# new Colombian



## Realitynh (May 29, 2012)

Safe to put a 2 year old Colombian in with our Argentine?


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## m3s4 (May 29, 2012)

Yes. 

Just be very observant because there could be a display of dominance by one or the other which you will see in the form of posturing and tail biting. 

The dominant tegu will try and bite the base of the other tegus tail. This will not result in the tegu getting bit to be hurt, but it sends a clear tegu message. Worse case is the tegu that gets bit will have tiny teeth marks where it was bitten - on the base where there is a large amount of fat. 

I've had this happen twice before in the past with my tegus. It isn't a given this will happen with yours but if it does, they only do this a few times and then the behavior stops. 

Other then that, there's no reason to not house them together.


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## Realitynh (May 29, 2012)

Thanx


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## TegusRawsome80 (May 29, 2012)

No, totally irresponsible move. Mixing species is not a good idea.


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## Realitynh (May 29, 2012)

TegusRawsome80 said:


> No, totally irresponsible move. Mixing species is not a good idea.



I see species mixed all the time


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## m3s4 (May 29, 2012)

TegusRawsome80 said:


> No, totally irresponsible move. Mixing species is not a good idea.



Lol. Oh man the things people say and actually believe.


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## larissalurid (May 29, 2012)

I think that they can as long as they really do get along well and have a very large space. I would keep an EXTREMELY close eye on them, it depends on the animals because even if some people have housed animals together, it doesn't always work out. (for example, i have had a rat and a mouse live together which is basically unheard of. usually a rat will kill a mouse, but i had 1 rat and 1 mouse that were able to live together fine. now if i put a different rat and different mouse together theres a very high chance of the mouse being killed. even introducing a mouse to another older mouse (same with rats) they could kill each other) So even if someone here says "yes definitely" or you can find someone who has kept an arg and columbian together, it DOES NOT mean that your two will automatically get along. Although my other thought is how columbians don't hibernate while argentines do which creates a problem when it comes to them living in the same environment. you can just have no lights or heat while the argentine is hibernating and have the columbian keep living in there.


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## Realitynh (May 29, 2012)

m3s4 said:


> TegusRawsome80 said:
> 
> 
> > No, totally irresponsible move. Mixing species is not a good idea.
> ...



Are yours housed together?


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## tommyboy (May 29, 2012)

Forget about the age of the Columbian. How big is he compared to the Argentine? I have housed a 2 foot Columbian with a 2 foot Argentine in the past with no issues whatsoever. I have also tried to house 2 2.5 foot Argentines together and it got real ugly. It was not a scenario where one showed dominance for a few minutes and then everything was fine and dandy. A year later, the same two tegus cannot be out in the same room together. If they see each other they freak out. I have a 4 foot Red that would live in the same enclosure with my daughters guinni pig if I let him. 
The moral of the story is that no 2 tegus ( Columbian or Argentine) are the same. Some will get along and others won't. It would be better if you expected them to NOT get along and be prepared with another enclosure. Even if they seem to be ok the first day, things can change dramatically very quickly! You need to constantly be aware of what is going on in there. Many have left for work seeing two tegus sleeping on each other, and come home to a bloody mess and missing tails.


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## m3s4 (May 29, 2012)

Realitynh said:


> m3s4 said:
> 
> 
> > TegusRawsome80 said:
> ...



Yes. I have a colombian black and white, a colombian gold and an argentine black and white. They all live together. 

My three year old colombian gold "Sam" was housed with a juvenile colombian black&white and Ally before he passed away. Funny thing is, Sam is a male. Ally is a female. Sam bit the base of my juvies tail 2x then quit. Ally, again a female, bit Sam's (a male) tail 3x and quit. 

They establish a pecking order and they know how to do it. I watched mine do it. 

I would never advise someone to just toss in different species without care and preparation, but we are talking tegus here - not tegus and monitors or tegus and iguanas. 

