Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[kinkyskink]

Have seriously been considering a tegu recently, actualyy for about a decade now, buthave nver actully gotten around to getting one! I like the look of both the red and the argentinian black and white!

Any experiences from past or especially present keepers will be very much appreciated

THANKYOU

[Stuart]

Well I have a black and white and highly recommend them...most become very docile but also very large!! so a huge viv will be needed.Reds get larger than argies and also require more fruit in their diet I believe..They like a deep substrate as they like to burrow too.
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[kinkyskink]

Cool! I have read up about them, no probs with supplying a beastie viv for a beastie animal. What percentage of fruitwould yu say your B&W has in its diet? and are tey any favourite food items (both animal and
plant matter)THANKS

[reeve105a]

What size viv do you keep yours in Stuart?
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[Stuart]

I offer mine fruit every other week,his favourite is grape, banana and kiwi. He loves locusts and will chase them all day long but a majority of his diet is rodent based.
Mine is in a 4ft herptek at present but could do with a bigger one soon..I use a 100 watt powersun for his basking spot.
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[lophius]

I keep my pair in an 8ft x 3ft x 3ft viv, this seems adequate for a pair of B&W's. In addition they get a bit of free roaming time around the dining room (or beastie room as that's where they are currently located).

The only fruit that mine are interested in is bananas. They used to eat grapes and apple, although as they have got bigger they have less interest in fruit.

The diet mainly comprises of Rodents, with raw chicken, chicks and fish.

Reds are more difficult to look after due to overall potential size and vitamin C requirement.

Both become really quite docile with size and interaction, but that said, my female wouldn't tolerate even being lifted from the viv until about 8 months ago when she hit about 40"

Carl

[mark_w]

I have my black & white in a 10 x 4 x 4 (which I built to be big enough for a trio. I'm sure that an 8 x 3 x 3 is fine for a single tegu or a pair.

I feed a lot of large roaches, both giant cave roaches and hissers. I use these a couple of times a week and a mixture of day old chicks and mice/rats once a week.

Mine won't touch fruit, but the roaches are gutloaded with it...

I use a 150W bulb in a large reflector to create the main basking spot, and have a 100W powersun to make a second one. I also have a six foot fluorescent tube and a couple of red bulbs which come on at night.

Substrate = bark chips (a full garden centre bag).

Tegus are amazing lizards, there's no doubt about it....

Mark.

[predator]

how long do ya'll keep them in a wintersleep.

and how do you keep em at this sleep period and how doe you build the food up or down towards or from the sleeping perion

i have heard from multiple experienced tegu keeprs that if you don't give them there wintersleep every year the will lose there fertility

what is your opinion on this

grts jelle

[mark_w]

how long do ya'll keep them in a wintersleep.

and how do you keep em at this sleep period and how doe you build the food up or down towards or from the sleeping perion

i have heard from multiple experienced tegu keeprs that if you don't give them there wintersleep every year the will lose there fertility

what is your opinion on this

Jelle; there's lots of theories around about hibernation and fertility in tegus.

Bert L states that if an animal misses a hibernation, it will not be usable as a breeder animal, even years later. Others have bred from animals which have skipped previous winter rests.

To me the most rational explanation is that if an animal skips its first (and/or second) winter, it grows too fast, and the reproductive organs don't develop properly, they are stretched or distorted in some way.

After about ten days with no food, I reduce daylength from 14h to about 6h, over about two weeks, and gradually reduce basking/ambient temps. Also I remove all night time heating. Then after the two weeks, all heat goes off, leaving it at room temp (65 - 70 degrees F).

Three months later, this is reversed, but more quickly.

Hope this helps,
Mark.

[kinkyskink]

Arg B&W s sound like a good choice to me.

Any pics of anyones pride and joy tegus?