Having been researching tegus for the better part of a year now, I have officially decided it's about time to own one. But I have a lot of questions, and I would love to hear from the community.
First of all, I am a little undecided on the tegu itself. I have been favoring Blues for a while because of the high-white, and slightly smaller size, however I have read a lot of mixed reviews on purchasing them and the overall hardiness of the animal. Is it true that Blue tegus began with inbreeding, similar to the Spider morph in BPs? And are the health risks associated with them true, or speculation? I have read that Blues are prone to blindness, "shakes", neurological deficiencies and can be burned by UVB because of their white skin.
On the purchase itself, I am wary of buying from anyone really. I have read experiences from breeders (I won't give names) where the customer purchased an expensive Blue, but when the tegu reached maturity it was not the promised animal. I would hate to purchase a tegu at the "Blue" price, only to receive a B&W coloration. Which leads me to ask, are all Blues guaranteed high-white, if they really are Blues?
And those of you who have your tegus already, would you recommend purchasing a tegu that you can handle and see for yourself, or would it be just as safe to buy online? I am very skeptical at this point of being ripped off. The two breeders I was considering purchasing from were Underground Reptiles and Ty Park, but with Underground, I am cautious because of their lack of DoA coverage, among other things. But moving on...
When I eventually have this hypothetical lizard, I plan on purchasing them as a hatchling, and housing them in a 40 gallon breeder tank. I understand the argument that bigger is better, however due to past experiences with voracious crickets, I would prefer to have my animal in a smaller tank when it is young as to have better observation of the environment. In addition, once tamed down, I will let my tegu roam my apartment while I am home, and once large enough, will take them outside for further enrichment. At what point should I migrate my tegu into their permanent enclosure, in relation to the size of said tegu? The permanent enclosure will be custom built, 6.5 x 2.5 x 3. Possibly larger.
This is already a very large post, so I will save some of my other questions until later. Thank you for your time.
First of all, I am a little undecided on the tegu itself. I have been favoring Blues for a while because of the high-white, and slightly smaller size, however I have read a lot of mixed reviews on purchasing them and the overall hardiness of the animal. Is it true that Blue tegus began with inbreeding, similar to the Spider morph in BPs? And are the health risks associated with them true, or speculation? I have read that Blues are prone to blindness, "shakes", neurological deficiencies and can be burned by UVB because of their white skin.
On the purchase itself, I am wary of buying from anyone really. I have read experiences from breeders (I won't give names) where the customer purchased an expensive Blue, but when the tegu reached maturity it was not the promised animal. I would hate to purchase a tegu at the "Blue" price, only to receive a B&W coloration. Which leads me to ask, are all Blues guaranteed high-white, if they really are Blues?
And those of you who have your tegus already, would you recommend purchasing a tegu that you can handle and see for yourself, or would it be just as safe to buy online? I am very skeptical at this point of being ripped off. The two breeders I was considering purchasing from were Underground Reptiles and Ty Park, but with Underground, I am cautious because of their lack of DoA coverage, among other things. But moving on...
When I eventually have this hypothetical lizard, I plan on purchasing them as a hatchling, and housing them in a 40 gallon breeder tank. I understand the argument that bigger is better, however due to past experiences with voracious crickets, I would prefer to have my animal in a smaller tank when it is young as to have better observation of the environment. In addition, once tamed down, I will let my tegu roam my apartment while I am home, and once large enough, will take them outside for further enrichment. At what point should I migrate my tegu into their permanent enclosure, in relation to the size of said tegu? The permanent enclosure will be custom built, 6.5 x 2.5 x 3. Possibly larger.
This is already a very large post, so I will save some of my other questions until later. Thank you for your time.