# Where in Argentina do Tegus live...



## Chuey (Mar 13, 2009)

I just spoke with someone who grew up in Buenos Aires and showed her a pic of a Tegu and she's never ever seen a Tegu before while growing up in the city. I don't suppose they hang out at the bars around the city and take a siesta after munching on some chorizo and cerveza do they? 

That said where in Argentina do tegus thrive?


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## VARNYARD (Mar 13, 2009)

Tegus are found in the first northern 1/3rd of Argentina, and are found in Buenos Aires, maybe not down town, lol. But they are in the wilds around the city.

It is like New York, most people there do not know garter snakes are found there, lol.


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## bella60407 (Mar 13, 2009)

Where in Argentina the T.merianae live in the eastern moister half, the T.rufescens live in the western drier half. It is therefore, that in winter I offer my Red Tegus somewhat warmer and drier conditions to hibernate.

Babies I prefer to hibernate in boxes with fallen leaves in the basement at 50 to 70 F. Then in the end of March I bring them out again. One baby was overlooked in March 2005 and when I happened to look between the dry leaves of these boxes mid August 2005 I found with amazement a skinny, but healthy baby red tegu between those leaves at 75F. I put it outside and it started eating right away after ten months of hibernation!


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## bella60407 (Mar 13, 2009)

these r not my words walking out the door wanted to quickly post this before i walk out, not the name of the place but.....probably not even close to what u were lookin for lol 
trying to help u for change


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## ashesc212 (Apr 8, 2009)

So are they found in Iguaza Falls area too? They are mostly rainforest animals?

I'm trying to find a good poster to use as Lucky's background.


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## alewis0890 (Apr 8, 2009)

bella60407 said:


> Where in Argentina the T.merianae live in the eastern moister half, the T.rufescens live in the western drier half. It is therefore, that in winter I offer my Red Tegus somewhat warmer and drier conditions to hibernate.
> 
> Babies I prefer to hibernate in boxes with fallen leaves in the basement at 50 to 70 F. Then in the end of March I bring them out again. One baby was overlooked in March 2005 and when I happened to look between the dry leaves of these boxes mid August 2005 I found with amazement a skinny, but healthy baby red tegu between those leaves at 75F. I put it outside and it started eating right away after ten months of hibernation!





Thats word for word from agama...


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## omgtaylorg (Apr 8, 2009)

lol i knew i read that somewhere else before...


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## i0r (Apr 8, 2009)

You can ask anyone who grew up in Buenos Aires, Capital Federal if they know what a tegu is.....and you'll always get the same answer.....what's that?? A crocodile??

Keeping reptiles as pets here is very rare, and people feel a general discomfort about reptiles. That being said you just might understand why no activists here protests against the tegu leather industry. And since 30% of Argentinas population lives in the big city they hardly know of it's existence.
I(being from sweden) never heard about it at first when i came here either. Until i moved 30miles north of buenos aires. When sitting by the pool one day i see this beast walking along my backyard fence.









Reptile fanatic as i am i obviously ran right over there, jumped the fence and tried to catch it with my bare hands. No need to say it outran me very easy and went for the bushes.

It then kept coming back every day and i tried to catch it with different food lures and box traps, but it was too smart to be caught....or the other way around


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## omgtaylorg (Apr 8, 2009)

Wow thats awesome man, I want to visit there SO bad for a week and try to catch tegus...but like you said they are extremely smart so it certainly isnt an easy task.


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## RehabRalphy (Apr 8, 2009)

I could only imagine what would happen if you DID get your hands on it.


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## i0r (Apr 9, 2009)

Hehe yeah.... well when getting a "steve irwin" impulse you really don't think that you can get hurt. And if i actually would have cought it, it would have been worth a bite 

As for catching them. When they appear in populated areas the people gets scared. They then catch them using wire mesh cages (like the ones for rats...only bigger) to later on (i presume) release them elsewhere. And that's really the most effective way. You might catch it in it's burrow, but it will probably get hurt in the process.


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## ashesc212 (Apr 9, 2009)

i0r said:


> You can ask anyone who grew up in Buenos Aires, Capital Federal if they know what a tegu is.....and you'll always get the same answer.....what's that?? A crocodile??
> 
> Keeping reptiles as pets here is very rare, and people feel a general discomfort about reptiles. That being said you just might understand why no activists here protests against the tegu leather industry. And since 30% of Argentinas population lives in the big city they hardly know of it's existence.
> I(being from sweden) never heard about it at first when i came here either. Until i moved 30miles north of buenos aires. When sitting by the pool one day i see this beast walking along my backyard fence.
> ...



:drool :drool :drool :drool 

Oh man, those are AWESOME pics. What a great sighting! Did you try to feed him at all? He is so beautiful!

-but do they live around Iguazu Falls...? Where in Argentina do they have the greatest population?


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## i0r (Apr 9, 2009)

Yea i fed it. My neighbour as well. We had him around here for a while until he decided to move on. Poor thing though had lost his tail. Probably coz of the darn stray dogs.
Saw a foot long juvie a few weeks ago. So they are around here. 

They do live in Iguazu falls as well. I've never been there yet, but i'd love to go. And from what people say they are pretty docile. Tourists feeding them all day long and such.

Can't tell you exactly where they have the gratest population. But from the info i've collected there are a lot of activity in states "Entre Rios", "Santa Fe" and "Corrientes".

Would be fun to gather up a team from TeguTalk.com and go tegu "hunting" here. A few weeks going to different states, trying to find different looking tegus.


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## laurarfl (Apr 9, 2009)

i0r said:


> Would be fun to gather up a team from TeguTalk.com and go tegu "hunting" here. A few weeks going to different states, trying to find different looking tegus.




I'm in!!!

:app :woot :cheers


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## crimsonrazac (Apr 9, 2009)

That would be so much fun!  I wonder how much that trip would cost lol. I don't think I could do it though because I would want to take everything I find home.


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## RehabRalphy (Apr 9, 2009)

i0r I'm not sure if I missed a few of your first post, but I have a question for you. How did you find out about tegutalk.com? My hunch was that you found your hurt wiild tegu, brought it in, googled and found this site. I know I'm wrong, but everytime i see your screen name I wonder how you found the site. lol


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## i0r (Apr 10, 2009)

You're almost right on target there Raplhy 

Here's my first post
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