# Underground Reptiles Chacoan White headed Tegus Are they really giants?



## Rud3dog (Aug 16, 2015)

I have been collecting trading large lizards for 24 years or more from water monitors to iguanas. I have been out of the tegu seen for 10 years and the whole Chacoan white headed aka gentle giants is something I never heard when I was younger. I used to own a 4 foot long male Argentine Tegu in 1998 - 2005 and man it was pretty big ( not as big as my white throat monitor). It roamed the apartment / house and pooped in a kitty liter box. I thought the Argentine B&W tegus were the biggest until I contacted Underground Reptiles and told me the Chocoans were even bigger. Now since I originally owned a big tegu years ago I had trouble in my mind thinking one could get bigger. Well call me smart or call me a sucker, I guess only time will tell if these guys will grow larger then the one I used to have. I am very impressed in the fact that Underground retiles will sex them at such a young age and I bought 1 male name Cruiser or Cruz ( he is still young ). I am not complaining at all about my purchase, but would like to know if you all have noticed any size difference or any difference at all in these Tegus. 

Btw, this is my first post and its nice to be here


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## Rud3dog (Aug 16, 2015)

Here is my 2 month old Male, Cruiser.


 






I seem to trust these guys and every thing they say seems legit except the sizes. Check this out if you havnt.


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## thatoneguy (Aug 17, 2015)

I also got a chacoan from underground reptiles, mostly because they were priced better then the normal B&Ws, here is my 2 month old


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## Rud3dog (Aug 17, 2015)

Nice! No doubt underground produces some of the rarest and prettiest tegus out there. But will these aka extreme giants really get larger then a Argentine? I will have my doubts till some one shows me some more evidence. Regardless I love these lil guys and yours looks like ( guessing by the looks a male, its really early to tell by looks ) he is growing very fast for his age.  I am hopeing for some very pretty white and black contrast from these guys. I wonder if we have the same fathers lol What did you name him? And btw, the fact they can sex them %100 as hatchlings sealed the deal as my breeder of choice.


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## thatoneguy (Aug 17, 2015)

He came from the first group that hatched, probably related. He is a male and I named him Drogon. He is also starting to develop orange on his belly.


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## Rud3dog (Aug 17, 2015)

Mine was purchased on July 28th and delivered on the 29th. When I talked to Ryan, he said they had a ton. Judgeing by the size of my hatchling, he is about 6 weeks old and so far I have no yellow at all on his belly. So far he is 100% black and white with of course the green on top which is wearing away every week. I personally dont want yellow. When did you start seeing Drogon get yellow on his bellie and if you get time would you post a pic please  Thank you so much for the info on your tegu, may your stay healthy as can be. 

Wait, I am so jelouse of your camera, your pics are so clear and detailed. Is that the yellow under his front limbs or maybe that is the light? A pic would be sweet as all hell .


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## thatoneguy (Aug 17, 2015)

The pictures are from my phone lol. I had delays in getting Drogon do to the temperature where I live and then He got delayed due to storms and got to spend an extra night in a box. I first noticed it about a week ago it's more orange then yellow. I've read it's genetic, but now that I think about it, it could also be the red rocks I have in the cage.


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## thatoneguy (Aug 17, 2015)

I'm away from home until the end of the week then I'll take some more photos


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## Rud3dog (Aug 17, 2015)

I really hope my Tegu grows up as healthy and fast as yours. Please stay in touch


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## thatoneguy (Aug 17, 2015)

I'm sure he will, just make sure you got good lighting and vitamins. I alternate between a vitamin with D3 and straight calcium. So far I have been feeding him chicken hearts and gizzards, ground turkey, tilapia, and scrambled eggs. I mix I the vitamins and calcium right into the eggs when I scramble them. Also lots of gut loaded crickets. He is not a fan of superworms. He hasn't eaten any veggies or fruits yet just not interested in them. Sometimes I try and mix a little in with the scrambled eggs.


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## Rud3dog (Aug 17, 2015)

Funny you should say that! I read all the warning about superworms, and I have fed him nothing but mealworms but he does not like them! I have 4 cups in the fridge he doesnt want. I remember how I grew my last one big and strong, Frozen mice! It seems to give them what they want and need. But I am not a nutritionist, just an observer. If any one eles is reading and there tegu likes superworms or mealworms Id love to hear back


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## thatoneguy (Aug 23, 2015)

Here you can see the orange on his stomach, he wasn't very cooperative in taking the picture.


