u/Famous-Chair-2804

Found this little dude stuck under the apartment stair well. I am naming it Steve. Steve was put in the little wooded area next to my apartment complex. Hopefully he thrives and becomes big Steve. There’s tons of bugs over there he will love.

So I got a tape measure and steak measures a whopping 32.5 inches. I also met the previous owner who said he got steak around August as a hatchling and didn’t expect him to grow as quick so he brought him to petco who took care of him until I took him in. That’s where I learned his story and he was in a small tank because he grew to fast. And I agree he has grown really fast. He sheds every day now and I’m having trouble keeping up with his sheds but he seems to have them under control. I brought him home January 31, 2026 around 2pm cst. I can see steak getting to that 4.5 foot range. He’s so big and heavy now

His sister potato is 2 year old. I got brought her home on October 18th,2024 around 2-3pm CST. She was still partly baby green partly yellow and looked like a fat little unripe potato. If I had to guess she was only a couple months old. I didn’t get a hatch date. She’s only 23.5 inches. I can probably guess she may get to 3 feet.

While potato is still very small for her age she is very healthy acording to the vet. Vet recommended that I feed her full rats rather than separate meats so that she gets more food in her since she is such a picky eater. So for now on she is eating small- medium rats. I’m trying to set up another uv lamp for her that hopefully she can’t break this time 🤞. I’m putting heavy duty metal zip ties on it so she gets her uv because I think her habit of breaking lamps has maybe caused her growth. The vet gave me the idea to put metal automotive zip ties on it so it’s more stable. I don’t know if the uv and rats will help but let’s hope. I really don’t want to drop another 100 bucks on a uv lamp again. She could just be small. Steak however is gonna be huge.. he’s constantly growing. I kind of wish potato had steaks genetics. Her growth has worried me. I wish petco let the owners meet the parents but I feel like their breeding facility would make me cry. It’ll at least let me understand potato’s genetics. My mom is helping me with a tank. It’ll be a birthday gift I can fit in my apartment. Even though it’ll only be 4’x5’ it’s something temporary until I can get a house. I’m glad she’s willing to help me because she knows how much my reptiles mean to me even if she doesn’t really like reptiles.

Love you mom ❤️.

Last picture is my bite..

So here’s what happened. Normally when I get home from work steak comes out from the pillows of my couch. I Give him a pet. Then I go to the fridge and get everything to set up steaks dinner. Welp today I got home after a long day work and took a nap. No pet. No dinner. Just plopped in bed as he watched me walk by the couch. Welp that’s against steaks routine. I had my hand dangling off my bed and steak jumped up and caught my thumb and hung on. He shook his head a bit before I finally got him to let go. I noticed he’s been going through a big growth spurt. Why this late into the year I have no idea. So he’s been hungry more and I’ve upgraded his meal portion otherwise my boots get the nips. His bite woke me up from my nap. I took 2 hours to long after getting home to feed him.

So I’ve learned don’t skip his routine.. I’ve also am going to go back to target training and tong feeding rather than bowl feeding. He has learned that my hands hold the bowl and thus my hands are food. I’m glad he’s still small. This hurt quite a bit. When I hold him his tail hangs down to the middle of my thigh. I’m only 5’. I know this lizard will get almost as big as me. Somtimes I underestimate that. Well today I will remember his training since I don’t want the 4ft lizard to take my thumb off.

Now that I fed him he’s back to his cheerful snuggly self. I won’t ever ignore him anymore when he comes out of the couch to greet me at the door. Naps can wait. Routine comes first. Dinner comes first. That’s how it’s always been and that’s how it will always be from now on.

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.

Steaky boy enjoying an egg for this tot. I haven’t given him one in a while so he’s super excited.

Potato can’t forgive me. I woke her up really early so she is mad at me. Steaky boy is so chill. I know they’ll like the new place. Hopefully potato will cheer up when she realizes that she can escape around the apartment any time she wants.

I need to rehome Smaug. I can’t take her into my new apartment and my ex is losing the place and can’t take any of the animals with him. This includes Smaug the red tegu, >1 year old spike the bearded dragon, 3 year old Rex the leopard gecko, and 3 year old Jörmungandr the boa constrictor. I can temporarily house Smaug at my new place but I’m risking getting in trouble with my landlord for having 3 lizards. I’m located in Missouri. Im going to talk to local reptile shops around here as well for all the reptiles who can hopefully help me rehome. I really want her to go to a good home who knows how to care for a tegu. She comes with the grow tent but I’m taking the lights and the dirt out because it needs to be folded and I need the lights for my new place. I’ll give the bowl Smaug likes to sleep under if it’s local. I’ll be posting this in other groups too since I know I can’t just post this in the tegu group.

Every night I come home and I scoop him up and tell him how handsome he is.

I know that’s a weird question but let me explain why.

So moving day is approaching rapidly. I’m just moving up town closer to the city. This is a ride I have done countless times with my lizards riding passenger up to petco. It’s about a 30 minute ride and they will be the last ones I move. I am not able to take the grow tent. They will be staying in my bathroom for a bit while I get them acclimated to the new apartment where they will free roam. Little by little I’ll be opening up the space so they can roam out into the main room. The apartment is the size of a very small motel room. It’s just 1 bed motels that have been made into a small studio apartment. I will be living there for about 2 years until I can afford to get a trailer and some land of my own. The house I was building before winter is off the question now since I’m now just single living and not able to afford it on my own.

