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Thread: Can You Free Roam Tegus

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Melbourne, Fl
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    Question Can You Free Roam Tegus

    I may be buying a giant Argentine black and white tegu in the next few months. The one I am considering I helped raise almost from hatching.He is puppy dog tame and has never so much as opened his mouth at me. My concern is this can I let him free roam an area of my house like a living room or bed room? If i set up a sunning and heating area could that be an appropriate enclosure? I ask because I know people who have had similar living arrangements for iguanas, Nile monitors, and Savannah Monitors but I'm not sure if a tegu can acclimate to this sort of environment? thank you in advance for the help.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    San Antonio,TX
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    Hi Carol-Ann.Welcome to the Tegu forum family.We have 5 Tegus and two off them free roam the house most off the day.I have a basking spot set up for them in the living room.It would be good if you have a enclosure for him when he goes to sleep so he doesn't get to cold and because off the humidity he need.

    This is the basking area in the living room.I also put a towel around the stand where the plastic bin sits on so they wouldn't be a draft when the AC turns on.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsthJieV5qs
    Rich is not how much you have, or where you are going, or what you are.Rich is who you have beside you.

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Pennsylvania
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    HI Carol-Ann, Yes! My tegus free roam when and if they like to. They have their own enclosures where they retire. Certain temperatures, UVB rays and humidity come in to play for proper digestion, vitamin processing and shedding purposes. They also like to dig, burrow and sometimes hide in the substrate.


    Welcome Aboard ...

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Melbourne, Fl
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    thanks so much I'm so excited he's probably the sweetest tegu I've ever been around and coincidentally he's name also happens to be zeus

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Manchester, NH
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    Argentine Tegus are one of the easiest animals to have free roaming. They acclimate to their surroundings very well!!! Our first was a free roam through our college dorm room for her entire first year with us. We had her heat and uvb lamp set up underneath our computer desk (with a nice resting bed on top of the subwoofer) and then her night nest box and water tub were located underneath the bed. The rest of the time she just wandered about. One good thing about them is that you can potty train them, ours goes to to the bathroom in a luke warm water tub every morning and then there's no accidents for the rest of the day. Good Luck!
    0.1 B&W Tegu (Remington Steel)
    1.0 Extreme Giant Tegu (Smallz)
    1.0 Blue Tegu (Shakespeare)

    0.1 Red Tegu (Izma)
    0.0.1 Caiman Lizard (Bubba)
    0.1 Black Throat Monitor (Tanin)
    1.1 Emerald Tree Boas (Buddy & Ezzy)
    0.1 Lavender Albino Reticulated Python (Leelu)
    1.0 Granite Burmese Python (Reaper)
    --
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  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
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    San Antonio,TX
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    Your welcome.I like the name Zeus .I don't mind at all that we have two Zeus here on the forum now.I can't wait to see some pictures off him .
    Rich is not how much you have, or where you are going, or what you are.Rich is who you have beside you.

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  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Las Vegas, NV
    Posts
    746

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    I think there are very few people here who don't let their tegus free roam to some degree or another. As long as I'm at home Dino is out, either in the house or the back yard then I put him up when I leave.
    0.1.0 BP (Spiral) aka Rita Wayward
    2.1. Dogs (White Boys "Powder", Paw Paws "Achilles" & Panini)

    " 14 July 2010,..Always Remembered"

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    richmond, va
    Posts
    362

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    How exactly do you go about potty training a tegu so that he can free roam during the day?
    1 leopard gecko
    1 gargoyle gecko
    125 gallon fish tank african cichlids
    1 red tegu
    1 jeweled lacerta
    1 western hognose
    1 coastalxjungle carpet python
    1 argentine red tail boa
    1 braziliain rainbow boa
    2 lightening blue geckos
    1 tokay gecko
    hundreds of roaches

  9. #9
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    S.E.Texas
    Posts
    244

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    Hey Carol-Ann, welcome to the forums! Glad to have you here!

    I let my girl free roam outside and in the house, but I return her to her enclosure when I get busy. One reason is because they tend to eat things they shouldn't, another reason is because they can wedge themselves in odd places when you aren't watching them. The main reason for returning her to the enclosure is so that she can bask, absorb the humidty, and sleep undisturbed. Here in S.E. Texas it is pretty hot outside and we run the central air-conditioning at around 70 degrees. It's just too cold and dry for a tegu to have continual free access in the house. So far my girl hasn't had any shedding problems whatsoever.

    When she is free-roaming inside or out, I am constantly watching her making sure she doesn't get into any trouble. She has been know to attempt to eat dog poop, frog poop, cat poop and other unknown objects. So that's why I put her up when I can't give my full attention to her.

    Everyone is different, and it's the same with their Tegu's. What works well for one may not work for others. I do know that these lizards are from warm, humid, tropical environments and for their optimal health we need to try to duplicate their natural habitat.

    This is just my personal opinion. So I hope it's taken that way. I learned most of this from THIS site...
    The most experienced breeder of B & W Arg. and Red Tegu's--Johnny LaRocca!

    He learned from his friend and the most influential reptile breeder in America, Bert Langerwert. In Bert's newly published biography he has this to say about Johnny LaRocca....page 419 "Johnny LaRocca... the one breeder I worked most closely with studying tegus. His tegus are the best I have seen produced anywhere except on my farm".

    Purchased my Awesome Tegu from teguterra.com

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Melbourne, Fl
    Posts
    4

    Talking wow

    I had no idea that they could be potty trained I mean my old Colombian Mars, now my girlfriend Heathers, goes on a towel before we let him roam around but potty training seems like a wonderful idea. As far as getting wedged in odd places I know all about that I once had two pull a 6 ft. green iguana out from behind a fridge where I assume he had been trying to absorb some warmth. If I was to free roam zeus he would be confined to a specific bedroom so he couldn't sneak outside or into the toilet (I've seen pictures of a friends nile caught swimming in a toilet), or god forbid behind the fridge. How do you potty train them? I was just going to get tile (ya know easy clean up).

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