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Thread: Free roaming?

  1. #1

    Default Free roaming?

    So my tegu, Hat, is the light of my life. I've been wanting to let her free roam but I'm worried about health concerns. I'm scared she'll eat something or get to cold. Should I let her free roam? She's about full size, I think. She's like 3 feet long with the loss of her tail and weighs 6 lbs. Head to cloaca she's around 14 inches. She currently lives in a tegu-decked out bathroom. Can I let her free roam and just keep the door open? Will she go in there when she needs light and stuff? I have two cats and though they are mildly interested neither has tried any sort of aggressive behavior. They just tend to stare at her. Also, do tegus lay infertile eggs? She hasn't but I was just curious. Also, I'm pretty sure she is female, she has never popped while pooping and a vet that works with exotics felt her cloaca and thought she was a girl as well. Also I'd like to work on hand feeding? I want the utmost relationship with her because she is just so amazing and smart. Also, she gets aggressive when out for a while. When I go to pet her she'll huff and arch her back. If I offer my hand she'll lick and then try to bite it. Am I not feeding her enough?
    Last edited by DeathByLol; 03-29-2014 at 01:24 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Just keep working with her.. I wouldnt recommend hand feeding at all.. All tegus are diiferent but I've only seen that work with one tegu and its the Mcguyver on youtube. You would need to get your tegu a proper enclosure also a bathroom is not going to provide proper temps and humidty and it cannot burrow and hide so it may be stressed out.. that would be why its being aggressive towards you. She may also see those cats as either predators or prey you need to be careful this could end badly and be expensive for you my friend.. Post some pics of her if you dont mind.
    Last edited by glk832; 04-03-2014 at 12:17 AM.
    Hebrews 11:1-Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

  3. #3

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    Yeah that's what I thought. She has a humidifier, heater, a big dirt area for digging, and a big water bowl. She's never aggressive except when she's out walking in my house for a while and I don't bug her. If I'm constantly there petting her she's not but if I just watch her then go up to her later it's different. Neither her nor the cats have really ever interacted aside from just looking at each other curiously. 1959920_10200666601825736_1078358053_n.jpg1660676_657713210953673_1130510428_n.jpg

  4. #4
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    Nice looking tegu you have.. Also I've read that free roaming can affect the tegu's organs.. just something to think about.. other than that congrat on an nice animal.
    Hebrews 11:1-Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
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    Las Vegas
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    where di you read this at id like to take a look at it. I plan on letting my tegu free roam when he come of age

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    @chaoscarl I cant remember may have been on tegutalk or through a random search... But Im not saying they cannot freeroam at all but they need an enclosure.. I dont no it all but from what I read may not be the best option.
    Hebrews 11:1-Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

  7. #7

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    Heh thanks she's like my child.
    Organs? Like what?

  8. #8
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    Its from not have proper humidity... not sure which orgrans.. but here are some threads on tegu talk that give a little more info.. Mods if Im not suppose to do this just like me know

    I dont think free roam is bad your tegu just needs an enclosure to sup a natural enviroment, u know to get proper temps for basking proper 70% humidity for proper shedding

    http://www.tegutalk.com/threads/tegu-room.14496/

    http://www.tegutalk.com/threads/tegu...6/#post-145041
    Hebrews 11:1-Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    San Antonio,TX
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    glk832. Don't worry. We don't mind if you post some information on here from another forum .


    DeathByLol. I let our big lizards ( Tegus and black throat monitor ) free roam ( one at a time ) when we are at home. But they all have their own enclosures, too. If a Tegu doesn't have a proper enclosure with the right temps and humidity here are some problems your Tegu could have. I also recommend being very careful when letting your Tegu free roam around. Some of the Tegus get into everything. One of our Tegu's ate a rubber cap of a metal spring door stopper and got impacted. She pooped it out a month later ( went to the Vet two times and got a few X-rays done ).

    http://www.anapsid.org/kidney.html

    If you let your Tegu free roam around just for a little while I recommend putting up a basking spot.




    I hand feed all of our lizards. If you want to hand feed her you can try this out. When it's feeding time put her in the bath tub. Let her eat on her own for a little while. When you see that she slows down and get a bit full pick up a piece of food ( like a frozen/thawed rodent ). Hold it at the end so she can't bite you if she goes for the food. Most of the time when they get full they are not so food aggressive or not at all.

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  10. #10
    Join Date
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    This is something I am surprised to read. As the regulars (txrepgirl, laurafl etc.) here know, I have kept my black and white tegu since 2005/6. I also had two reds which I kept the same way (the reds were regretably rehomed in 2010 after I injured my arm to lessen my workload). From pics videos I have posted everyone felt my tegus were healthy, and the black and white has had multiple blood tests as standard procedure when he was treated for stomatitis a year or so ago, everything was perfect including the kidneys. I think the long time members here know that I tend to worry TOO MUCH about my animals rather than care too little. I hadn't posted for some years.

    I free roam my tegus, and have done so since they were big enough not to get lost in a crack somewhere. He still has their 6x3 foot enclosure from when they were small but I removed the doors when they got big and let them go in and out as they pleased. The enclosure is now like a basking spot, and another basking spot set up under my TV cabinet. Their water is also outside their "enclosure". They don't only stay in the enclosure either, they often sleep outside under the couch or coffee table.

    There has been NO SUBSTRATE IN THE ENCLOSURE SINCE 2008/9, and before that, it wasn't cypress mulch or coir either and was not kept damp either. Other than physical injuries like when it's tail tip came off in 2007 from tail whipping, and a stubborn bout of stomatitis once, there has been no problems. This isn't a "he looks nice and healthy" type of assessment either. He has had checkups and vet visits whenever I am even slightly paranoid about anything. The vets that saw him over the years were not cat and dog vets. One has opened and own a clinic specifically for exotics since 1980s, the other has since moved on after offered a job as the head of department for vet care for exotics at an ivy league university. The third one has worked with exotics for well over a decade, and last year opened his own clinic for exotics too.

    I understand the reason people say no free roaming because of humidity, right? Temperature can easily be adjusted. I have heard this said for multiple species (tegus, savs etc.). Sure, I don't live in the same climate as most of you, but I have no idea how you people keep your houses so dry. My house other than directly under the basking spot, is currently at 85% humidity at night, around 75 during the day just as is. The basking spot is dryer as expected so I put a humidifier spraying there hooked up on a hygrostat to 70%. Deep in the winter with the heat on in some parts of the house such as the snake room and my bed room, it can get to 60 to 65 at the lowest. In fact, during the summer months, in my snake room, I have to use a DEhumidifier to stop everything from molding.

    I don't think climate is the reason too because a lot of you keep your tegus in pens outside, and I see photos of these pens using dry hay as substrate, so why is that ok, if it is indeed your dry climate?

    I read a comment from someone (not sure here or on the links above) that if you keep your room at tegu required humidity levels, the "sheet rock would rot". I have no idea what that means, but I am sure if any kind of rock would rot, so would your wooden enclosures no matter what you seal it with. As for my house, other than some mold spots on the wall paint which I scrub right off every now and then, nothing is really a problem, and the mold is only in places like between a closet and the wall etc.

    People free roam their green iguanas which also have high humidity requirements and said to have fragile kidneys, but they can keep the humidity up with a sprayer without rotting the sheet rock. Yes, my iguana free roams in his own room too, he is going to be 11 years old this year and still going strong.

    You guys must have your furnaces running full time to keep your houses so dry?
    Last edited by Anthony; 02-27-2015 at 04:52 AM.

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