# big surprise from LLLreptile at Raleigh expo



## camaro3800series2 (May 2, 2010)

So I get to the expo in Raleigh yesterday and I finally find my Argentine B&W from LLLreptile for $129.99 I thought it was a little overpriced but I still paid and was on my way. Well I get out to the car and go to inspect and I find TWO tegus!!! I was like holy crap! One was kind of hiding in that paper substrate stuff they use at expos...I even told the guy "I want the one on the left" and he still gave them both to me!

Should I keep the extra one? they seem to hangout together all the time. One is fatter and healthier looking but they both are eating and exploring, basking and everything. Within 5 minutes of getting them home they were eating sliced turkey deli meat dusted w/ ReptoCal. I'm getting them crickets tomorrow, my dubia colony is still to early to try to feed these guys out of yet. I've done hours upon hours of research prior to the purchase, mainly from this website and varnyard.com...

So anyways what should I do? I have room for one tegu but not the other... I just dont have room for a 8x4x4 cage in my apartment. I do have room for a 6'x3'x2' but I don't want them to be cramped or stressed. I would love to keep both but I don't want one of them to die when someone else could provide it with a better home. 

I have 5 years experience with different kinds of reptiles, mostly bearded dragons.

I am building a 4'x4'x2' enclosure tomorrow but it won't be ready for a few day because I'm staining the exterior. I know this will not last forever. I just have an extra peice of glass that would work perfect.

What should I do everyone? sell it or keep it? I'll post pictures tomorrow! they are awesome. I haven't handled them much but for the 10 mins or so I did they were very calm. I'm kind of worried about the smaller one but she is eating, she ate a beetle I found on my front porch, was pretty cool to watch.


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## lazyjr52 (May 2, 2010)

First off congrats on your new gu's. But I would have to say that if you only have room for one you should only keep one.


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## isdrake (May 2, 2010)

Congrats on your new Tegu. That must have been quite a surprise. I agree with Lazyjr52. You can't keep more animals than you have room for. Even if you could spare 8x4x4 is pretty small for two Tegus.

Have you thought about making two enclosures on top of each other? Or do you have plans on using that space above the enclosure for something else?


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## DMBizeau (May 2, 2010)

if you do decide to keep both in the same enclosure just make sure you feed them seperately. All 3 of mine share an enclosure and get along great. Congrats on your new pickups.


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## Jefroka (May 2, 2010)

I would promptly contact the person you got them from and ask them if they would like one of the gus back. Its only fair.


...Jefroka


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## eddyjack (May 2, 2010)

Congratulations on your new Tegue and I agree completely with Jefroka, it's only fair to contact the seller just to make sure he meant to give you 2
two. Sounds like you got a great deal on just one. Otherwise great find.


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## White_Lotus (May 2, 2010)

word of warning NEVER feed random insects you find outside...wild insects are breeding groun for all sorts of parastes not to mention and pest killer that they are immune to but your Gu is not. Its not the safest thing to do yes it cool but if its the wrong bug at the wrong time it can have a bad ending. Anyways i would definitely look into rehoming it there i no point in keeping an animal you can't house in your house, i wouldnt feel so comfortable will craigslist but try posting an ad here im sure with all the members there is bound to be someone here who would buy your extra Gu!


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## CaseyUndead (May 2, 2010)

Sweet! I think the idea of stacking enclosures is good if you have the money for a second enclosure. That's the only way i have enough floorspace for my snakes, stacking. Some big enclosures are actually made to fit together for stacking them on top of eachother too. If you don't want him then you can probably send him back or sell him to someone on here, though. Personally, i sort of feel that if they didn't bother checking to see if there was more than one in there, and it was their own mistake, that there's nothing wrong with keeping the extra one. It's not like you were trying to pull something over on them, you gave them the money and they gave you two. Even after you pointed out to them the one you wanted, they still gave you both. Seems fair to me. They can't seriously expect you to go through the trouble of sending a tegu back to them because of their own mistake. 
I was there yesterday too so we probably saw eachother at some point. I was wearing a hat, have a septum piercing and lots of ear piercings, and was most likely acting really strange and nervous because of the crowds, lol. During the last hour or so that i was there i was also holding the Ball Python i had bought. I saw the tegus they had there while i was buying heat bulbs. Very cute


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## camaro3800series2 (May 2, 2010)

If it was a small independent breeder, I would have returned it. LLLreptile has made so much money off of me for the last 5 years, thats why I don't feel bad about keeping it. I have spent thousands there just on feeders...

