# How Do You Seek Specific Gender Tegu if Baby is Wanted?



## SableDragonRook (Dec 14, 2018)

Hey all! I understand that tegus are difficult to sex when young. What do you do when you're seeking a specific gender (e.g., for breeding) but want to acquire a baby tegu rather than an adult? Are you just supposed to take a guess and hope the 50/50 is in your favor? If cost were not an obstacle, would the right vet know how to tell for sure? I've read conflicting information on the accuracy of probing, and I suspect many vets wouldn't know enough about feeling BBs to know whether it's a girl or just a not-yet-developed boy.

My impression is that even if you can't feel the BBs when they're small, the evidence is still there. Do most breeders buy sub-adults so they are more certain of the gender? 

I only ask because we're seeking specifically a female tegu, but we'd really prefer to acquire a baby, so we're unsure what the best method is here.

Thoughts?


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## Walter1 (Dec 14, 2018)

BBs work after some growth. At birth, males will have a small cluster of enlarged scales near vent edges. On tail, not body.


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## SableDragonRook (Dec 14, 2018)

Walter1 said:


> BBs work after some growth. At birth, males will have a small cluster of enlarged scales near vent edges. On tail, not body.


Thanks! I wasn't sure how clear the enlarged scales would be at birth. They're large scales with like a small circle of minuscule scales around, right? I imagine that if I were to post pictures here of potential tegus from a breeder, other members would be able to help me confirm male or female based on these scales, right?


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## Walter1 (Dec 14, 2018)

We could give it a try.


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## Guman (Jan 12, 2019)

Or probing


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## Squam8 (Jan 21, 2019)

My understanding is that probing is pretty accurate though not 100% (is this due to "user error", or some other factor, I dunno).

I also want a female so I planned on getting a sexable one from Rodney Irwin. However I'm a bit torn because I also might want one with more "blue" traits. So I'm also considering a blue cross from Hector's habitat. I'm not anywhere close to ready for one but I'm already considering how I'll go about it, and I'm wondering if with some extra monetary incentive, if some of the more reputable breeders would be willing to hold back one or two high probability female tegus until such a time as they are truly and definitively sexable. Or some such situation where you pay extra for the guarantee. I would like to know if anyone thinks this is a dumb idea or at all doable. I feel like paying a little extra is better than rehoming if you end up with the gender that you really didn't want. Though truthfully, I would probably just end up keeping what I got, since it would just be a pet and not for breeding.


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## Walter1 (Jan 21, 2019)

Even hatchlings can be sex3d accurately without use of a probe. Scalation just posterior to either side of the vent differs getween sexes. May take a mag ifying glass for some and a bit of practice, but it works.


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## Tslacum18 (Feb 1, 2022)

Does anyone have pictures of the difference in the scalation between a male and female? There is an exotic pet store near me and they have a tegu baby and they don’t know the sex. I want a female bcuz my sister in law has a male and I want to breed her with him. So 2 boys wouldn’t work for that. Although that isn’t the only reason I want a tegu.


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