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## Rud3dog (Aug 23, 2015)

Wow! Yours is huge compared to mine lol. Mine is growing fast, just not that fast. Tegus grow like 10 times faster then iguanas lol. I have 1 red and 2 blue (axanthic) ones that are months older and my tegu is almost big enough to eat them. Meat eaters always seem to grow faster then herbivores. The guy at Tegusonly.com sells tegus like this and calls then fire bellies.  So far mine has all white underneith and that is fine. I was hoping to get as much white as I could. When I put my hand in the aquarium mine will walk up on it which blew me away with him only being 2 months old. So far he has never tried to bite or nip at me, has yours? Also are you gonna try hand feeding? I am thinking about it, I just dont want him to get confused when he is older. I have no idea if these lil guys hurt when they bite, had a water monitor (even smaller) bite me on the thumb, wanna talk about pain, and the son of a gun would not let go.


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## thatoneguy (Aug 23, 2015)

Yeah tegus grow fast my GF had an iguana who is almost 2 years old and my tegu had almost caught up to her. Mine will jump and crawl up on my hands too, he's more interested in exploring then me though. I usually hand feed mine a few bites then let him do the rest. Sometimes I offer him food by hand and he just jumps on my arm and runs up my shoulder. I have put my finger in front of his face when it was covered in food juices, sometimes he ignores it, but he has bit me, but it didn't hurt pretty gentle and he doesn't do the head shake anymore when eating. I even hand feed him live crickets. I think he learned though not to bite my finger because he hasn't done it again.


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## Rud3dog (Aug 23, 2015)

Thanks for the feed back. I am done with crickets for now. They are hard to keep and expensive. I usually buy 1000 at a time, but since it is always 100 degrees in Texas they dont live long, I will buy frozen mice today and I will attempt to feed him by hand since you say it dont hurt. I am guessing the water monitors either have a more powerful jaw or sharper longer teeth or all of the above cause that lil thing hurt and I was jumping uip in down in pain whil the dang thing clamped on. He held on to me for over a minute and blod was pouring out of my thumb and into hi mouth. Yours may get huge having that yellow in him. Some where down the line he got that gene. I think mine would have yellow now if he was ever gonna get it. I will take a pic of his belly when he wakes up. Here is a idea for you, buy different size PVC pipe to be used as caves for them, they love it.


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## thatoneguy (Aug 23, 2015)

Yeah crickets are a pain in the ass, I thought I was done with them too, but all of a sudden he isn't eating as much as usual, so I picked some more up. I have a couple hides but he prefers to dig under this big rock I have for his basking area. I'm sure when they get older getting bit would be a very unfortunate event


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## Rud3dog (Aug 23, 2015)

Mine is a baby compared to yours lol. But he looks like he has just a white and black belly. I think I would have seen more color by now if it was gonna change. What are your thoughts?


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## thatoneguy (Aug 23, 2015)

Well for mine it seemed to start appearing as the green started fading, so I think if it was gonna show up it would happen when he starts losing his baby color otherwise it won't happen.


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## Walter1 (Aug 23, 2015)

You'd see fire by now.


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## Rud3dog (Aug 23, 2015)

Thanks guys. Pet stores in the Austin TX area want a ton of $ for frozen rodents. Petco/petsmart want$2-$2.50 per fuzzy, unfreaking believable. I will order a ton next week when I have more cash for the shipping costs. But for now I am looking for some thing not messy and easy to use to feed my tegu. I have 3 cans of meal worms and he doesnt even want any of them. Any ideas? Please dont judge me here, I really dont care to chop up nasty meat parts but will if needed till I get frozen mice. Btw, he doesnt really care much for fruit atm. He is a picky eater like his dad.


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## thatoneguy (Aug 23, 2015)

Ground turkey isn't to bad, I mix in the calcium/vitamins and make little bite size balls, not as bad as chicken hearts.

I also make scrambled eggs by mixing in the calcium/vitamin plus sometimes chopped up greens or veggies. Then cook them in the microwave about 45 seconds at a time then stir and repeat until done. 

My tegu seems to like tilapia, I'm not sure if he likes salmon I offered him some the past 2 days didn't eat to much of it.


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## Walter1 (Aug 23, 2015)

Little Caesar's or Rachel Ray dog food in individual serving containers will work dusted with calcium.


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## DangerousDann (Sep 11, 2015)

I ordered mine from Underground Reptiles on September 3rd and got him on September 5th. His name is Dozer. He has already started climbing onto my hand and arm.


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## Rud3dog (Sep 11, 2015)

Wow! So beautiful! All the white on his head looks so great! Please upload some more clearer pics, I really love yours contrast and color!


