Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm really considering getting an argentine black & white tegu and have been researching them for awhile (one year). I know about they're requirement (ie cage size, types of food, vitamins, socialization, reputable breeders etc) my only unanswered question is how much do they actually cost in food and other expences? I would like to hear from people who have raised their tegus from babies. I need a general idea of cost before I add one to my collection, I've only owned snakes and have quite a few but I am really wanting to get a tegu. Thanks for any advise and suggestions.

Costs:
*Lizard
*Enclosure
*Calcium Supp.
*Cod Liver Oil Supp.
*Substrate (tegus are burrowers and need a lot of substrate--which will need to be changed depending on how soiled the cage becomes).
*Light (your best bet is something like a Powersun--you get both UVB and Heat--you HAVE to have UVB--pricey: $40-50 online, $70-90 in stores). These lights need to be replaced every few months (even if they still emit light, their UVB index drops dramatically and, if not replaced, could mean a case of MBD for your lizard--irreversible damage once done).
*Cage hides, etc...

*Once you have these things, you are pretty set, other than food. I feed my tegus a pretty steady diet of ground turkey (mixed with calcium and cod liver oil), with a rodent mixed in once to twice a week.

Of course, there is the occasional vet visit (usually only if something is wrong, but some people DO have annual checkups for their lizards).

So, once you have all of the basics, food can set you back anywhere from $5-10 a week, per animal.

Hope this helps. Your BEST BET for tegu related info is www dot tegutalk dot com (spelled out so as to not raise a fuss from the mods here). Everything you could ever want to know about tegus can be found there and if you don't find something, there are PLENTY of people who can get you the info you need.

How's that for a LONG response?

Basically, as lon

Some of the cost are varibale like cages (store bought, custom made, made by you ect).

The food diet is the main reaccuring event. I feed a large variety of foods and have never hand issues with sheding or wieght. I trade off with rodents (which being a snake person will have little effect on you) turket, talapia, fruites, and then some frozen whole ground animals intended as a dog food mix in. Before people harp on me these are literally human grade foods just marketed to animals, example the rabbit i feed is a whol dressed rabbit that went through a grinder, nothing added.
I'd say my food bill right now for two tegus (one adult and one still growing) is about oh 35 to 40 dollars. I stock up so its one large expense but i dont have to pay for the rest of the year almost. Other parts of thier diet i take from my own food, things like fruits and fish and chicken are all things i intend to eat i just set aside a portion for them.

Baby tegus are the more expensive animals to feed. Alot of people feed their young tegus mainly turkey, but i high recomend turkey as a supplement and stick with inscents that are dusted.

All good advice there. Personally, I never deal with insects with tegus. They tend to be a bit difficult to keep contained.

Like stated above, the main cost is food, supplements and uvb lighting because these are things that needs replacing, i'll give you an example with 2 adults and 2 adolescent tegus my food bill ran about $50 a month, adults dont need to be fed as often as growing tegus, mainly every other day(3-4 X's a week) that got me about 10lbs of ground turkey, 5lbs(each) of chicken 'necks/gizzards/hearts/livers/breast, beef liver/kidneys/hearts, fish like telapia/salmon, and of course the rodents 10 med. Rats and about 20 adult mice, supplements lasted about 6 mos.( i also kept about 12 other reptiles) and cost about $20 for calcium/vitamins/cod liver oil, i spent about $100 every 6 mos. On uvb lighting because each were kept individually because of size deffernces and that included 2 mvb lamps and 2 tube lamps, which came out to about $840 a year, but that was with 4 tegus with just 1 it would only be a fraction of that

hard to say.I never really kept track of dollar ammounts. I do know one thing....they hibernate half the year. making them one of the cheapest reptiles to own during winter...lol...you will save a small fortune during the winter months!