BEWARE OF THESE IMPORTS!!!

[carcharios]

I for one probably purchased a tegu that was from the southern hemisphere from Petco two years ago and it's true that it hibernated the entire summer the first year I had it - and it was scrawny, lost lots of weight, cost me a trip to the vet, etc. ,etc. However, this grunt turned out to be a beautiful specimen (in fact, I believe it's an extreme based on it's markings, coloration, etc. If you want to see a pic of Diego, do a quick search on my posts for the thread, "What kind of tegu is Diego" and you can judge for yourself what type of tegu he is.

I purchased this specimen "Diego" in June of 2009 and it never came out of hibernation for an entire 11 months! Of course, over that time period, it lost quite a bit of weight too. However, last summer I moved it outdoors into the rabbit hutch enclosure I have and it aligned itself to the northern hemisphere cycle, growing three to four times it's initial size in only a few months! Last Fall, it hibernated with my other two CB tegus and is just coming out of hibernation now, so it is possible to realign them with the northern hemisphere but it may take a season or two for this to happen and it can be touch and go during that time in terms of their health. During that first summer I had Diego, he refused to come out from under the cyprus mulch, even with a lamp, etc.

I didn't purchase Diego because I was ignorant though. I had never seen a tegu before seeing him at Petco and he was absolutely exquisite, so my wife purchased him for me for Father's Day. Next time I purchase a tegu though it will most likely be through Bobby because I'd love another extreme to pair mine up with!

 

[AvaHal12]

hey bobby any idea on when my babys are gonna hatch? im gonna go insane waiting for them..

I still do not know an exact date, I am seeing a little courtship behavior in the tegus, but no eggs yet.

Hey Bobby... Any updates? If nothing yet... try playing them some Barry White or Neil Diamond.

 

[hanniebann]

genius idea ;D I'm dying to know so I can start counting down incubation days. lol.

 

[VARNYARD]

I have three clutches so far, two Extremes and one normal clutch. I will tell you, I cannot tell your when your baby is going to be ready by going by user names on the forums, how am I going to know who you really are?

 

[nicklotz]

i bought a tegu from the mass reptile expo, not realizing it must of been "farm" produced. honestly its doing great, its on the same feeding schedule as my other tegu, isnt mean at all its even getting used to free roaming already. i can understand the concern for parasites but from my experience i wouldnt give this little red guy away at all.

 

[herpgirl2510]

My tegu is is about 2 1/2 months old. I bought him at NERD in NH they are a very reputeable reptile establishment. I was told mine were bor and bre in the us. Does what your saying mean they may have misled me.

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He also was not a bargain at $150. I am however having major issues getting him to eat.

 

[frost]

ugh all this talk of babys is making it harder to wait for my pair of normals from bobby...

 

[james.w]

My tegu is is about 2 1/2 months old. I bought him at NERD in NH they are a very reputeable reptile establishment. I was told mine were bor and bre in the us. Does what your saying mean they may have misled me.

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He also was not a bargain at $150. I am however having major issues getting him to eat.

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Because you have a hatchling this early in the year, I'm gonna guess it is from the S. hemisphere.

 

[hanniebann]

agreed. I'm so anxious to even know what month I'll be getting mine in

 

[Rhetoric]

have u guys had tegus before? theyre such a blast youll love every minute of it!

 

[hanniebann]

i have yet to get mine from bobby in june/july. i'm so psyched i'm going bonkers

 

[herpgirl2510]

Because you have a hatchling this early in the year, I'm gonna guess it is from the S. hemisphere

Read more: http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=7975&page=2#ixzz1KuwSsIr3

Very surprising such a reputeable place would lie to me. NERD is very well known in reptile circles. Seems silly that they would lie to make short change on me. The guy who runs the reptile dept has bred and kept tegus for 10 years. He breed them at off times so he has babies available when others do not. I have brought up what people have said about him being from S. hemisphere they have reassured me numerous times it is not.

 

[VARNYARD]

Everyone that is selling these imports right now are claiming to breed/get them from a breeder. As for this 10 year breeder, who is he? I have never heard Kevin say anything about a tegu breeder working for him??? I find it amazing how these so-called breeders have babies at the exact same time as when all the imports hit the market..

