Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok... I'm gonna be moving out of my house this next fall, and will be heading off to college. I've been keeping Bearded Dragons for the longest time, but had to sell them with the advent of my senior year of high school... keeps me way to busy to continue breeding. Any who, I figure once I get settled in next fall, I might like to have a herp friend again, and I have always wanted something a little larger than a bearded dragon, and I've also found Tegus to be fascinating with their famous cat like intelligence.

So basically I'd like to start learning as much as I can now, and be extra prepared for that day when I eventually buy my Tegu.

First, is there one or two excellent online sources that I should refer to for information that you guys know of. And on that note, is there one certain book you would reccomend that I pick up that has good information. I'd be really interested in those kinds of things.

Second of all, when the time comes, are there any breeders out there that I should definitely look at? I really would like to buy a Blue Tegu, and if at all possible an albino one. I've looked at Bluetegu.com and if there are any other breeders I can compare them with, that would be fantastic.

Third, is there any tips, or advice you all can give me as a future novice tegu keeper? Anything I wont learn from a book, I guess is what I'm really looking for. Any and all information, pictures, or stories would be wonderful!

Thanks so much for taking time to help me out, it means a lot!

Kyle

Kyle, I'm not going to suggest webpages or books. You will get that from other posters or from searching the archives of this forum. I will commend you on your choice of a Blue Tegu. They are really wonderful animals and so beautiful. I keep several and no two look alike.

I will warn you first off...Tegus can be bottomless pits when it comes to food. They challenge any of the monitor species as far as appetite goes, maybe with the exception of the Argus! LOL Fortunately, they are quite easy to feed. Unfortunately, they are not cheap to feed.

What I have noticed about my Tegus, and I think this is pretty incredible, is that they don't take a lot of handling to become docile adults. It seems that they calm down and become quite tractable just with the onset of some size and age. I have Tegus here that get handled only once a month but they are gentle, easy animals.

Tegus are very intelligent and can be major escape artists. Plan well for this. With Blues you can manage with maybe just two enclosures for their lifetime: a medium sized one to raise them in and then their larger permanent adult enclosure. I've had good luck with either Cypress or coconut husk substrate.

These are just some of my personal observations and opinions. I think a Blue Tegu is a wonderful choice. Ron and Stella have a pristine reputation for a good reason...they sell healthy, beautiful animals.

Let's see. I personnally got my information from the two books "Popular monitors and tegus" by Balsai and "monitors, tegus, and related lizard" by Bartlett. I have noticed out of my four tegus, that if you start small, hold them alot, and give them what they need, they are really great and calm animals. I have two blues, an albino (soon to get two more that's het for snow) and a red. Blues are better in my opinion as reds can develop shed problems. Black and Whites I have heard bad and good things about. But blues I have heard no complaints. All tegus have an incredible feeding response. This can be a little startling wehn you open the cage and they leap for your face. But I learned that if you feed them outside their cage, this tones down quite a bit. Most tegus get around three feet, some red males get up to five. As far as popular breeders, of course there is ron st pierre at albinotegu.com. I purchased my first albino from regal reptiles and he is just awesome. Loves to crawl on my shoulders and just lay there. Overall, as you can probably tell, tegus are my favorite herp. Some drawbacks is the space needed for their cage. If it is too small/temp not right?etc. they will nose rub. A rule of thumb that was told to me was length= twice length of animal, width and height is the length of animal. You can go a little smaller, but again the possible nose rub issue. And again with a few tegus their feeding response usually scares people from them. And tegus tend to hibernate for up to six months out of the year. They need about 100-110 basking temp, good humidity. They eat all kinds of stuff, crockets, mice, king/mealworms, cat food(I don't feed this personnally), lunch meats, chicken, and reds love/need fruits. Well, I sincerely hope this helps. Good luck with your decision and possible animal purchase.

Thanks for posting before getting a tegu; it shows that you really do have your new friend's welfare at heart.

That said, you need to consider a few things. Going off to college will have you lots busier than you ever were in high school. Depending upon where you are living, your landlord will probably take a dim view of your large reptile pet. Consider also the social aspects of college; my daughter could tell you that, not only will you not have time to devote to a pet, you will barely have time for studying, social life and a full time job to pay for your tegu's groceries! Tegus, when young, are bottomless pits that will eat you out of house and home. My daughter's cat's needs strain her available time and money, and she is almost ready to graduate and working full time. And cats are notorious for needing very little attention, unlike a tegu.

While I have seen the 'minimum' of 2X length by 1X length listed for cage size, I consider 6'X 3'X 3' a bare minimum for a grown tegu, and your tegu will reach full grown length within a year if you feed it right and meet its needs for basking and humidity. This seriously cuts into your available space, and housing anywhere around a college is at a premium. You may fnd that it will cost you more than you can easily afford to get a place big enough to house you and a tegu comfortably.

