r/Tegu

This video is Sundog over a year ago first learning to open his “hobbit door” to the enclosure.

Tegus are often described as “dog-like” and though they are undoubtedly reptiles, they appear very smart, recognize people, and are good problem solvers. They also seem to behave affectionately at times to humans—all behaviors we ascribe to dogs, which is convenient, because most people are familiar with dogs.

I want to be fair to both tegus and dogs and not so much make a comparison between the two, but to share tegu behaviors that seem to indicate how smart they are.

In a thread from yesterday u/TearsInDrowned asked for some examples of Tegu intelligence and I became interested to learn what behaviors you have all witnessed.

I’ll start— early on,
*Sundog, as a juvenile could quickly solve dog puzzles for treats.
*Once he accepted wearing a harness and learned that it meant we could go outside, he began waiting for me by the door to the yard each day, so we could walk, explore, and he could poop outside.
* He quickly learned to identify me from other humans and will at times crawl onto my lap for pets. He will, on occasion, bolt when an unknown human visits—especially tall males.
* He will nudge me to ask me to move if I’m in his way.
*He knows, from the outside of my house, where the back door is to go inside and recently has learned how to lead me to the front door of our house. if there is a closed door in my house, he’ll scratch at it to get me to open it for him.
*He decided the greenhouse he lives in, in my sunroom, is not big enough and found multiple ways to pop out the panels so he could roam—eventually convincing me to install the hobbit door you see above so he can come and go as he pleases. Obviously, he understands doors completely!

What behaviors about tegus have impressed you all?
*

A visiting friend snapped this image of Sundog exiting his enclosure today. I love this lizard so much!

From Sundog, AKA Solar Puppy

Hey y'all, I'm planning on adding a tegu to the family in the next few years(black and white) and wanna get some inspiration for enclosures. Info on where you bought em or how you made them, price and pics are all appreicated!

Pic as tax

Is there another tegu in here?

Every day it's hit 80, we've gone for a walk. Nakajima seems to get a lot out of these- there's always something new to sniff and explore, and the natural sunshine is great. We recently moved, so these are all new parks for us!

Hopefully she just wasn’t hungry even though last time she ate was 7 days ago, she is in a new enclosure after all, 10x5 from the previous 8x4. I hoping she isn’t gravid again, she was gravid two years ago and didn’t want to eat for 2-3 months. Female reptiles stress me out 😂

He loves his treat banana

My poor baby Atlas…. According to the vet his impaction and bowel problem is due to bad genetics and out of our control. He was barely about to be 11 months old. After reviewing his CT scan and blood work it showed his bowl had ruptured and surgery didn’t look hopeful considering his poor condition. It was advised we put him to sleep. We’re so devastated. He was the most sweet perfect tegu and amazing personality we could’ve hoped for. An absolutely wonderful baby to raise, I just wish I could’ve seen him as an adult. I loved him so much and my heart is broken. It was so sudden. They said he would have to be on a liquid diet and many surgeries for the rest of his life if we dragged it out. And I would have felt selfish doing that to him because of not wanting to let go. He seemed happy to see me after staying at the vets for a few nights and ran to snuggle into my arm. It made me break down even more and his affection made it even harder but it was the right thing to do. I miss you so much Atlas ♥️

Taking advantage of any time we can get outside!

I feel like my male, steak is loving, sweet. Lazy bump on the log who just wants attention and snuggles. My female, potato, seems smarter, smaller, full of energy and just wants to get into everyone’s business. She also seems smarter than my boy. She knows how to open her enclosure. She has escaped the most and gives me the most wicked smile and tounge flicks when I find her like we were playing a game while my male just sits in the middle of my floor and walks up to my leg like a lost puppy. She seems to know her name and certain words like ride. She will come crawling to my hand when I ask if she wants to go for a ride. I started asking both of them that when I got steak and steak hasn’t figured that word out yet. Potato will also play with cat toys on her own accord. If she doesn’t want to play she won’t. She is kind of more cat like with a dog like smartness. While steak is more dog like with a brain cell somewhere in that chunky head of his.

I’m was waiting to see if Smaug was the same way but I honestly don’t know Smaug’s gender yet. So I can’t compare male to female just yet. Smaug won’t let me check. Plus Smaug’s a red for all I know their temperaments could be different. Is this your experience or did I just get one smart gu and one loving lazy guber?

I haven’t posted here since I first got Oreo because progress has been SLOW. He was SOOOO afraid of people so it was a long process of desensitizing him to my touch and now that he’s at a point I can touch him any where, going into his cage without him going into his hide and such, I decided it’s time to start desensitizing him to getting picked up. Until now I’ve had a friend helping me when I absolutely need to pick him up and get him into a full bath but today he let me pick him up and put him right in my lap and didn’t even run away from me or get skiddish when I pet him. Y’all I’m so proud of him 🥹

Day 10 of Frieren not being interested in food at all yet she still looks like a pear. I upgraded their enclosure to a 10x5 so they would have more room to roam (on top of the 10x11 office that I let them into) I also had it planned out where if I needed to separate them I could. Well looks like I need to finish building the removable barrier so I can set Frieren up on the other side so she can feel safe to build a nesting spot. Last time she was gravid she absorbed the eggs rather than laying them which took about 2-3 months. I would rather she lay them so I can get her back to eating and up her calcium again. Temps, uv, and humidity are all on point so it’s not that. On the bright side most her neck has finished shedding.

Hi it’s me again!
I am here to confess and ask for some more advice
My tegu Nancy I got her in September as a CB25. She’s a red x black and white tegu. They weren’t sure of her exact age.
I put her into a 6x2x2. And I never really seen her. She barely ever ate (maybe once every 3 month) and never came out
Fast forward to about a week and a half ago. Approx start of May. We decided to move her into a 4x2x2 with 2 basking bulbs. She is much better in her new enclosure. Her basking is about 47 celcius. But we still have to “wake her up” every day. If we get her out she will bask and explore for an hour or so then go back to bed. She had a huge meal about a week ago where she ate loads of chicken mince, heart and liver but she’s not ate anything since. She comes out for 2 hours per day and loves exploring and having a head scratch. She will not touch any insect and I’m worried. How do I get her to come out by herself. Her tank is cluttered and I’m not sure what else to do
Please help me get a happy healthy girl. When we offer her food she will kind of slurp it for about 30 seconds then walk off

Happy Tongue out Tuesday from Sundog!

Also an extra picture of my son teaching steak how to draw pokemon. He was very invested and loves the head scratches.

Sundog has been gazing at the mountains lately. Yesterday and today, instead of taking me on our normal walk around the house, under the tree, etc.—he struck out for the hills. I tried several times to redirect him but he was determined. Finally I had to pick him up and carry him to the house, with much flailing about and huffing and puffing. Nothing like an armful of squirmy tegu. haha. What a rascal.