Information for keepers of Leopard Geckos, Crested Geckos, Bearded Dragons, Blue Tegus and Columbian Red-Tail Boas.

Blue Tegu Care Sheet
Tupinambis teguixin sp.
by Ken Nunn

Enclosures: 

Hatchlings and young Tegus: We started with a 20 Gal long reptile tank. It was easy to clean and small enough to not stress out the lizard. I believe that a big enclosure for a small lizard is a bad thing. Too much room seems to stress out smaller animals of almost any kind. Your Tegu will quickly outgrow this enclosure however and will need much more substantial housing at a fairly young age. 

3 Months to Adult: Now the little one is becoming not so little anymore and will need to be given a substantially larger enclosure. I chose to provide my single Blue Tegu with an 8' X 2' X2' enclosure. I believe this enclosure would be suitable for two blues as they are the smaller species of Tegu. As our Tegu outgrew his 20 L he was place in the 8' enclosure. It was first segregated into two 4' sections to acclimate him to the larger enclosure. As he grew his cage length was increased until the full 8' of cage was available to for his destructive pleasure :) 

Temperature:The Tegu has fairly specific temperature requirements. A basking spot of 100-110F should be available. The ambient temps should be in the low to mid 80's. At night the enclosure should not drop below 75F or your Tegu may show reduced appetite and/or may prompt him to enter hibernation during certain times of the year.

Light: UVB is necessary. A good UVB bulb should be placed appropriately in your Tegus enclosure. This is important to assist in facilitating a Tegus rapid growth and maintain proper health. The better the light the healthier, larger Tegu you will have. Particularly important to young growing Tegus. We use the ReptiSun 5.0 tubes but there are many options available to Tegu keepers. Visit our links page to see some suppliers who offer UVB.

Substrate: There are many options to Tegu keepers for suitable substrates. You can use Cypress Mulch, Fir Mulch, Eucalyptus Mulch or Orchid Bark. I am told river silt (sandy dirt) works great too. 

We used an orchid bark substrate while the young Tegu was housed in the 20 long. It is a little finer and easier to burrow into. It is expensive though and really only an option in small quantities. Filling an 8' enclosure would not be cost effective.

For larger enclosures a mulch substrate is in order. We use a fir mulch as Cypress is not readily available to us on the west coast. The brand we use is Whitney Farms Bark Mulch. It is available at Fred Meyers which is all over this area if you are local. About $2 a bag and two bags fill our 8' enclosure nicely. Put a good thick layer of 6-8" in there so the Tegu has some room to root around and burrow in. They LOVE TO DIG!! I believe Cypress is is the proffered mulch of choice if it's available but my little buddy likes his fir mulch just the same.

Hide Boxes: We use a nice dark appropriately sized Rubbermaid box. Ours is about 2' X 1 1/2' x 10" high. I used a soldering iron to cut a hole big enough for Tegan (our Tegu) to slide his big rump in there. I fill this with moist mulch and maintain a humid state for my Tegu to aid in shedding etc. He likes to use it for a litter box mainly which sure makes cleaning easy. He does more hiding under the box than in it though.

Plants and other furniture:  Keep it simple, they will destroy everything nice. They just want to bask, dig, eat and sleep. Provide them with the appropriate place to do these things and your Tegu will be happy.

Food and Water: Our Blue Tegus diet consists mainly of ground turkey meat, king worms, occasional mice and some canned dog food once in a while for a little variety. Most blues do not take to fruit as do other species of Tegu. 

In the growing stages and into adulthood it is important that their meals be properly supplemented with calcium and vitamins. Up to one year old dust their meals with calcium at every feeding and use a good reptile vitamin once every couple of weeks. Do not mix the calcium and vitamins as some take away from each other canceling out the good that comes from them.  We use and suggest "Sticky Tongue Farms Miner-All 1 Calcium" and "Zoo Med's Reptivite"

Important Info: Tegu's get BIG! They are not a beginners lizard. The Blue Tegu is smaller than most but reaches a size of 3-3 1/2' as an adult. The Argentine and Columbian variety of Tegu will reach even greater lengths at 4-4 1/2' as an adult. In short; if you are thinking of getting a Tegu be sure to weigh out all of the responsibility. 

*****Again, I make no claim of being an expert. I am only passing on what I have learned and used for our Tegu. I will update this page as I continue to learn. Please feel free to let me know if you have questions, comments or would like to contribute to our info. If you have time, sign our Guestbook!