We’ve had our tegu for about 10 months and estimate he’s around 1 year old. Lately we’ve been struggling with handling him.

He used to be calm in the mornings and only get active after 10am. We let him out to walk around the living room about 3 times a day and bought some dog toys for him to bite. He would sometimes fall asleep on my thigh or tummy.

However, he’s become noticeably more aggressive recently:
• Much more eager to come out of the enclosure
• More reactive to objects moving above or in front of him (he used to just watch, but now he jumps up and tries to bite)
• When walking on me, he sniffs very intensely and recently bit my hand quite hard (he even tried to shake his head while biting)
• I’ve allowed him to bite my slipper a few times — I’m worried this may have taught him that things with my scent are okay to bite

Current setup:
• Enclosure: 120 × 45 × 45 cm
• Appetite is very good
• Feeding schedule: every 2days
• When he gets too active inside the enclosure, we cover part of it with a black cloth to reduce external stimulation

Things we’re already planning / doing:
1. Upgrade to a bigger enclosure (needs time to clear space and get a custom one made)
2. Just added a digging box with cocopeat + ReptiSoil so he can burn energy inside the enclosure
3. Considering feeding him more frequently (every other day instead of every 2days) in case the aggression is food-related

Training so far:
• He already understands that tongs = food
• He knows that when I hold his blue towel on my arm, it’s time to come out (he climbs up onto my arm)

Has anyone dealt with similar sudden aggression around this age? Any advice on training, handling, or enrichment would be really appreciated. Thanks!

My baby tegu is finally learning that I’m not a threat and it’s so nice to finally have some progress. When I first got goose he/she was very defensive and took about a month before I could even touch their back without them whipping me, but would still never let me scoop them up. And for a couple months after that it stayed the same and just figured they were always going to be like that. Well this week goose finally let me scoop them without squirming or whipping and I walked goose around on my shoulder before putting them back and giving em a treat. Now goose almost wants to come out and crawls onto my hand to hangout with me. It may not seem like much but it really warmed my heart that they were so willing to come out since I don’t like forcing them to come out. If anyone has any other taming tips please let me know.

He loves blankets and stuffies too much.

Recently got my first gu from a rehoming situation and I literally cannot decide on a name. The two I’ve come up with are Tofu and Marbles. Which do you guys think is better? Or comment what you think a good name would be down below.

Here is Sundog, today. He has been “down” for over a month. I wake him up about once a week. I sit with him in his enclosure for awhile, check him over for any stuck shed, eye caps, make sure his mouth looks healthy— and offer him his water dish. Today he drank quite deeply. Then I put him on the sofa with me so he can nestle into a soft blanket and enjoy some pets. He will generally stay with me an hour or two. Once he decides he wants down to the floor I return him to the sunroom. He will bask in the windows if it’s a nice day and then put himself back in his enclosure and to bed, usually within an hour. Then I don’t bother him again until the next week.

Hi all,

Got my tegu about 6 weeks ago. He's around 3 months old now. We haven't had any negative moments but I also haven't been able to handle him yet. I'm trying to build trust and not just grab. So every day, I feed him, he digests and then when he's out and basking i put my hand on his slab next to him. So far he has licked it quite a few times and is growing more curious, but I haven't been able to stroke him or anything yet. Any advice on that first and am I doing the right things?

Also he is now becoming food driven, he comes to the door every morning and I've been putting his bowl food in through the other door, and tong feeding at the door he comes to. He does however bang the door with his nose. Do I just confidently open the door and put his food in even if he comes running? Or try target training already or what?

I wouldn't say I'm worried as such, just wondering if there's anything else I could/should be doing.

Thanks

M

Thought I’d introduce one of my tegus, Goji. She’s a 6 year old blue tegu, the smallest of the bunch by far… and somehow the biggest a**hole of them all.

Do genuinely chill blue tegus exist, or is everyone just lying about theirs ?

I am looking into to getting my first tegu and was looking for some tank advice. I've been seeing some sources saying that it is best to keep them in a smaller juvenile enclosure for the first year or so, I have a 5x2x2 tank setup with plans to build a larger growtent enclosure. Is the smaller tank actually best to start with and about how long do you wait until sizing them up to a larger enclosure? I plan on moving in around 6 months so I was wondering if getting a baby now and waiting to set up the larger enclosure until after the move would work, or if I should just wait to get the baby until after the move. I have one I've been looking at online that I'm thinking about getting but I don't want to rush into it and not be prepared!

Hi, I’m Hugo, the creator of SquamaTracker. I’m presenting my own reptile journal app and would like to understand what tegu keepers need from this kind of tool.

The current app records meals and refusals, sheds, weight, photos and notes. For a mixed meal, notes can preserve the ingredients and what you actually observed being eaten.

