# The Bright Side of Import Tegus?



## slideaboot (May 26, 2010)

OK...so I've read a handful of posts by folks who are acquiring import tegus and the general reply is generally something like: 

_Good luck with your new 'gu-- You should take him/her to the vet because he/she probably has internal parasites...etc..._

There was also a post a LOOOOOONG time back about all of the color/pattern varieties that have been observed in the wild that we don't really see in captive collections.

My question is this:

Are the import tegus "wild" OR are they farmed/bred/etc and exported to the States? 

If they're "wild" and actually caught and sent to the States, it seems like a helluva great opportunity to open up and diversify the tegu gene pool. Something tells me that if it was the case that the tegus were actually caught and shipped that we'd be seeing a lot more diversity by now...or??? Am I missing something (I'm sure I am--I ALWAYS am)????

Thanks for reading this far...


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## goodtimes (May 26, 2010)

I have no idea if they are wild or captive imports, but if they are wild you have a good point. It would be cool to find a giant version of the Blue :mrgreen:. I am sure Bobby and a some others will have a good idea about this.


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## preston897 (May 26, 2010)

from what i understand most of them are captive bred on tegu farms. thats what mine is. and he is great. no parasites at all. and a good temperment. a bit jumpy but thats normal


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## cabral (May 26, 2010)

hey, im from uruguay, and here we have wild tegus, same in argentina, the difference is that argentine tegus have white faces, and all the uruguayan tegus ive seen(also tupinambis merianae) are black headed. my tegu is black headed and she is an uruguayan tegu, she is said to be bred in captivity by a breeder but there is a chance that they are wild caught, i dont know of any tegu exporter in uruguay, maybe thats why u have few black head tegus up there.


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## goodtimes (May 26, 2010)

Interesting, do you have any pictures of your black headed Tegu?


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## reptastic (May 26, 2010)

cabral im interested in seeing your tegu also, i too have a black head tegu but she was bred by mr. hill! to he op there are many variations in patterns with tegus, some have stripes, some have spots, some are lighter some are darker! it could depend on the breeder, the parents and what they are breeding for! i believe the tegus are o the cites list so all the imports are farmed or cb and then exported to the us!


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## preston897 (May 26, 2010)

yea my tegu has a strange pattern. his legs are black and white polkadots but he has some washed out looking parts. like what it looks like if you get a paper with ink on it wet.


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## cabral (May 26, 2010)

the tegu nero is one of the black head tegu.... instead of having a white face its dark brown.... 
but here u have a picture of my female ...


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## preston897 (May 26, 2010)

very pretty. i like her alot


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## reptastic (May 26, 2010)

preston897 said:


> yea my tegu has a strange pattern. his legs are black and white polkadots but he has some washed out looking parts. like what it looks like if you get a paper with ink on it wet.



aall of my tegus had that pattern to some degree neros is kinda black and cream and looks kinda like a dark coffee when you add cream, achilles had a polka dots thing going on, white pots with orange spots in the middle, now pyro(although not a b/w) has a interesting pattern, before each shed he gets a pale pink and black pattern, but after the shed he is kinda like a calico color red, orange, whoithe and black! they all have spotted hind legs i think!


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## reptastic (May 26, 2010)

wow she is stunning she looks like a darker colored blue in that first pic, with the dark nose and the teardrop!


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## cabral (May 26, 2010)

THANK YOU!


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## VARNYARD (May 26, 2010)

The tegus you are talking about are already here, I do not look to get anything new through imports. I have a wish list, but I fear that day will never come with the tegus being on the Cites list.

Here are mine, lol


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## preston897 (May 26, 2010)

what exactly is the cites list?


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## VARNYARD (May 26, 2010)

preston897 said:


> what exactly is the cites list?



CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

Widespread information nowadays about the endangered status of many prominent species, such as the tiger and elephants, might make the need for such a convention seem obvious. But at the time when the ideas for CITES were first formed, in the 1960s, international discussion of the regulation of wildlife trade for conservation purposes was something relatively new. With hindsight, the need for CITES is clear. Annually, international wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife products derived from them, including food products, exotic leather goods, wooden musical instruments, timber, tourist curios and medicines. Levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species are high and the trade in them, together with other factors, such as habitat loss, is capable of heavily depleting their populations and even bringing some species close to extinction. Many wildlife species in trade are not endangered, but the existence of an agreement to ensure the sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these resources for the future.

Because the trade in wild animals and plants crosses borders between countries, the effort to regulate it requires international cooperation to safeguard certain species from over-exploitation. CITES was conceived in the spirit of such cooperation. Today, it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are traded as live specimens, fur coats or dried herbs.

CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). The text of the Convention was finally agreed at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries in Washington DC., United States of America, on 3 March 1973, and on 1 July 1975 CITES entered in force. The original of the Convention was deposited with the Depositary Government in the Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish languages, each version being equally authentic.

CITES is an international agreement to which States (countries) adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties. Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â?¬Å? in other words they have to implement the Convention Ã?Â¢Ã¢â??Â¬Ã¢â?¬Å? it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.

For many years CITES has been among the conservation agreements with the largest membership, with now 175 Parties.


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## VARNYARD (May 26, 2010)

Decree of Implementation of CITES and Export of Skins of Tupinambis spp.