I don't want to discourage you, but your main objective right now is to succeed in college. Get settled in there and make sure you can enjoy all of the new experiences that college life holds before you get a pet. Your college years will bring you some of your greatest memories, often including the opportunity to travel a bit with your friends. Don't put so much on your plate that you have to pick and choose where your attention goes. If you get through your first year with time and money on your hands, go for your tegu, but please wait awhile so that you and your tegu will both be happy with your decision.

Just my 2 cents, but I remember my college years well and fondly, even if I am now an 'old fart.' And I'm the one that plays surrogate mom for my daughter's cat when she travels and goes on practicum.

Leslie

I completely agree with Leslie. I recommend you go to school and settle in for a year at least before considering a pet. You have NO idea what kind of time commitment school is. Believe me, you won’t have much free time at all. The hardest thing for me to do when I graduated HS was to place all my reptiles in good homes and then go off to college. Once there I didn't have one animal till my last year (when I settled down). Don't sacrifice the college experiences for a reptile. You can always get a Tegu after college and enjoy it but if you do it during you will miss a lot of great opportunities.

Rudd

Thanks for the advice on keeping Tegu's, as well as the advice on possibly waiting.

I think I will take that advice to heart and definitely see how things are after my first semester for sure, if not the first year or more.

Just for the record, I wont be living in the dorms my first year, I live in the City I'm going to college in but will be renting an apartment with a friend of mine. I realize I will probably have a very tough time getting my land lord to let me keep a large pet lizard as well, but I figured I would deal with those things when they came up and get my Tegu after they were settled, and if they werent I dont mind waiting.

So with that in mind, I'm sure I'll be a frequent lurker on the forum, as well as post a question here and there about more specific questions I have.. and when the day comes that I buy my Tegu.. in 6 months, a year, two years ect... whenever that is, I'll be sure to let you all know and show you some pictures of the little guy. Thanks again for the advice, its much appreciated!

If you are as responsible about everything else in your upcoming college career as you are on the tegu issue, you will go far!

Seriously, you have the right attitude. At this age, your major job is to learn, whether it be your college courses, what you will be learning about life and who you are (a really major plus that comes with the college experience and living away from home) or about tegus.

Tell your parents, who, if they are like most parents, are likely in a bit of a panic, wondering if you will take everything they have tried to teach you to heart, that the the ol' LizardMom, who raised teens and whose job is straightening out confused young folks, that they can be very proud of you.

Leslie

haha, well thanks so much. I'd say they have done a fantastic job of raising me in all honesty, and I'm glad to know that it shows. Thanks again for the kind words, and excellent advice!

Kyle

Hi. I just wanted to give my 2 cents. I'm currently getting ready to graduate from USF. I've had multiple reptiles throughout my college experience. I joined a Fraternity and other organizations in college too.

I managed to keep a 3.27 GPA. I recently bought my first house. I've got to tell I've had the toughest time finidng a place to live these last 4 years. Lots of people have phobias in regards to reptiles. I was asked to leave or get rid of my reptiles by a landlord once. It was tough finding a place to live. No one in my Frat even offered a place for me to live because they were afraid of reptiles. Everytime I moved some place I had to rent a 2 bedroom apartment and hide my reptile collection. Did I mentioned I couldn't get anybody to help me move because people were afriad of my collection. Some of my cages were at one point the same dimentions required for an adult tegu.

The last place I lived, the owner showed the apartment while I was in class. It was no suprise that she freaked out when she walked into my elaborate reptiles room. Between classes I was moving. At the time she came in my Cuban Iguana was in the middle of the floor making a mess with pile of lettunce. She called the cops. It was a huge hassle. When I moved out she kept my whole $600 deposit claiming damages that I did not do because she hated reptiles.

Also, it was tough keeping my GPA above 3.0. If you ever intend to go to grad school you need a 3.0 to get in. Most nights when I came home from school I was dead tired but still needed to cut up fruit, vegetable, thaw out rodetns, clean cages, and change water bowls. By the time I'd go to bed it was 3 AM somtimes.

I'd say in your situation, the most difficult obstacle would be finding someplace that would allow you to keep your tegu without causing you grief. Not everone appreciates a huge cage in their home with godzilla living in it. To use herpers a tegu isn't really a giant reptile but to people that don't love reptiles like us and adult tegu will seem like a giant lizard. That tongue flicking in and out will freak people out. They'll image a komodo dragons or a snake. I know because people used to make comments like that to me.

It's been a long tough road. I missed out on a lot of good times. If I were you I'd get a reptile that I could keep in a rubbermaid and slide it under your bed (IMHO).

FH