I’m wondering since this is a new space that they are not used to should I give them a week to adjust before feeding them or should I continue on my feeding schedules. I always slowly moved potato over to new enclosures and added stuff she was used to in the new enclosures so it wasn’t as stressful to her. Steak has always lived in the grow tent and knows that’s his space. He always returns to it. This will be the first time moving out of this space for steak and im a little worried stress can cause him problems. Im thinking of taking their shirt and water bowls as familiar items to hopefully ease a bit of stress. Im not sure if thats enough but hopefully it is. I’m getting them all new hides and a new lamp holder since the grow tent can’t fit.

Maybe im overreacting. I’m really worried I’m gonna find them regurgitating food because they are too stressed to keep it down prior to a new place. I think since steak is as dumb as a box of rocks he might be fine but it still worries me. Potato I’m not too terribly worried about because she loves to explore. Potato has also been moved to a new house before while steak has only been on car rides with me.

What’s yalls opinions on this?

picture of steak basking like a whale.

Edit: im also a little worried about them reproducing now that I dont have a plan in motion to keep them all separate as adults. Things fell apart with everything going on. Potato is already showing signs of wanting to mate and steak isn’t. I know im gonna have to save aside every little bit to get bigger place as soon as possible so I can separate them like I planned. Maybe I should keep one in the bathroom with a barrier around the bathroom and one in the living room until I can get a bigger place. It’s just gonna be a pain when I’m not home and I’m at work. I’m not sure how this is gonna work. I’ve already thought about the possibility of rehoming but I can’t bring myself to do it. I’ll never see my Gus again is that is what it comes too and it break my heart. They are both super attached to me. I’m hoping I can work out something during mating season and work so I can avoid any problems with potential mating behaviors. This is going to be the hardest 2 years ever with these guys. I’m thinking of getting little apartment safe cameras so I can watch them while I’m gone.

I almost started freaking out because I couldn’t find them in their normal hiding spots. Then I noticed the water bowl was tipped over and went to pick it up. I did not expect all three of them to be curled up under it.

My boyfriend and I are splitting apart after almost 3 years together. He allowed me to take steak and potato since I have deeply attached to them. He’s taking Smaug, jormungandr the snake, the leopard gecko, and his beardie, the two rats, and the baby kitten. I’m taking my chicken, my little parakeet, steak, potato, and my old cat pheobe. I had to rehome the guinea pigs. the fish he is keeping because I can’t take them with me across state lines. So I got one last month to say goodbye to my baby Smaug and the noodle jörmungandr. Once our lease ends I will be leaving.

We are remaining friends so hopefully I can get updates on how Smaug and jormy are doing. Those are the two I will absolutely miss the most.

He was originally going to take steak since we got steak for him. But he saw how attached me and steaky boy are and he didn’t want steaky boy or me to feel broken. I’m glad he at least was ok with that.

Tamed ….. kinda.

Had to convince her to come out with some chicken hearts. This isn’t the first time I’ve put a hole in this couch for her. There’s one in the back of the couch and one under the couch as well. She doesn’t use those holes to get in though. She uses one that is stitched in between the back rest and the bottom cushion. I can’t remove those two. It’s poor design. Sadly this isn’t my couch. I will paying for a brand new couch though. She has been missing for quite a few days. Found in the morning one time by my boyfriend who saw her when he woke up several days ago. She bolted under the dishwasher. I looked around for the past two days then remembered about the couch and decided to check on it since I couldn’t find her in my searches. The bottom of my dishwasher is very open. There’s nowhere to hide. In the couch there is plenty of places to hide. I have no clue why or where she is escaping from. I’ve added so much to the enclosure yet this is how it’s always been with potato. I don’t know if it’s something I’m missing or if it’s just her personality. I have upgraded lighting, several more hide boxes, more room.

The only other thing I can think of is I haven’t spent as much time holding her or letting her free roam. We just lost 4 people at work so i haven’t been home. No one else spends time with her like I do because she throws a fit, hisses, and hates being handled by them. She started escaping when I started going back to work. My schedules with her have changed so drastically. So maybe that’s it. I don’t know how I’m going to fix that. I wish I could take her to work. She’s been at my job before when I stopped in on my day off but sadly it’s a parts store. No animals allowed. Plus she’ll be a huge distraction to my sales. I might scare off the many people who are afraid of the reptiles I bring in on my days off.

I feel kinda of guilty if this is the case.

Didn’t know which was clearest so I took multiple pictures. I’m starting to think Smaug is a female. I can’t see the bumps. I’ve been working on calming Smaug down finally got to a point where they will let me hold them still.

Was at work when my sister texted me. This is a new spot.

Came out to this. Thought surrounding in the clay rocks would help. Well the rocks moved one stayed and now they just pull the plant out and this. How do yall keep your plants alive or do you not?

I had a feeling she was going to escape because she gave me this specific look. I call that look her wild child eyes. She always gets to before attempting something she knows she isn’t supposed to do. I recording for a good half an hour before she finally attempted her escape once I saw that look. She did a few laps in her enclosure to see if the coast was clear and then this is the attempt. I noticed how she always double checks right before jumping. If the enclosure zipper is unzipped even a tiny little inch she will get out. She sticks her nose in the hole that is open and pushing it just enough for her to escape. Usually it’s also enough for steak to escape but her isn’t as nimble as her. He makes a lot of noise and that’s usually when I notice potato has disappeared. He also likes to just sit on top of the enclosure and sleep when he escapes. Everytime I’ve grabbed my camera to record potato doing her sneaky spy mission she’s always already made it out before I can get it started. I’m glad I finally caught it.

I’ve started giving up on finding her if she escapes her enclosure.. she usually comes out and is sitting in the kitchen within a few minutes if she doesn’t hear any walking around. When she free roams on a daily it’s all chaos. Climbing on curtains knocking over things. Running really fast as if the cooking monster caught her stealing his cookies. I got so many videos of her being the wild child that she is.

I love this lizard. She’s joyful and a handful.