So, I decided to rehome Liz.
Before the divorce, I had a much larger house that had safe, reptile only areas so Liz got a lot of time out of his enclosure and a lot of interaction in and out of his enclosure. My new house isn't that much smaller in terms of square footage (it's actually a little larger in that regard) but has an entirely different, open, old Victorian layout that gives me no safe area for him or for the cats to do much out of enclosure interaction with him when it's not warm enough to be outside (which is most of the year in WI).
With the snakes that's not a huge deal, they don't mind handling but they're also fine being left mostly alone in cluttered and enrichment filled enclosures. They enjoy being outside when it's warm, sure, but they're also not pressed if they spend all fall-winter-spring mostly inside their enclosures and the things they have for enrichment get changed out pretty regularly so they always have new stuff to explore and do.
Tegus are...not like that. Liz is very tame and very much wants about as much interaction as any of my cats or my dog wants, and it's difficult to provide him with that in this house, which absolutely is not fair to him.
I found someone after a few months of looking who is a P E R F E C T home for him.
They have quarantine procedures, a whole area of their house and yard dedicated to their reptiles (including three rescue tegus, so they have experience with, well, tegus), didn't get all "why do you need proof of an appropriate enclosure and vet references??" and just straight up offered them in their initial email.
So, we're meeting up later this evening and Liz will be going to a home that can better provide for what he needs.
This is not even remotely a money issue, monetarily I have no issues with keeping Liz, it's purely that:
1. Liz was an unplanned rescue from the start and I scrambled to rearrange large aspects of my life to accommodate him, including dealing with a spouse who was just resentful about the whole situation because that's--honestly what they were like with literally anything that I was excited about or that made me happy.
2. The divorce was 100% necessary and while I've tried to rearrange things once again to accommodate Liz' mental/social needs it's just not possible for me to do it in a way that I consider appropriate or adequate for him, which means I am no longer the best home for him.
His new keepers are super excited to meet him, told me all about the enrichment and out of enclosure times their current tegus get, they live in a warmer area of the country and are up in my area visiting family, sent pics of them AND their reptiles (like in the same photos, so definitely not just stolen from google), and the vet reference they sent checked out, so while it sucks that I won't have Liz anymore I'm incredibly happy that he'll be going to a home where his needs are going to be better met.
Because I know Tumblr can be the way Tumblr is please keep in mind that part of being a responsible pet owner is knowing when your home is no longer the best home for the animal in question and rehoming them to someone who can provide that home.