Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have noticed that when my tegu walks around my apartment that she loves to examine new objects. For example, if there is a box on the ground she will immediately walk to it and start examining it. She first tries to go under it, then pushes it, and eventually climbs on top of it or in it (she also loves plastic bags). I was wondering if anybody has some type of object in their tegus cage for them to "play" with?

Charlie my B&W does the exact same stuff. He seems to have a shoe fetish and unfortunately I haven’t been able to get a photo of him carrying a shoe in his mouth. When he was smaller and could fit under the doors (that where cut for carpet that is no longer there) I used pipe insulation stuck to the bottom of the door to keep him in one room. Well you should have seen the time he decided to remove one of the pieces of insulation from the door and weald it around like a light saber You should also see how he rearranges everything in his room when I don’t let him out to the rest of the house when he wants. I have been meaning to go to a pet store and get him a kong to see if he would play with it.

My tegu just rearranges stuff in his cage. He likes to burrow under ANYTHING, his dog sized water dish included. I've never seen him carrying anything around though.
-Beth

I got some pictures of Lucky playing with my wife’s and my shoes. Problem is I don't know how to post more than one picture so follow the link below to see them.

Link

Haha... sweet. Does he free roam?
-----
Kylie

AIM: pixie babe love

Yep, Lucky has a whole room to himself and the rest of the house when I am home except for my room. My room is too cold and he will disappear in the for days before I have to find him and bring him out.

Wow.. how's that working out? Is he potty trained or does he leave you little presents all over the house? Sounds intriguing.
-----
Kylie

AIM: pixie babe love

I think tegus have a bordom factor because of their intelligence and personality. Without becoming to anthropomorphic I think they need stimulation. Rufus enjoys his outings out of his cage into the rest of the room.

I have thought about trying to design tegu toys. I think a cardboard box is good. Don't think the plastic bag should be used.

Mike B

Tegu toys would be great, just make sure it is made of something they can not tear apart and eat. I had to remove all the foam pipe insulation I used to use to keep him from squeezing under the door because he would swallow it. You should have seen the 3"x1"x0.5" piece he passed. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

I'm not sure if he is biting the shoe or trying to dig a hole and doesn't realize it is just a shoe. But I have seen him caring lite sandals around in his mouth.

Amika likes shoes, too

taken about 1 year ago