Introducing Tegus

holygouda · Member Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 48

Ive been working on building a custom cage for a little while now and Im just finally putting on the finishing touches.(hoping to have pictures soon) I was hoping to put the two tegus I have together in there. Unfortunately, I have a feeling they are both males.

Ive been trying to introduce them a little more lately since the cage is almost complete and am not sure what to make of the situation.

Of the two tegu's I have, the smaller one is ZZyzx and the larger one is Leroy.

When I put them face to face, Zzyzx seems to lick like he is interested but appears to not be harmful and Leroy will lick seldomly and try to back away. When I have them on the floor, Zzyzx will walk away like he is completely uninterested and Leroy will follow him. I keep my hand on Leroy's back and he will lick at Zzyzx's tail a few times and then open his mouth appearing to try to eat him, so I pin him and he can't get any closer This occurs pretty much every time I put them next to each other (which has only been a handful of times up to this point)

Im really worried about their interactions thus far and am looking for some advice as to what I should do. Leroy is super tame until it comes to him being hungry. Then all bets are off.

Should I just keep trying to introduce them and familiarize them with each other? Should I try to put them in the new cage with some sort of barrier in between them? Does anyone have any suggestions for ways I might go about trying to make a more civil interaction? Is all hope lost? And if so, does anyone want to trade tegu's? heh Thanks.
-Jeff

Teiidae · Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2005 8:36 am Post subject:

I've never introduced Tegu's to one another, however seems to me that "If given the chance" Leroy is going to bite your little guy and with this being outside the enclosure, he may try to dominate inside the enclosure. I would continue trying though daily, and maybe after a good session - reward them with a treat. You may not get them together in the same enclosure as soon as you like, however better safe than sorry.

Once they become more civil outside the enclosure, I would highly monitor them for some time, and I were not able to be there, would most likely put up like a plexiglass barrier to seperate them until you and they are comfortable with one-another in the same enclosure. I would also feed them seperately outside the enclosure so we don't have to add in any food fights in the mix, or accidental biting of one-another...

Just my $.02 - Good luck

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