon
Canned Trout

Canned Tuna
Shrimp
Crab
Clams
Canned Dog and Cat Food Switch Brands and Flavors to Make the Diet Varied
Baby Food Try Many Varieties....

Even Table Scraps!

Hamburger Helper And Many Other Pre-Made Dinners!
Meatloaf
Beef Stew
Chicken Stew
Red Beans and Rice
Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches Cut up Bite Size
Beef Stroganoff
Lasagna
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce Chop the Noodles Finely
Chicken Pot Pie
Tuna Salad
Chicken Salad
Baked Beans Make sure all beans you feed are Cooked!

Poisonous Foods

Apple Seeds
Avocado Leaves & Pit
Cherry Seeds
Horse Chestnut
Marijuana
Mushrooms (some wild ones)
Peach Seeds
Potato Foilage
Raw Potato
Rhubarb
Sweetpea
Tomato foilage

I find it odd he doesn't want live crickets though.

Very nice plans. How about some dimensions??? Looks similar to what I want to build. Are you using plywood or melamine??? Enquiring minds wanna know.

Mike B.

it will be made out of plywood and 2x4. and there water proofed

the dimensions are 8 feet long four feet deep. and each cage tegu, and beardeds) will be 3 feet tall except for the top two which will be 18" high(uromaystx and breeder mice)

Looks good. One comment... I would minimize the ventilation for at least the Tegu's cage. It is much more effcient to keep humidity and temps up with limited ventilation. I only have twelve 1/4" holes on one side of my cage here for ventialation. It seems to work out perfect.

i hope i can get my cage to look that good!!! i probably will cut down on the ventalation. what do use to keep the humidity up?
i have been misting his cage and it is a pain is the a$$

The easiest way to keep humidity up is to limit ventilation to almost nothing. (Opening the doors to feed them once a day is enough fresh air.)

I also wet down the subtrate or mist once or twice a week. (A nice deep dirt substrate will hold moisture for a long time.)

Remember, you don't want a soggy Tegu either!

Best,

Nick