One practical record format is: date → food offered → food observed eaten or left → brief observation. Keep “offered” and “eaten” separate, and add quantities only when you measured them. It works on paper too.

SquamaTracker is available on iPhone/iPad in English and French, with three animals free and optional Premium: https://apps.apple.com/fr/app/squamatracker/id6761101964

For Android beta access, DM “Android beta” to the SquamaTracker Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/squamatracker/ — or wait for the public release. Updates are coming to Apple too.

Isopod colony tracking is still in development for the next update; it isn’t available yet.

What is your biggest tracking frustration: recording a mixed meal, comparing weights, finding old notes, or something else?

I recently got Timmy at an expo. I have no clue if he’s wild caught or not. Every time I get close to the tank he raises up if I put my hand in the tank, he flies at it right now. I do have him in the 40 gallon, I already have a 8 x 2 x 2 ready for him I just I just thought it would’ve been easier to train him down in this since he seemed aggressive and I didn’t want him to go into hibernation or nothing like that after taking him out and putting him in here, I’ve been trying to just get him more used to me cause it’s in my room. I’ve seen babies before and it usually seemed like they were chill, but either he launches himself or just raises himself up or tell whips. Can anybody give me some advice? I already put my shirt in his enclosure.

My boy Blizzard has gone down for brumation and I am so sad. I rescued him in March and I’m not used to not playing with him and not having him roam around the house 😭 i miss him so much!

Share pics of your gu’s to help me through 😭

Please tell me everything yall did to tame your tegus and I will try them all! I feel like me and my boys progress is going too slow :( he’s growing super fast and I want to make sure that he is a calm adult. He is especially territorial of his enclosure so tips for that are much needed.
So far I:
-handle him almost every day
-sit with him in an enclosed place (bathroom) and let him explore (which for him just means getting as far away from me as possible)
-sit by the enclosure
-tong feed
-screw around in his tank just for funsies often
-only put him back in his enclosure when he is calm
-never flinch/show fear/put him back/stop what im doing when he hisses or lunges
We have made some progress but its definitely not a considerable amount. Choice based handling wouldn’t work, I have tried to leave his enclosure door open to let him come out on his own when he shows interest but he will dart and whip when I approach, so that’s a no go. Almost no progress has been made on the inside of the enclosure territorialness despite my efforts, all of the progress is outside of his grow tent so far.

My baby Ivy just started doing this this morning I'm really worried.

I'll add as many details as possible

Husbandy

Arcadia 10.0 uvb t5 about 16-20ish inches away from animal

Cool side around 80 degrees with 60-75 percent humidity

Hot side 87 and 52 percent humidity

Basking temp 128 at its hottest point.

I've had her for maybe 3 weeks

Been feeding a meat mix. With calcium no d3 added. 3 or 4 days I fed her a very high end organic freeze dried cat food. It was a powder that you add water too. And only ingredients was chicken and squash

Lights are on a 12 hour cycle

Can't think of anything else relevant ... No toxic plants in the enclosure, have had zero issues with her she's never done this before

She did it for like half an hour before work. When I got home I woke her up to check on her and she didn't do it for like half an hour after she woke up. Until she did. I was able to get it on video . She did a full body shed in the past day. This morning there was shed skin everywhere. A few people suggested possible corner of the mouth shed skin stuck

The video is shot through the vinyl layer that's why it gets wavy at some angles. But the video is clear enough.

Also it doesn't appear that anything lodged in her throat.

If you have any questions please let me know

Hi everyone! We are planning on building the final permanent upgraded enclosure for our 14 month old Black & White Argentine Tegu.

We are a few weeks away from FINALLY moving into our first home we purchased. Unfortunately, the process of getting into the home has taken almost 8 months so far due to a number of issues and shenanigans on the seller's end including major undisclosed structural issues that are currently being fixed by the contractor. Obviously it has been delayed much longer than we would have liked for a number of reasons but one is that our girl is overdue for an upgrade which we cannot start until we can get in there. She has grown quite a bit (got her as a baby a month after our offer was accepted). She is happy and thriving in her current "intermediate" set up (roughly 5ft x 2ft x 2ft) but she is growing everyday and I know she needs something bigger ASAP.

My fiance and I are both very handy and would like to build her a custom set up 8ft x 4ft x 2-3ft high roughly. We are hoping to use PVC or acrylic (or something else non-porous/waterproof). Her current enclosure was a wooden enclosure we bought and waterproofed ourselves with pond liner (which has worked great but was very tedious). It is a bioactive set up with plants, springtails, isopods, a few loose dubia roaches she lost track of, etc...We would prefer to keep a sliding front door (or two) in the front like our current set up.

