Question on cage size and growth?

cwj108 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 18, 2008 Posts: 104

I have a baby B/W that is 11 inches long. I was discharged from Officer Candidate School for the Marine Corps due to medical reasons. I am temporarily living at home with my parents until I land another job in my degree field. I have limited space and my dads phobia of reptiles has left me with a cramped room haha. I am building a cage for my tegu to get her out of the aquarium she is in. How long would a 4ft, by 3 ft cage last her? I will eventually be building her a 4x8 but I want to wait until shes bigger, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Would a 4ft by 3ft last her a least a year? a little more? a little less?

Jose2187, if you read this, what is the size of your tegu enclosure in your humidity video?

Thanks Guys!

plizardman · Member Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 25

I would not bother with building an enclosure at this point. A lizard that is only 11 inches from tip to tip would be fine in a 20 gal long, and certainly would need nothing bigger than a 30. I feel these tanks are easy to find, easy to clean, secure and inexpensive. 4x3 is a bigass cage for a little tegu. Also, larger enclosures would require larger heat / light sources and more electricity. I usually reccomment a 20 long for a baby and moving up to a 40 breeder before going the custom made route when he outgrows that one. You only wanna build once. Sure, giving him acres of space makes you feel like you are pampering him, but I doubt your little guy is going to appreciate the difference. My guess is that the extra space is just gonna make him more skittish.
By the time he outgrows a 40, you'll know exactly what you need to build for him.
Good luck.

cwj108 · Valued Member Joined: Mar 18, 2008 Posts: 104

Thanks for your response! I have him in a 55g tank right now, so I can have basking at one end and the hide at the other. I actually have a 20long downstairs, how do you have enough room for a basking area and a hide, or can you just have the basking area on top of the hide?

meanah · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:40 pm Post subject:

for my tegus i have their basking area on top of there hide ive seen no problems at all they love it.

Click To Enlarge
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0.1.0 Colombian Tegu
1.0.0 Arg. Tegu
0.1.4 Bearded Dragon
0.1.0 Royal Python
1.0.0 Crested Gecko
0.0.1 Kingsnake
0.0.1 Painted Turtle
0.1.1 Spotted Pythons
1.2.0 Tokay Geckos
2.3.0 Leopard Geckos

txrepgirl · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 4:43 am Post subject:

You will be fine with a 55 gallon tank for a few months.I have one of my baby Tegus in a 55 gallon right now and we are building him a new enclosure now.We got Leonidas last year in October and he grew very fast.He is 27" right now and weighs 676g.I just started to measure our other Tegu ( Zeus ) about 2 weeks ago because he was hibernating.