Black and Gold Tegu Caresheet

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Origin
Quite a bit of the Amazon basin

Day Temperature
85o to 95o gradient, 100o plus for basking

Substrate
Cypress bark

Climbing Area
Provide stout limbs and rocks to climb on

Security
Needs a hide/humidity box

High Humidity
Provide a large water pan and mist often

Foods
Insects, fish, crayfish, rodents, birds, fruit

Supplements
Calcium and vitamins

Lighting
Full-spectrum

Breeding
Unlikely

Threats
Low heat. Low humidity. Poor nutrition.

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.

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.

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.

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.

a tip in taming your tegu is to feed him in a seperate container..with the food in the container already..so you'll be handling them 2 twice putting him in and getting him out the container after eating..the logic in this is simple the tegu will incorporate the container as food not your hand (when your feeding in his enclosure) so he wont go berserk if he/she sees you. less mess in the enclosure and they wont digest any substrate.

since a majority of death in tegus are in impactation (due to feeding when still your mice with hairs, when they get older it would be easier for them to digest hair) they get impacted, a way to monitor your tegu in going to the toilet is to potty train him/her.
here's another tip:
In another container put some luke warm water after eating (you be the judge put your hand first tegus dont have heat detectors below there belly areas so they could burn themselves without knowing it.) and wait for a while 90% they will go if not try the next day and the day after if they still dont go better go to a vet.
but in my experience if the tegu is still young they would do there business like clockwork when they get a little bit bigger they tend to take a long time to do their business.

HTH