I’d like to introduce everyone to my new red tegu named Ragu and ask a few questions. I got him about a week ago. He is about 6 months old. He wants nothing to do with me yet (understandable because I haven’t had him long) and I’ve been giving him a bit of time to settle. I have him in a grow tent and I’ll sit on the floor with the door open all the way and mess around in his enclosure and try to get my hands close to him until he’s not having it. Should I just try to grab him and hold him and force it that way, or will that cause more stress and more harm than good? Also, I have heard a few people suggest tong feeding as a way to help only I can’t really find anything he likes enough to really eat from tongs. The best luck I’ve had is with a hard boiled egg. But I’ve tried chicken hearts and livers and ground turkey and he doesn’t seem to want to eat. Unless he’s still settling in. Any other food recommendations that might help?

So my 1 year old tegu has had problems for a while. Hes gone through antibiotics among other stuff to try to treat him. He was mainly treated for shedding issues which has somewhat solved now.

I thought for a while he wa sliving too dry (fluctuating between 50-70%) which i knoe id a bit less then it should. Do i brought a humidifier. And not its steadily kept at 70-90% as it should. But for some reason his breath seems rven more groggy now.

His urates also seem very eatery and the urine part of his urates seem very yellow and a bit sandy. Only time ive seen this before has been with a frileld dragon that lived WAY TOO DRY for way too long and im scared ive caused damage to some of his organs??

He also has these weird black spots on his body that i could only guess is because of fungal infection. Which i suppose is caused by me not changing his substrate or maybe its a ventilation issue?? I need someone to confirm so i know what to do.

I believe my vet isnt educated enough to find the cause.

I took Kubo to see the vet on Thursday about his hind legs and turns out he has MBD (Metabolic Bone Disease) but it's early and easily fixable! He doesn't have enough bone definition in his feet because his diet has been mostly turkey meat, So that's why he's having trouble walking. He's now been switched over to whole prey with .3 ml of a calcium prescription, And we're already seeing improvement. Thanks so much to everyone who helped! Kubo should be fully recovered in about 2-3 weeks and that should be when his big cage is finished!

Hey everyone. So, I've made a huge mistake, and I feel absolutely awful about it, but I really need your help.

I am a long-time reptile owner, and my fiancee and I adopted a 10-month old B&W tegu from horrible conditions last April. We built him a temporary 6x3x3 enclosure that he thrived in and had plenty of outside time from (despite not being very tame, I made sure to let him roam supervised for at least a few hours a day.

Fast-forward to now: My fiancee found someone else to be with and broke up with me, and I lost my job due to the fires in LA. I'm forced to move back in with my mom for the time being, but I can't take Nico the tegu with me. Fortunately I can have all of my other pets. This is where my plea for help comes in:

If you can give Nico a good home, you can have him and his enclosure and all his supplies for free. He is target trained and doesn't bite, but is not fully tame. Please please please someone give him a good home. All of my pets are rescues and I feel absolutely terrible having to give him up, but I cannot feasibly take care of him and my ex isn't interested in him anymore.

TLDR: Please help me rehome my tegu to a good home in Socal for free

I am starting with an 8x4x4 enclosure build. I know it isn't a big enclosure to begin with... BUT It will be modular and eventually expanded to a trio of 8x4x4 modules. My girl gets plenty of 'sploring time, but I want her to have a nice luxury condo.

Any and all: interior structure, feature, and decoration ideas are welcome.

I'm particularly interested in enclosure swimming features if anyone has any of thejr own to show off, or any suggestions

I build bioactive dart frog enclosures as a hobby but this large scale tegu build will be a first for me. So please be kind and I am very thankful in advance for any suggestions <3

During bath time today, when it was time to come out, and shortly after as he was climbing up my chest to perch on my shoulder, Kaiju made what I can only describe as adorable, petulant grumbly noises? Like, clearly audible, an actual vocal sound rather than just an exhalation of air or huff. Has anyone else experienced this? I know a lot of reptiles aren't capable of vocalization, and I can't seem to find anything on whether Tegus are. He was otherwise breathing and behaving totally normally. Sleepy Tegu tax included.

My tegu has been refusing food more recently than not, he has even spit food out, but I just attributed it to him being in shed and that it’s winter. A few days ago he had very loose stool and has had one just about every day since. The last two meals he ate were fish which I’ve head could cause runny stools. I’m not sure if there is something wrong, he is active, persistent to come out and drinking as always just not eating much and having the daily loose stools. Could this all be stress related as well? Thoughts?

Sammy has been 7 for 7 this past week on pooping on a pad. Unlike last season, this year when it gets warm out I plan to keep asking him to go on the pads before taking him on a leash outside. I have no doubts that he would poop elsewhere in the house outside of his enclosure if I did not keep redirecting him and encouraging him to use the pads. Especially on carpeted surfaces, as these would feel like the pads and it is asking a lot to get him to differentiate between the two. I end up taping 4 together to give him sufficient room to walk around and also to wipe his butt when he is done.

Cy came out of brumation very cuddly this year. When he is free roaming in the reptile room, he likes to be close to me or in my lap. He's almost 3 years old, so this may be the last year he has a growth spurt. We'll see how big he gets.

Google says they live 15 - 20 years but I heard they can live longer in captivity. Also, what humidity do you keep your red tegus at ? Same for B&W tegus.

Hello all real quick question. Is it better to have the tegu hide on the cool side of the enclosure or the hot side. And for taming a young tegu should I take him out of the hide or let that be his safe space and don’t disturb him if he goes in there

Jabba the Gutt doesn't even know he's about to get oiled up on a Wednesday afternoon

I love his splootin pose.

Hey guys I’ve been using the tips for taming my golden tegu and it seems to be working but I have seem to hit a road block on her taming.

I’ve gotten her to get raw chicken from my hand not lucky enough for palm feeding yet, but she allows me to pet the top of her head usually not without a hiss or two. But every attempt I’ve made to pick her up or touch her anywhere else seems to be a no go.

And I’m kinda scared to do any form of water training because of transporting her from the tub back and forth could cause to much damage to are taming ability that and the fact she really flighty. But other then those issues she seems to have really lighten up to me.

Do you guys have any tips on how to keep progressing with the taming?

Greetings from Sundog