How to keep your new Tegu, Tupinandus, with pictures

LA
Black and gold tegu from Colombia. Pretty much the same lizard other than color.

Origin: Tegus closely resemble (in appearance and requirements) the monitors from Africa and S.E. Asia. They come from quite a range in South America. The ones we get come mostly from Columbia. Happily, tegus stay much smaller than monitors.

Environment: Most tegus prefer to live on the ground, near water, in humid areas. Try to duplicate this in their living quarters.

Temperature: Tegus demand 85^o or better during the day. Too cool temperatures make them susceptible to disease. High temperatures speed up their metabolism. This helps them digest their food more easily and fight off diseases. Heat one end of their tank to around 100^o. Take any ill tegu to a lizard vet fast. And remember that a warm lizard is a fast lizard.

Foods: Feed the small guys gut-loaded crickets, grasshoppers, pinkie mice, small fish, eggs and canned or frozen tegu food. Larger tegus eat goldfish, mice, crayfish, rats, eggs, and birds. If you give your tegu live rodents, you are asking for a scarred (and maybe scared) lizard. (You would stop eating bacon and tomato sandwiches if they bit your face.) Humanely killed rodents make a safer food choice. The new frozen tegu foods make feeding them even easier. Yes, tegus will eat canned dog food. So will people. In the wild, tegus eat whatever they can catch or find – insects, eggs, birds, rodents, crayfish, fish and oddly enough fruit.

Colin Rye, June 14, 2006
I have been researching tegus for a little while now because I might get one someday, and I came across y'all's tegu page. I noticed how it looked like you are feeding mostly verts and inverts. On another site I saw, some scientists looked at what black and white tegus are eating in the wild and this is the outcome: They found that 66.8 % of the stomach contents consisted of fruit and vegetable matter; 12.9 % were invertebrates; and 20.3 % were vertebrates. I hope I helped y'all out on keeping your animals happy and healthy. ;)

Lighting: Like most reptiles, tegus need full-spectrum fluorescent lighting or daily sessions in real sunlight. The closer they can climb to your bulbs, the better your bulbs work. Set your timer on 12-hour days.

Supplements: Because baby tegus can grow so fast (as much as an inch a month), your baby tegu probably needs a calcium and vitamin supplement dusted on his food. If you give yours pinkies (baby rodents), you will meet many of his mineral and vitamin needs.

Heat: An under-cage heater plus a basking heat source make a good combination. Provide a range of temperatures. Incandescent lights make a good basking site.

Humidity Box: To get a good shed, tegus need a high humidity. They also like to get out of your sight occasionally. That’s why they crawl under their water bowl or dig into their substrate. Dampen their humidity box often. Poor sheds from low humidity can cause them to lose their toes.

Water: Tegus (and most big lizards) love soaking in their water. They also love turning over their water dishes. This also raises their humidity, but can make a mess. Use a very heavy water container. Most lizards defecate in their water. Change it daily.

Handling: Adult tegus can be hard to tame. The smallest ones are easier to work with. When you first get your tegu, you may need to use stout gloves to handle it. Some tegus never adjust to handling. If one of these guys runs out and bites you, you may inadvertently teach him to fly.

LA
Just tasting that finger.

Wild Tegus: Untamed tegus will bite you, scratch you, and tail-slap you -- just like iguanas on a smaller but stronger scale. Snipping off the tips of their toenails helps. Putting your hand over then on top their head also helps. You’ll also notice they argue less at cooler temperatures.

Breeding: Expect a three-month hibernation period. Not many people manage to breed these critters.

Snoopy: Tegus like to explore their surroundings. They use their long tongue and Jacobson’s organ to track prey and “taste” their environment. Give them branches and rocks to climb on and caves to explore. Your cage needs lizard-scaping.

Last Words: Remember that tegus sometimes walk around in their own digested food. This means they probably carry salmonella. Wash your hands after handling all reptiles. LA.