Got a tegu!

[shekes]

I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina and keep loads of tropical fish.

About one month ago I was looking at fish at the animal market in Buenos Aires and saw a nine year old boy holding a 3' tegu. The animal didn't look happy and when I inquired the boy said that it was thirsty. I went to look for water. The tegu had some. I inquired whether it was tame. The boy assured me that it was totally. And then I bought it for 30 pesos, like USD10 or so.

It was a an impulse. I was not planing on keeping one but it looked pretty unhappy there being held in the heat with all the crowds...

A week later I visited a friend of mine who owns a pet store and he told me that the tegu was probably not tame at all but wild caught and probably drugged or something and that it would bite my fingers off.

At first I kept it in a 30g tank where it was obviously unhappy. But once it escaped I let it run around the apartment. It is very shy and doesn't let me hold it. It hisses a bit but doesn't try biting. It spends most of the time hiding underneath the furniture. I feed it beefheart, leftovers of my food, fruit and eggs. Today it almost ate from my hands.

I plan on keeping it and I think I just let it roam around the ground floor of the apartment. It hasn't figured out how to get upstairs.
My groundfloor has no direct sunlight.

Advice would be appreciated!

 

[bolty]

dont they need sun light/uv?

is yours a red?
http://72.194.97.91:9090/webwallpaper/red_tegu_02_640.jpg

http://www.hilozoo.com/images/animals/r_tegu2.jpg

 

[shekes]

They probably do need sunlight. That's why I am asking...

It's a lagarto obero - Tupinambis teguixin - Argentine tegu

 

[bolty]

dont take what i said the wrong way. thats why i put "?"....

 

[fishnutham]

you should create a basking area with a heat lamp and a full spectrum uv light the lack of uv will cause calcium defeincy amoung other problems ,try putting his food close to the basking area he'll find it that way and mabe a log or rock for him to lay on and some cover so he'll feel safer.
http://thetegu.com/contentid-22.html

 

[Sunpoe]

you should create a basking area with a heat lamp and a full spectrum uv light the lack of uv will cause calcium defeincy amoung other problems ,try putting his food close to the basking area he'll find it that way and mabe a log or rock for him to lay on and some cover so he'll feel safer.
http://thetegu.com/contentid-22.html

 

[shekes]

Last night I woke up from some loud bang. The tegu broke a mirror.

I spent all morning looking for glass on the floor. I cut my wrist too. Today I managed to lure it out from underneath the cupboard with beefheart, then I bathed it and put it in front of a lamp on the floor.

It ate well but hadn´t I been careful it would have eaten my fingers. At least it went after them. It was calm most of the time when I held it in the water. It spent some two hours infront of the lamp and crawled back underneath the cupboard.

Will a halogen-light heater (I already have) do for the calcium or do I need a special lamp?

Is there a way to somehow make it defecate in some places and not in others? I understand it cannot be toilet-trained, but can anything be done at all?

Most importantly:

If it really is wild-caught, and that is what it looks like, will it still go tame? I like the lizard but I really need my fingers, be it only to post on MFK...

 

[Ophiuchus]

Last night I woke up from some loud bang. The tegu broke a mirror.

I spent all morning looking for glass on the floor. I cut my wrist too. Today I managed to lure it out from underneath the cupboard with beefheart, then I bathed it and put it in front of a lamp on the floor.

It ate well but hadn´t I been careful it would have eaten my fingers. At least it went after them. It was calm most of the time when I held it in the water. It spent some two hours infront of the lamp and crawled back underneath the cupboard.

Will a halogen-light heater (I already have) do for the calcium or do I need a special lamp?

Is there a way to somehow make it defecate in some places and not in others? I understand it cannot be toilet-trained, but can anything be done at all?

Most importantly:

If it really is wild-caught, and that is what it looks like, will it still go tame? I like the lizard but I really need my fingers, be it only to post on MFK...

1.) the halogen lamp should be ok for heating, but you still need a UV light

2.) Tegus aren't known for being easy to pody-train, or most other lizards for that matter. Not saying its impossible, but I'd opt for a cage.

3.) Tegus, in general, are cantankerous lizards. Few become tame in the sense that they can be handled for any amount of time. If it were me, I'd release it somewhere in the jungle since it's most likely wildcaught anyway. Its nice that you rescued it from the market, but I think you should do both of you a favor by letting it go. Unless you just really feel that its presence alone is worth it, what you're experiencing now is what you can expect from here on out: a grumpy lizard that bites, poops in undesirable places and occasionally breaks stuff.

 

[shekes]

cantankerous?
Now that's a mouthful! I never even heard this word before.

Maybe you're right and I should just release it. But only if it is wildcaught I think. If it's not wouldn't it be even worse?

Anyway I'll keep it for a while and see how it goes. My place already stinks and there a few more mirrows it could break.

You say toilet-trained "not impossible". How would I go about that then? For now it is my most important issue.

I looked on thetegu.com and everybody there feeds them life insects. Now that's disgusting. I am not doing that! Do you think it is necessary?

 

[Ophiuchus]

Cantankerous is usually synomous with grouchy, crabby, irritable, etc etc.

Given the area you live, I'd bet money its wildcaught. It probably why that boy sold it to you for so cheap. He found it in the forest and figured he could make a few bucks. If he had truly raised this lizard in captivity, he would have a decent amount of effort and expense invested into it, and probably wouldv'e demanded a little more money for it.

The key to pody-training any lizard is determining a frequent location it already prefers to defecate at. Then you can experiment by either lining that area with newspaper or something or placing a shallow tran or pan for a litter box. Some lizards accept this as their latrine area, and some lizards don't. If your lizards exhibits no such behavior, and randomly expunges himself where ever he desires, then the problem is significantly more difficult. This another reason to get a caeg for him. Most animals prefer not to sully their living quarters. Confine your lizard to a smaller space, even if its just sectioning off a room in the apt, and he will more inclined to choose a specific spot to poop, because on some level he knows that if he just poops all over his cage, he'll have no clean spot to lie when he's ready to sleep. But again, there are some lizards that simply don't care, so be patient and don't hold your breath for him to change overnight.

Tegus are one of the most opportunistic lizards there is. They naturally eat anything they can find and catch, including insects & other invertebrates, small rodents, birds, and other smaller reptiles. I've even read that they actively linger around human development to raid garbage containers for leftover food. And many will accept vegetation as well.

Most of what you've been feeding him is okay, but cut back on the beef heart, and try to round his diet out with insects and rodents. Many of us herpers feed our lizards insects; I'd try to grin and bear it.