1. In 1991 the Secretariat officially visited Paraguay, accompanied by the representative of TRAFFIC South America.

2. At this occasion, the CITES delegation hold meetings with the President of the Republic and the Minister of Agriculture y GanaderÃ?Æ?Ã?Â­a, as well as with the CITES Management and Scientific Authorities of Paraguay.

3. The CITES Secretariat, in close co-operation with the Paraguayan authorities, participated in the drafting of a Presidiential Decree establishing the infrastructural basis of both the CITES Management Authority and Scientific Authority of this country, as well as of all the legal steps necessary for an effective implementation of the Convention. This Decree, bearing the no. 10655, was signed by the President of the Republic on 23 August 1991. A copy is attached.

4. During a visit to an important area of the country to determine the locations where CITES projects on Tupinambis spp. and Caiman spp. should be conducted, it appeared that in spite of a hunting ban on Tupinambis spp. there was an illegal harvest destined to Argentina.

The CITES Authorities of Argentina, which are developing a major population survey of Tupinambis in Argentina had already expressed their concern to the Secretariat regarding the possible illegal entry in their country of illegal skins of Paraguayan origin, which could be then exported as skins of Argentine origin.

5. In light of this, it was decided after several meetings with the Paraguayan authorities that Paraguay would export a maximum of 300,000 skins (crust-tanned of finished) of Tupinambis spp., a quantity evaluated to be equivalent to that of skins sent to Argentina each year. For that purpose, Resolution No. 776 was issued on 11 December 1991 (copy attached), under which a hunting season is established for Tupinambis spp. and the CÃ?Æ?Ã?Â¡mara de Industriales Curtidores de Pieles Silvestres (CICPS) of Paraguay is authorized to collect the allocated skins.

In addition, the resolution establishes all the internal control measures of the whole operation, from the capture of the animal to the export of the product, including the control of the tanneries.

6. Consequently, Paraguay has started to export the skins in question within the maximum quotas which has been established.

7. At he request of the CITES Authorites of Paraguay, the Parties are required to confirm with the Secretariat the validity of the documents before authorizing the import of Tupinambis spp. skins from Paraguay.


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## VARNYARD (May 26, 2010)

Notification to the Parties

No. 964 Geneva, 7 March 1997

CONCERNING:

Recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee

1. The Nomenclature Committee met during the 13th meeting of the Animals Committee, in Pruhonice, Czech Republic, September 1996, to discuss, at the request of the Secretariat, amongst other issues, the taxonomic status of Tupinambis spp. and the Varanus indicus complex, taking into account that no standard reference to the names of lizards has been adopted by the Parties to CITES.

2. Having analyzed the concern raised by Argentina, Paraguay and the United States of America regarding the exports of Tupinambis species, the Nomenclature Committee agreed to recommend the adoption of Cei, JosÃ?Æ?Ã?Â© M. (1993) Reptiles del Noroeste, Nordeste y Este de la Argentina - Herpetofauna de las Selvas Subtropicales, Puna y Pampa, in Monografie XIV, Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali, Torino, Italy, as the preferred nomenclatural reference for species of Tupinambis from Argentina and Paraguay.

3. Consequently, export permits from Argentina and Paraguay relating to Tupinambis should refer to the species, i.e. Tupinambis teguixin and/or Tupinambis rufescens.

4. Regarding the Varanus indicus complex, the Nomenclature Committee endorsed a report prepared by the checklist staff at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. This report recognizes four species in this complex: V. indicus (Daudin, 1802), V. doreanus (Meyer, 1941), V. spinulosus Mertens, 1941 and V. jobiensis Ahl, 1932.

5. The report referred to in point 4 considers Varanus indicus kalabeck as a synonym of Varanus indicus. Therefore CITES documents should refer to the latter and not to Varanus kalabeck.


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## preston897 (May 26, 2010)

ok then. makes sense. thankyou for that great explanation bobby


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## VARNYARD (May 26, 2010)

VARNYARD said:


> Notification to the Parties
> 
> No. 964 Geneva, 7 March 1997
> 
> ...



Also keep in mind that the Tupinambis teguixin has been changed to Tupinambis merianae, however all Tupinambis species are listed.

And you are more than welcome bro!!


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## preston897 (May 26, 2010)

bobby are all of your adult breeders CBB in the US or are they imports?


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## VARNYARD (May 26, 2010)

preston897 said:


> bobby are all of your adult breeders CBB in the US or are they imports?



Both, most are CBBs right here from the USA.


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## VARNYARD (May 26, 2010)

Here is a good read about why tegus are on the Cites list:

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## preston897 (May 26, 2010)

are you tegus from langwerf? or a smaller breeder?


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## VARNYARD (May 27, 2010)

preston897 said:


> are you tegus from langwerf? or a smaller breeder?



I have some of both, many of the ones I have were bred and raised by me over the last 13 years.


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## Rob H (May 10, 2017)

preston897 said:


> from what i understand most of them are captive bred on tegu farms. thats what mine is. and he is great. no parasites at all. and a good temperment. a bit jumpy but thats normal



Preston, 
How do you know he didn't have parasites? Eg., what confirms that. 

Thanks


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## dpjm (May 11, 2017)

Rob, this is a really old thread so let's not continue with it. Usually parasites are confirmed by analyzing a fecal sample.


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