Case in point: our local reptile shop has a 10 year old free-roaming iguana, a 5 year old black-throat monitor, a 20 year old tortoise and a dog (a boxer) that all chill in the same store and roam around together every day, all day all year around. 

I let Ally roam around the shop for an hour yesterday with all the rest - she was fine - as were they. Oh and she didn't want to leave when it was time to pack her in the car and go - interesting isn't it? 

Animals get it, just like people do. 




tommyboy said:


> Forget about the age of the Columbian. How big is he compared to the Argentine? I have housed a 2 foot Columbian with a 2 foot Argentine in the past with no issues whatsoever. I have also tried to house 2 2.5 foot Argentines together and it got real ugly. It was not a scenario where one showed dominance for a few minutes and then everything was fine and dandy. A year later, the same two tegus cannot be out in the same room together. If they see each other they freak out. I have a 4 foot Red that would live in the same enclosure with my daughters guinni pig if I let him.
> The moral of the story is that no 2 tegus ( Columbian or Argentine) are the same. Some will get along and others won't. It would be better if you expected them to NOT get along and be prepared with another enclosure. Even if they seem to be ok the first day, things can change dramatically very quickly! You need to constantly be aware of what is going on in there. Many have left for work seeing two tegus sleeping on each other, and come home to a bloody mess and missing tails.



Very true, individuality plays a huge key in how they interact...That's why one has to be responsible and understand the temperaments of the animals in question - even then it can be a crap-shoot but you never know until you try and there's no reason not to try.


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## Realitynh (May 30, 2012)

It's happening then lol


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## tommyboy (May 30, 2012)

Be safe! I hope everybody behaves for you.


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## m3s4 (May 30, 2012)

Realitynh said:


> It's happening then lol



Awesome!

Good luck - you should take some pictures when they're loungin' together...Chances are the larger one will make a nice sofa for the smaller one when they bask. 

When it comes to feeding, be careful. I don't feed live so they can all share a large dish of turkey/eggs etc. with no problems. 

I don't advise feeding live for various reasons - one being to tame them down. However, if you do, I'd feed them separately or mistakes might happen; one might bite the other accidentally while chasing prey items etc.


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## Realitynh (Jun 2, 2012)

m3s4 said:


> Realitynh said:
> 
> 
> > It's happening then lol
> ...



Yeah thank you, I am not feeding live and definitely separate for aggression preventative purposes. Standby for pics too!


We got Dayla at over and year old (larger one) and she's still alive bit apprehensive when it comes to handling so good try just loving her up a bit before picking her up so she knows I mean no harm. When I rub her neck she sometimes closes her eyes. Is she honestly enjoying it by this expression?


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Jun 2, 2012)

_With the size difference why even risk it. If for what ever reason the B&W gets an attitude or has an off day and decides to go after and or bite the Colombian it wouldn't stand a chance at defending itself. What's the rush, why not wait until it gets bigger.

It's one thing for it to go after or bite a tegu around the same size, but completely different for something that's smaller. You won't always be there to see how they interact and whether or not they're getting along. _


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## m3s4 (Jun 2, 2012)

Nice photo - both of your tegus look great. 

As bubblz stated, there's a size difference to consider but that's only something you can judge - along with their respective temperaments. I never leave mine unsupervised when they are together unless they are sleeping (what I call down-time a/k/a anytime they aren't warmed up to a fully active state) 

Here are mine - notice the size difference(s) between them all: 






Good luck!


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## Dana C (Jun 2, 2012)

That is a perfect picture and really demonstrates what a "Golden" looks like. 
That is a really striking tegu.


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## m3s4 (Jun 3, 2012)

Thanks Dana. 

I agree, for a golden Skoobz has great color. On top of that, he's really vocal and of the three, he's the most active, most alert and likes taking baths the least.


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## got10 (Jun 3, 2012)

i am a reptile freak .But I don't think I would house animals of such large size difference in the same cage. It would be one thing if it was a straight herbivore . I wouldn't house two meat eaters of those sizes together unless i was going to be away for a while and needed the big one to have some fresh meat to eat while i was gone


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