# Courtship of the tegus,



## VARNYARD (Nov 24, 2007)

Courtship of the tegus, Tegus begin spring with courtship behavior, males perusing females, head shakes, popping jowls and dragging their cloacae along the ground. Females also show this dragging behavior, swaying back and forth, at the same time dragging the back half of their bodies. They also swing their tails side to side, holding the front half of the body higher. And I have noticed that red females tend to head bob. I have not seen this in the Argentine black and white females before, but only with the Red females. Males can get territorial if given enough space to do so, however if kept in smaller enclosures they tend not to fight between themselves. I also have noticed mock breeding between the males and this would be a show of dominance, this behavior can be seen in smaller and larger enclosures. In larger enclosures males can fight, but I have found this to be quite rare. Females on the other hand can be quite aggressive; this is mostly seen towards other females. This also depends on the female as well. Some females will get along with all the other tegus; some will attack any other tegu in an enclosure, however most squabbles are between females. This is much different after breeding and nest are made or being made. Nesting females will sometimes tolerate a male, but never another female that I have witnessed, however most will not allow any other tegus near the nest. These nesting females will attack and often kill another tegus if the venture too close. This is what I refer to as guard mode, they will also attack anything else including their keepers, regardless of how tame they are when they are not nesting. This aggression is shown long after eggs are laid, collected and the nest is gone. Most of the females will stay in guard mode until hibernation takes place; it is also thought by Bert Langerwerf that one in ten females can show his same aggression the following spring. I have not seen this in my animals, but I can see this as happening with the way some of the females act before hibernation.

Colombian tegus have never been successfully bred in captivity in the U.S. that i know of, they are farmed some in their home region. However, most of the imported animals that are shipped into the United States are wild caught.


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## mr.tegu (Dec 18, 2009)

I purchused my (female) tegu in october of last year. To the best of my knowledge she was around 10-14 inches total length. I do remember that she did not have any green on her at all when i got her. She is more green now then when she was a baby. My male tegu i got maybe a month ago and was already a big boy. The store had no idea how old he was but i am guessing around 2-3 years old, if not older due to his weight, size, and apperance. My male is brumating i guess. He eats and basks for a few hours but then he burrows until the next day (or tries to). My female on the hand is super active right now. She is having some real strange behavior issues towards the male. She is putting her head straight up in the air and shaking it up and down making huffing sounds kinda like a dog would do smelling stuff, she does this on top of him most of the time or approaching him. She drags her bottom on the substate and wiggles it left to right. When she does this it seems sometimes a little pee and a white cream dot come out of her bottom. She also climbs on top of him and gently bites him on his neck and back. He on the other hand just moves to the other side of the enclosure and she does this all over again burrowing under him to wake him up to do this again. She is doing male breeding behavior but she is 100% female. What is going on and is it normal for a female to moch breed like a male usually does? Could she be sexually mature already at around 1 1/2 to 2 years old? and why is she doing this in december?


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2010)

Hey Everyone! This is my first post. I started breeding tegus this year and I want to make sure I got everything perfect. I have an Albino Argentine tegu as well as some Black and whites. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


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