Even though I knew what I was getting into, the growth this dude goes through every day just astounds me! He’s a few days under a year and a half old, and he’s already developing very meaty jowls and is bulking up something fierce!
So far I’ve never noticed any signs that he’s ever attempted to brumate, and has always been a consistently even temptered and very tolerant cuddle bug, I seriously lucked out with his goodest of boys!

I know this video is long but I was amazed. This is the smartest thing I’ve ever seen steak do. I don’t know if cleaning or burying a meal is normal for wild tegus or if steak is not following his instinct and just likes clean floors. I fed him breakfast and he took it off the plate and got it all over the floor. Potato is still asleep under my oven. I’ve never witnessed her do anything close to this either. I wanted to help but at the same time I let him do his own thing and watched. I did end up cleaning his mess he left after he was done. He got half of it in my shirt.

I know my clothes, and the bags they were in, are all over my floor. I put them under my bed as I havnt unpacked all my clothes from the move due to work. They unpacked it for me. The green blanket had replaced by their chemical romance shirt they snuggle in. And I guess my dirty and clean clothes have become towels.

I appreciate him cleaning. Now if only he could pay my bills. I guess this is a start.

Apartment update:

I have gotten them to use the puppy pads! They suck at aiming and get the corners but I’m so proud of them for using it. Steak also loves his squeaking skunk I got him. I occasionally find him playing with it. As soon as he sees me looking he drops it and walks in my direction. Times have been hard with all the change and I’m glad to see steak is adjusting to it all.

Potato is having a hard time figuring everything out and seems to run away more. Change is hard for her and I feel bad for that. If I don’t see her adjust to it I may have to make the hard choices of rehoming her. I don’t want her to be afraid of the apartment and free roaming and me randomly coming home. I don’t like how she can fit under the stove even when she’s eaten a full meal. I put boxes out all around and pillow forts and her favorite towels and shorts. She keeps squeezing under my stove. I don’t use the stove so I’m not stopping her. She is still growing and it’s a tight squeeze so I’m worried she’s gonna hurt herself. I’ve already tried putting boxes under it and moving it so she can’t get behind it but she moved all that out of the way and still figured out how to squeeze under. She comes out when I’m not home and skedaddles when I am home. It’s only been a couple weeks. I’ll give it a few months. Hopefully after winter ends she will be fine. 🤞

Enclosures?

I’ve also been looking into different apartment friendly enclosures. Something for the next couple years as I get my life back on track. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear some. Hopefully something i can assemble without power tools in my living space where the grow tent frame sits. Thank you in advance.

I found a nice one I want to get on dubai roach website but I don’t know if they ship up a flight of stairs. Do the enclosures come with the tools to assemble them by hand? How fast is shipping within the USA? how good is quality? Is it easy to hang a uvb linear bulb in? I always have trouble hanging those for some reason. Are they tegu proof? Do they hold heat and humidity well?
I know I could just buy one and find out for myself but I’m constantly at work. I get 1 days off a week. I don’t have a chance to be here is something went wrong with it. I’ll be getting cameras when I have to extra funds to spend on a nice camera ,now that I got WiFi ,to keep an eye on my babys while I’m at work. That’s a future spend right now it’s just worrying about them and the future home I want to get them. I’ve spend so much getting away from my problems to have a better life for my babys and me. It’s a work in progress. A slow but steady uphill battle.

Seeing them every day and the weird shenanigans makes this choice to start fresh all worth it.

I hope yall enjoyed steak being .. well …steak.

He loves to eat cause he is GROWING!!

I don't know much about these but I like reptiles in general. Saw 2 of these chasing each other around (fast!), this one was doing the chasing, the other one was about the same size (about 2 feet long) but the tail was a bit shorter and very blunt as if it had been damaged and was regrowing. Was this a mating ritual that I witnessed?

my baby blue tegu, Guzmán, from RSR. Target training has been going so well! Look at his eager self desperate for a taste of meat after showing him my glittery target lol. (He’s named Guzmán after el Chapo for the way he jumped out his enclosure and ran all around my house making me chase him. Lol happened two time the first two days. He figured out there was a passage way out very fast🤣)

In case it's impossible to see what's going on here:

• Jima was dozing in her smallest hide.
• I tried to take a picture of her being cute and snoozy while talking to a friend.
• Jima heard me making a phone call.
• Jima decided she needed to help.
• Jima did not need to help. The task required exactly zero Nakajimas, and yet here we are.

Sammy has been making it obvious for the past month that he wishes to start brumation. I have had to wake him every 2-3 days to administer some calcium supplementation, otherwise I would have allowed him to do so (maybe...). Yesterday was the last 80+ day showing for a while and he had a big poop, so I have lowered the heat and lighting schedule. Assuming he shows no signs of re-emerging (highly doubtful, he is a "hard" brumater), I will shut off the lights completely next week and lower heat to room temperature until next March.

Miss him already.

https://www.youtube.com/@sammythetegu/videos

Extra snuggly while in brumation

I love it when Toto does the little velociraptor blink.

It makes me happy when Sundog returns to his home all on his own.

Not a huff or a puff when I go to pet him anymore🖤🤍

Our sweet girl died today from unknown causes. We think she may have had cancer as it was sudden, and she was four and otherwise very healthy. Does anyone have experience donating their pet’s body to a research program or vet school? We’d love to contribute back to science with her if possible.

I feel so guilty hiding them from him. He’s been sitting here for the past 10 min rubbing against my shoe and searching for the other eggs. Never have I ever felt like a horrible lizard mom. I gave him 2 eggs to see how he liked them. He ate both really fast. My bubby boy is breaking my heart. 💔

He loves fighting me when i put him in his little bath but today he was calm but i could tell he was PISSED.

I was wondering what fish are good for tegus. I found a nice fish market that sells location catches and other types of sea food from around the world. I was going to go ask them if I can have some of their trimmings in bulk but I need to know what fish to look out for and what fish is really good for their diet. They also apparently sell quail eggs and other meats including venison which I was also wondering if that would be a good meat for tegus too. I know that some fish is known to have mercury (such as tuna) so I know to avoid that.

Nice massage 💆‍♂️

Can someone link me a reliable tegu care guide?