I could stack the cages but one of them would be sitting directly on the ground if I did that. I really want to keep both, but I want whats best for them. I am imagine the food bill for two full grown tegus is gonna be pretty high. I don't want my other reptiles to end up going without due to lack of funds in the future.

I don't think I stole the lizard, that was just there bad. The little container they were cramped up in reeked of poop, it was nasty. 

If anyone wants the other tegu, shoot me an email @ <!-- e --><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e --> and I will send pictures of it.
They are both very tame and LLLreptile says that they are CB
We can discuss a fair price, probably like $125 shipped.


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## Jefroka (May 2, 2010)

Yes, it was their mistake to give two instead of one, but the decent thing to do is allow them the choice of picking it up or not. There's probably a 99-100% chance they will tell you to keep it.



...Jefroka


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## camaro3800series2 (May 2, 2010)

I think now I'm going to keep both of them. My girlfriend wants one to be hers. I'll just have to stack enclosures.


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## VARNYARD (May 3, 2010)

I would take them to a vet and get floats done, no one has produced CBB tegus in the US yet. They are not CB in the USA, and they are 110% imports, which are well known to be ridden with parasites every season.

South America has the opposite seasons as us, that is why you have young hatchlings this time of the year. I know it seems like you got a great deal, but how much is spent after the vet visit?


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## preston897 (May 3, 2010)

bobby i thought your tegus were CBB?


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## Mr Critter (May 3, 2010)

His are CBB ,no eggs hatched yet this year, not till june or july. So if you buy a baby now there imports.


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## preston897 (May 3, 2010)

ohhh. i thought he meant period. i misunderstood then. thankyou for clearing that up


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## camaro3800series2 (May 3, 2010)

I think our local vet only charges $30 for stool tests, and i'll pick up some reptile mite spray from petco today.

For being imports they are only flighty when they are warm and when they are warm its still like trying to hold a flighty bearded dragon or something. They don't act like a wild anole or something when holding. I am giving them a week to get acclimated to their new cage before doing any handling for more than 1-2 mins. My girlfriend did fall asleep on the 2 hour drive back from Raleigh holding both of them and they both just stayed right there in her lap. 

If they are wild caught does this necessarily mean they are going to be aggressive as adults? I don't want one to bite but I do have welding gloves just in case.


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## preston897 (May 3, 2010)

yea i need to get the test done on my tegu as well. but its like $100 for the total bill. after the charge for the office visit and the test.


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## isdrake (May 3, 2010)

Just because they are from outside the united states doesn't mean they are wild caught. There ARE other breeders out there.

And even if they are wild caught that doesn't make any different than Tegus that are bred. Tegus are not domesticated animals. They will all be "wild". I think I read in "General care and maintenance of popular monitors and Tegus" that I wild caught adult Tegu only needs about 3 months to calm down and accept their owner.


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## eddyjack (May 3, 2010)

Bobby, 

When you send me my first reptile ever, and it will be one of your Tegue's, if by chance you accidently send 2 instead of just 1, I give my word that I will immediately call you and let you know. 

Even if the box they come in smell's like POOP! No matter how bad it is I will bathe them, give them sustainence and very comfortable accomidations until you decide what you would like to do. 

You are providing me with an opportunity and it is your business your lively hood, when I get one of these wonderful animals from you, I need you to stay in business for a long time to come, so I will gladly pay you what ever it's worth for the services you have to offer all of us, even if it is thousands.

Why you all might ask? 
Cuz that's the way I roll!!! 

Sincerely,
eddyjack

P.S. jefroka is very cool too!


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## VARNYARD (May 4, 2010)

isdrake said:


> Just because they are from outside the united states doesn't mean they are wild caught. There ARE other breeders out there.
> 
> And even if they are wild caught that doesn't make any different than Tegus that are bred. Tegus are not domesticated animals. They will all be "wild". I think I read in "General care and maintenance of popular monitors and Tegus" that I wild caught adult Tegu only needs about 3 months to calm down and accept their owner.



I agree there are other breeders out there, like Roberto Fracchia. He is the largest breeder in South America, and I know him well. He knows his tegus have parasites, and I have talked to him about this, he told me it is not his problem. It is up to us to treat them after they arrive into the US. He said as long as they arrive alive, then that is all he needs to do. 

