 They are intelligent and can even be house-broken.A healthy tegu can live for 15 to 20 years in the wild, and possibly even longer in captivity.However, as with most reptiles, if they are not handled regularly, they show more aggressive behaviour; their bite can be painful and damaging due to strong jaws (1000 N bite force, stronger than a dwarf caiman, partly due to the short, deep skull) and sharp incisor teeth in the upper jaw.