 

[chelvis]

It would be very hard to cycle a northern tegu onto a souther tegu time frame. Think about it, you can change the temp thats not too hard, you can change the lighting time (make sure there are no windows or that will mess things up), but how do you change the Barmatric pressure. This seems to be somthing that would impossible (unless working in a pressure controled room) to be able to replicate. Now i will not doubt after a few decades one might be able to get two cycles out of a tegu by selective breeding, look at dogs and wolves. Dog decended from wolves and wolves only breed in the winter and birth in spring but dogs can breed twice in a year. But that was selected for and it took many many many generations (not enough in 10 years).

Now they might be captive breed (some people stretch farm bred to mean captive very diceptive) but they were not concived here in the US.

Now if they are true CBB USA tegus another thing might be they were un sold hatchlings before they hibernated and rather than say they are small 2010 tegus you can market them as large 2011 tegus. If a tegu hibernates it will not grow so it can still look pretty small. But by this time they around around 6 to 7 months is age. This is a far cry from the 2.5 months you have been quoted.

 

[herpgirl2510]

Would Kevin have his employees give out false info like that. I would hope they know who they are buying their herps from I am having alot of trouble getting this guy to eat anything nothing in at least a week. They also have reds they are saying are born and bred in the US. I will be furious I have told them what everyone has been saying on the forums and they flatly deny that they are imports. I wonder if I could get a hold of Kevin personally and ask. I figured if I went to a reputeable place like NERD I would be safe. I also understand what captive bred is these were sold to me as bred and born in the US. Meaning the parents were mated in the US and born. Mike is the one who runs the reptile dept has been saying this to me. My tegu is about 16 inches.
He has the most woderful temperment He is chilling with me in the window now I am worried. I wish I had seen all this info in the beginning .

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I also noticed tegu terra has babies available not my guy does not have green anymore like they do. They are saying they are born and bred in the us too.

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Mike is the one who said he has had his pair for ten years and has bred them before and is going to this year.

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Tegu terra had them available in the beginning of March.

 

[VARNYARD]

Would Kevin have his employees give out false info like that. I would hope they know who they are buying their herps from I am having alot of trouble getting this guy to eat anything nothing in at least a week. They also have reds they are saying are born and bred in the US. I will be furious I have told them what everyone has been saying on the forums and they flatly deny that they are imports. I wonder if I could get a hold of Kevin personally and ask. I figured if I went to a reputeable place like NERD I would be safe. I also understand what captive bred is these were sold to me as bred and born in the US. Meaning the parents were mated in the US and born. Mike is the one who runs the reptile dept has been saying this to me. My tegu is about 16 inches.
He has the most woderful temperment He is chilling with me in the window now I am worried. I wish I had seen all this info in the beginning .

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I also noticed tegu terra has babies available not my guy does not have green anymore like they do. They are saying they are born and bred in the us too.

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Mike is the one who said he has had his pair for ten years and has bred them before and is going to this year.

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Tegu terra had them available in the beginning of March.

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Well it is not hard to put two and two together... I have no babies yet, and I live in Florida, I have babies before everyone else due to it being warmer sooner here than most other places. Bert was in Alabama, he was having babies at least a month after me each season, he did not flip imports either.

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I was just looking at Johnny's site: Tegu terra, he does not have fresh babies listed on his site, they all say 2010s.

 

[herpgirl2510]

I m confused by that response. Terra tegu(is that who Bert is) have tegus available in early March the ones he had available were clearly much younger thaan mine you said if they are available before June they were most likely imports. My tegu was not bred at NERD. Please remember I am new to tegus and I have no knowledge about breeding them. I understand the concerns about the ones available at shows early that is why I went to a reputeable place. I think the person who told me the were 2-3 months old was incorrect. I emailed Kevin so hopefully I will have more insight.

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Mine was not a new hatchling he is 16" long. He also does not have that bright green head

 

[reptastic]

I think your tegu is much older than 3-4 mos., it could be a 2010 that hibernated....teguterra is a supposed tegu breeder ran by jonny larroca(theres a discussion on the boards about them) bert passed away in august/09

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I think your tegu is much older than 3-4 mos., it could be a 2010 that hibernated....teguterra is a supposed tegu breeder ran by jonny larroca(theres a discussion on the boards about them) bert passed away in august/08 i believe

 

[herpgirl2510]

I think that he is older too. I have been checking out young tegus they seem to have a very vibrant green head mine does not. Regardless he is an awesome lizard the past few days he has totally mellowed out comes to the enclosrue scratches to come out and is not afraid. Minus the eating issue maybe he has thaat because he was just semi hibernating still . I just don't like the idea of being sold something under false pretenses.

 

[james.w]

Herpgirl. Based on how big your Gu is, I would guess he is 2010 baby.