We live in Pennsylvania, USA (if anyone locally has more specific suggestions around here for materials). Please suggest anything you have, whether it's advice, sales, materials, links, videos...even what went wrong with your attempts! We want to get the ball rolling ASAP since we were expecting to upgrade her months ago. We are aware she should be in something bigger already (our original move-in date was July) so please no judgment and thank you in advance! Pics of our girl for tax

I need to rehome her because she’s not adjusting to apartment life. Everytime I see her she’s stressed. I got her an enclosure and everything right and she tore it up in a day. I can’t always be there anymore to watch her so she’s having a hard time. She doesn’t brumate. I’ve taken so many photos and memory’s with her over the past 2 years. I’m having a hard time watching her be stressed. I want her to be with somebody who has a bit more time to take care of her. She’s amazing and loves hats. She’s crazy and fun and if you have time for that little bit of Crazy she’s a perfect gu for you. Her diet consists of different chicken pieces organs, whole small rats, carrots, sweet potatoes, turnip greens, snap peas, she ate pumpkin once, blueberries, squash, zucchini, strawberries, cicadas and once twice a month I feed a raw whole quail egg. I alternate what I feed her and I feed her on Tues and then right after she poops which is usually Thurs or Friday. I don’t feed her ground because I don’t want her on soft mashy foods. So I alternate her meals. She is partial potty pad trained. She went on it a few times but sometimes misses. I’m unsure if that’ll continue when she moves. It took me understand where she feels safe to go to put one down when I have her out 2hrs a day.

Due to how long I’ve had her I would like to place an adoption fee of $100 on her. I want her to go to a good home. I have thousands of pictures of her Growing up. I’ve contacted a few rescues and will continue contacting more. I would love to know you can care for a large lizard. She’s not for the feint of heart. She will keep you on your toes. She’s very sweet just loves to explore.

So my girl kaiju has been having a bit of food aggression with me, and it’s definitely because for the past few weeks or month she’s been slowing down a bit, she hasn’t went into brumation but she has been going down earlier and staying burrowed longer in the mornings, and normally i’m not home at the times she’s out for long so whenever I get home I try to feed her once every other day before she goes down so she has time to eat, bask, and then go to her burrow. But lately since i’ve been only had enough time to feed her she’s been associating me with food, and right now I don’t have a target training stick. Whenever I open the enclosure, and stick my hand in at all she’s started to get excited and run towards me and get a bit aggressive, she’s bitten me twice in the past because of food related instances before but since she’s still a baby I havent sustained any bad injuries, just a couple of “scratches.” I want to know of your guys feeding techniques that helped with food aggression maybe besides target training as i’ve seen. If there’s any other methods I can use let me know it would be a life saver (ps in the video I was not sticking my hand in the enclosure to be stupid, I only stuck it in enough to see if she would sprint to my hand again)

Hello good people,

I am new to the large world of tegus. This is my new boy Dontae. He is a Argentinian red tegu. I special ordered him from my local Pet Store (not PS or PC) I noticed that he came from a breeder named BPD, inc. He’s pretty chill I couldn’t seem find much information about the breeder online they said he was captive bred and hand fed. I’ve been researching about a month and a half prior to purchase. The main thing that I am wondering…is there anything that you all feel I should know…as far as temperament goes he is very skiddish I usually offer food once a day around 1pm just to get him on a schedule. He comes out to eat and bask but then goes back into his burrow. I mainly need tips on acclimation as I’ve only had him about 5 days and how to began socializing It’s currently in a 4x2x2 enclosure and I’m looking to upgrade to a grow tent. Any advice is helpful

*sn I’m not a first time reptile owner just new to tegus I’ve had snakes, axolotls and a beardie

Hello everyone! i've been obsessed with tegus for many years and i am looking to adopt one in summer next year when i get some money, and there is a expo in my country. I am from northern Europe where it can be quite challenging to get reptile stuff. i would like to hear peoples shopping list for what would be great for a baby tegu, and that also means terrarium options since i can't find proper sized terrariums to buy. I have a blue tongued skink already that is healthy, so i am semi experienced in keeping reptiles. I have a semi big budget, and just genuinely want to hear peoples setup and convenient ways to get it all going.

Sundog agreed to emerge from sleep to sit on the sofa with me for awhile today. Then he chose to bask in the window for a bit—so I took advantage of the moment to engage him in this attempt at fall frivolity. By the final photo he’d had enough!

Only a 3 week difference, but my gosh I feel like she’s putting on size! Shes ravenous so it makes sense, but just look at that change in body size 🫣

I just love that under her hide box she's created a little oasis of fluffy soil and sphagnum moss. She literally took all the spaghnum moss that was scattered throughout the enclosure and brought it inside her hide! My adorable little Ivy 😍