Do you believe everything you read in a book? I know the book and I read it, I do not believe everything in that book and I don't even like the title. Tegus are no relation to monitors at all. You might as well write a book titled "General care and maintenance of popular monitors and geckos" 

As for taming an adult that was captured from the wild, have you ever had one? I have, I have had adults that were wild caught, both from Argentina and from south Florida that escaped from Ron's breeding program. Neither of them ever got tame.

I am really sick of the lies in our hobby about tegus. I am sick of people trying to make them out to be something they are not. WC is not hardly seen anymore, it means wild caught, but now they call them CBs, captive bred. You do not see CH, captive hatched. 

And what about Black and White tegus? Since when did a Tupinambis Teguixin or the Colombian tegu become a Black and White tegu? There is no such animal, there are two types of Tupinambis Teguixin, the Colombian Gold tegu, and the Colombian Black tegu. They changed the name to Colombian Black and White, and then to just Black and White. This was done to confuse the buyer into thinking they were getting a more expensive Argentine tegu. Of course when you say something about it, they say, well everyone is doing it. IMO, that does not make them any less a scammer. It is nothing less than a scam to call a Tupinambis Teguixin a Black and White tegu.

As for doing the right thing, I would contact them too. But if I send out two in a box by mistake, I would probably just let the buyer keep the extra one. I know what these whole sellers pay for these imports, around $25.00 - $35.00, so they will not loose money regardless. I have seen adds for imports for $79.00, and it sounds like a great deal. But then they add $50.00 for the shipping, and then you have the vet bill, not such a great deal anymore is it?


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## CaseyUndead (May 4, 2010)

Yeah, the colombian thing is annoying. I've brought up various reptile labelling crazyness i've seen at pet shops to the people working there, and they either don't care or get annoyed with me. I've even seen colombian tegus labelled as "tegu monitors," and once overheard a pet shop employee training another employee saying "this is a tegu, it's a monitor" and i told them they weren't monitors but teiids, and they both just kind of stared at me like i was crazy and were like "okayyyy.... whatever."


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## VARNYARD (May 4, 2010)

CaseyUndead said:


> Yeah, the colombian thing is annoying. I've brought up various reptile labelling crazyness i've seen at pet shops to the people working there, and they either don't care or get annoyed with me. I've even seen colombian tegus labelled as "tegu monitors," and once overheard a pet shop employee training another employee saying "this is a tegu, it's a monitor" and i told them they weren't monitors but teiids, and they both just kind of stared at me like i was crazy and were like "okayyyy.... whatever."



Well, that's because most pet shop employees are the same employees you see at MC Donald's. They work for minimum wage and have no real knowledge of the animals at all.


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## preston897 (May 4, 2010)

yea the tegu that i just recently got is an import. that was one of the first things he told me. he said it was CB in argentina by some breeder. and then imported here. i dont know how much of that is true but so far he seems healthy. i may have gotten lucky on this one. that is also unfortunate about that breeder who KNOWS his tegus have parasites and simply does not care. i much prefer the breeders who take pride in their work and focus on the quality of the animals produced. much like bobby does. thats why he has some of the best tegus around.


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## camaro3800series2 (May 4, 2010)

Is there a medicine I can give my tegus to rid them of these parasites or is it still not 100% they have parasites? I'd like to know because I don't want them getting sick and dying. Even if they are imports, they are just as good as any other argentine tegu in my eyes. Even ones hatched by a US breeder aren't THAT many generations from being in the wild too.


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## VARNYARD (May 4, 2010)

The problem is, there are different types of medicines to treat different types of parasites, you do not want to treat an animal for something he does not have. You must have a fecal float done to know what type you are treating. Most vets will allow you to take a fresh sample in to them, and only charge you for the test and meds. You can call a good herp vet in your area and ask them if they would consider doing such, that would save you an exam bill.


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## White_Lotus (May 6, 2010)

Whatever happen to taking pride in what you do period whether you work in a fast food place or breeding animals why don't most people just do what they do well out of self respect...why waste the time you have in life half @$$ing your job...especially when you CHOOSE to do the job


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## eddyjack (May 6, 2010)

Hey camaro3800series2,
Sounds like your guys have bugs in em! If it were me I'd take em to the vet ASAP! Spend a couple hundred buck's if need be just to make sure they are ok. Then you can have peace of mind.


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