The ambient temperature at the basking end should be 85 to 95 degrees the cool end should be 75 to 85 degrees and the nighttime temperature when the lights are turned off should be around 70 degrees. The basking spot temperature for hatchlings and adults should be 95 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, when taking a reading approximately 2 to 4 inches above the bricks, directly below the MVB. To make cleaning easier, we prefer three smaller doors over two larger ones, with a thumb hole measuring approximately 28 mm in diameter, drilled 3 inches down and 3 inches in from the top corners of each piece. White bathtub caulking is used to seal the seams, and we use acrylic for the sliding doors, for both safety and durability. We build our large, indoor enclosures to be 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 8 feet long, and use half-inch, double-sided melamine for the walls and top and three-quarter inch for the floor. If you can cover three-fourths of the screen top, or if you can find a lid that is solid for three-fourths of the top and a screen for the rest (at one end), this will help hold your temperatures steady and maintain humidity. You will need an enclosure that is at least 2 feet tall, 2 feet wide and 4 feet long, with sliding doors on the front and a screen/solid top. For a hatchling or yearling, skip the small aquarium. An enclosure measuring 3 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 8 feet long would be the minimum size needed for a subadult or adult, but an enclosure measuring 3 feet tall, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long would be ideal. Given that tegus are ground-dwelling lizards, keeping an adult happy indoors requires a large footprint, but not a lot of height. They remain cute, but they don’t remain little.Īlways support your tegu from its body and never pick it up by the tail. Make sure this very large lizard is right for you before bringing home a cute little baby from a reptile show. This kind of release hurts everyone, so please do your homework first before buying a tegu. In the wild, Argentine tegus are found in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil, and now in the Miami area of Florida, possibly due in part to people releasing pet tegus into the wild. These lizards will require time and effort on your part. However, if you’re looking for a lizard that remains a smaller size, can live in a small tank for its entire life and stays in its enclosure 24/7, then an Argentine tegu is definitely not right for you. If you’re looking for a large, intelligent lizard that craves interaction, then perhaps an Argentine tegu is right for you. It’s a reptile that looks at you when you talk to it, is curious about you and what you’re doing, interacts with you when you take it out of its enclosure, and truly wants to be in your company. To own an Argentine tegu is to have an intelligent friend with scales take hold of your heart and become a true member of your family. In my lifetime, I have owned many different reptiles, but nothing compares to an Argentine tegu. Now that I’m grown, that passion for reptiles is stronger than ever, and it is deeply seeded in my love of Argentine tegus.
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