Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,
I am getting a tegu in the next few days. I have had Anoles for the last year or so, I bought them cause I was told that I would be able to handle them. Found out the hard way that that is not true. I have found out that tegus are able to be handled.(Just what I wanted). I am a little confused though. Mostly on the diet. Some sites say eggs, meat stuff like that are good, but some say no. And some of the stuff like what are f/t fuzzies? I am used to crickets and bits of fruit. If someone could let me know what the proper diet and how often to feed would be greatly appreciated. I want to make sure I treat this tegu great. I want to be able to spoil him/her as much as I can.

Just so you know what you are getting yourself into tegus get very big. Example my tegu at one year of age is already 2 feet in length. I started it in a 20 gallon reptile tank and within about 3 motnhs it had outgrown that now its in a 60 gallon reptile tank and pretty soon I am upgrading it to a 6 foot enclosure... if you are willing to spend a decent amount of money on feeding and housing one then this could be a very rewarding lizard for you. That being said. They grow fast and eat a lot. You will have to be able to get it a large enclosure from what I heard up to 8 foot once its full grown. They need a spot light and uvb bulb or get a uvb bulb spot light combo. THey can be easily tamed if handled on a regular basis. Crickets are an ok diet but once they start getting some size you need to feed mice. F/t is frozen thawed mice. You can buy in bulk this way and they are a lot cheaper. I would not rec. one for someone who had little experience with reptiles. Hopefully this helps you out a little just my oppinion I have with the experience of keeping mine.

Here is Santiago. he was 47" and 11 lbs at one year.

He is 4 years old now, 4' 3 3/4"tl 21 1/8" sn to vent and 17.7 lbs.

Wow that is amazing 47'' and 11 lbs at one year of age... that is crazy almost 4 feet in one year of age. Do you power feed him or have him in some huge enclosure. Out of curiousity what was his feeding schedule then and what does it consist of now?

I fed him as much as he would eat. As far as inclosuer, He was in a 5'7'long-2'tall-2'wide for at least 6-8 mounths . then I put him in a 8'-4'-2'tall. I think he ate 10-12 mice in one week. Take care russ

almost forgot you should read some of the previous posts your questions have been answered and more on other posts.

Thank you, you have been a great help. I am still going through all the posts, there are a lot of them. I want to know as much as I can before I get him/her. I have heard they have great temperments. Right now I have the equivalent of a 77 gallon terrarium for my 5 little anoles that I designed and built myself so i will enjoy building a home for him/her. He will prob have a spare room converted to be a home for him. I like the thoughts of having a large lizard. Thank you for your help.

i've had anoles in the past and i have three tegus now. i've enjoyed handling all of them. anoles i think are really easier because they are so small and, if they bite, it really doesn't hurt. after awhile they become conditioned not to bite because they see that it does no good. tegus are big and can be kind of scarey. if you handle them a lot and become their friend you become conditioned into believing they won't bite. you go through sort of a mutual bonding experience with them, where they learn to trust you and you them. i have a red that almost acts more like a cat or a dog than a lizard. they are actually cute, and they have a lot of mannerisms reminiscent of mammals. there is a lot of dissagreement about caring for them. feeding them, etc. i personally find caring for all reptiles challenging. if u get a tegu, i would recommend a blue or one of the argentines. the columbians aren't hard to handle and are pretty; but they are smaller and more nervous. they aren't nearly as fun as the argentines.

Thanks for the info. My anoles have never bitten but they really don't like being touched and lately they hide alot, to the point where I almost never see any of them. I am going to be trading them back to the pet store. I want something a little more handleable. Everyone says to go with the argentine, but I have only seen this one at the pet store ( a columbian) and liked it right away. it has a nice silky feel and is very calm and seems to be ok with my petting him/her. That is why I decided on him/her.The only reason the pet store was able to keep him/her was because they were shipped him/her instead of the argentine the customer wanted and they ended up getting him back when the breeder shipped an argentine to replace him for their customer. The columbian they have is very sweet. Is the temperment that everyone talks about show up later in life or is it apparrent from birth?? Any and all info on how to make a perfect life (spoil) this tegu is always welcome and wanted.

I would say from my first hand experience my Argentine B&W was very skittish at first and still is a little bit esp when it knows its feeding time, when I got it from the pet store it was the only one so I have no idea if the others were that way at first. I would have them feed it though to make sure it eats. If its temperment is mellow it might be a good sign for what its like in the future. From what I have read etc. I have heard that ARgentines are the mellowest of the tegu species and columbians are meaner and harder to tame but again there are always those exceptions to the rules I would get what makes you happy. I bought mine eventhough it was the last one left and I have had no problems at all. If you can I would start him out in something kinda small then if you are going to build an enclosure go with one thats like 6'long 2'deep 2'high.Good luck and post some pics once yhou get it. Tegus are awesome.

i have a red tegu and two columbians. my columbians are black and whites. very pretty. they are not mean and do not bite. i've had them for about two years. i bought as tiney hatchlings. they always hide. they are always scared. one of them became so nervous that i had to force feed him for about three months. now he eats better than the one i never had a problem with. they seem long rather than heavy bodied. though they seem to be getting bulkier now and their length growth has become quite slow. they really don't have a lot of personality to me. i find them to be dissapointing. i also have two large iguanas and a mangrove monitor. my favorite lizard is my red tegu. i got him as a baby. he's about eight months old. he's already close to three feet long. he's pretty much fearless. he has his own 8' by 6' room. he's very heavy-bodied. he has the personality of my mother's english bulldog. he's pretty much fearless. he loves to get out of his room and explore the rest of the house. if he wants to go under the sofa it is a real chore to convince him not to. i used to have ornate nile monitors (four footers). to get them not to go under the sofa all i needed to do was position myself a couple of times between them and the sofa. they got the idea. under the sofa was off limits and they left it alone. the red tegus will just crawl through my legs and over my feet to get under the sofa. i have to pick him up and physically move him and try to get him interested in something. else. he loves exploring and checking things out. he seems to always love eating. i feed him with chopsticks. feeding him is one of my favorite activities. he likes doing what he wants to do. if he doesn't want me to hold him he does this crocodile roll thing and attempts to get away. other times he seems to almost like getting held and petted. when other people come over though, their favorite lizards are the colombians. they are small enough and gentle enough that they don't intimidate my guests. the iguanas and red tegu seem to notice that they are strangers but the colombians treat them the same as they treat me. i don't let my friends play with them too long though because i know how easily the colombians get stressed out.

That is crazy yours is almost 3 feet at one year. Possbily b/c it has such a huge room to grow into. Out of curiousity what is your feeding schedule for it and what does it consist of? I'd like to see a pic if you could post one. How much does it weigh? Do you power feed him?

Thank you to both of you. ZEkyle I will post pics of both the new Tegu and his enclosure when I build it. He will be in a 20 gallon tank to start. When everyone does length is it nose to tip of tail? That's the way I do it. The one I am getting I am told is only a couple of months old but he looks to be almost 2ft long. He was burried the last few times I went to look at him. But he didn't even make a move when I uncovered him. I have a little webpage just with some pics of my annimals, it has pics of my anole enclosure if anyone wants to see it. I am creating a new one to replace this one it is only a temp. I was told my anole terrarium was overkill, they are only 6 - 8 inches long each.
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