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## Walter1 (Sep 11, 2015)

Congrats. Looks like Dozer'll grow up with lots of white with crisp contrast. The black teardrop under the eye is associated with one of the morphs.


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## Rud3dog (Sep 11, 2015)

Please upload some more clearer pics! Your Tegu is bad A$$!


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## DangerousDann (Sep 11, 2015)

Thank you, I've been shooting a lot of video of Dozer since I got him, I'll post the YouTube link in my next post.


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## DangerousDann (Sep 11, 2015)

This was me having a little fun with the clips I shot of Dozer his first 24hours. He was shedding when he arrived. I post vids of him on Facebook everyday, but YouTube takes a while to upload. I'll take more pics in the morning when he wakes up, to show since the shed.


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## DangerousDann (Sep 11, 2015)




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## DangerousDann (Sep 12, 2015)




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## DangerousDann (Sep 12, 2015)




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## DangerousDann (Sep 12, 2015)

I posted more pics of Dozer that I took this morning. We have 3 bearded dragon, a Tokay gecko, and 2 leopard geckos, but Dozer is my first Tegu. Some things I'm still getting used to, like when he burrows and I can't find him. I started him on ground turkey since he's eat 40 to 50 crickets a day.


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## DangerousDann (Sep 12, 2015)




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## sr3052 (Sep 13, 2015)

DangerousDann said:


> View attachment 9798 I ordered mine from Underground Reptiles on September 3rd and got him on September 5th. His name is Dozer. He has already started climbing onto my hand and arm.


 I also got my chacoan from underground august 18th he is awesome


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## sr3052 (Sep 13, 2015)




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## sr3052 (Sep 13, 2015)




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## Vastra (Sep 28, 2015)

A friend of ours recommended rodentpro.com (about 30 cents per mouse sold in hundred count) or you could try hare/today.com too they have all kinds of whole prey and ground meats


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## Rud3dog (Nov 25, 2015)

Its been a little more then a month since I have been here mostly because of my water monitors needing more attention. Reguardless of what to call them chacoan giants or what ever, mine is developing a very very grey head. I dont know if this will turn to white later one but the first 2 inches of his head is mostly grey. I will post some pics later. Will his grey turn white? If not he will definitely be a grey head lol


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## Walter1 (Nov 26, 2015)

Sounds like he's picking up the traits of that morph or ssp. 

Hope you waters are doing well. What a handful.


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## thatoneguy (Nov 26, 2015)

My chacoans head is not white either grey maybe slight tint of green still


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## DangerousDann (Nov 28, 2015)

Same here, Dozers head is greyish white


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## Walter1 (Nov 28, 2015)

Changing to some lighter shade.


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## Rud3dog (Dec 1, 2015)




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## Rud3dog (Dec 1, 2015)

His head normally looks more grey, he has some reptibark on his skin. His mouth is getting better, I am not sure how that happened but I have been steralizing it the best I can and upped his heat even more and it seems to be going away.

So will that gray turn to white? I dont remember seeing any adults with a gray skin.


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## Walter1 (Dec 1, 2015)

Hydrogen peroxide excellent antiseptic will fuzz and foam over infection.


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## Rud3dog (Dec 1, 2015)

So what do you think Walter? Will he maintain a big gray head or will it turn into a big white head?


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## Walter1 (Dec 1, 2015)

I'm not sure. I have a pale female with an off white or cream colored head, but white heads are out there.


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## Rud3dog (Dec 1, 2015)

But have you seen a gray head? Mine is litterally gray atm. I havnt seen a tegu keep greay before. Cream color yes, but grey? May be the picture wasnt good, he has a completely grey head, not cream.


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## Walter1 (Dec 1, 2015)

I see what you mean. My answer is no I have not seen gray heads. However, my experience is with larger/older animals= Done changing, so for me the vote's still out on yours. I suspect it to be the intermediate color as it continues to grade to white or cream. I'm thinking it needs several more months of growth before I would call the change final.

Do you know the breeder? That would help in knowing the possibilities of what to expect.


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## DangerousDann (Dec 1, 2015)

Rud3dog said:


> But have you seen a gray head? Mine is litterally gray atm. I havnt seen a tegu keep greay before. Cream color yes, but grey? May be the picture wasnt good, he has a completely grey head, not cream.


 I would think it would turn white/cream colored. If you got it from Underground Reptiles, they have some vids up on YouTube showing some of their breeding stock


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## snibborsirk (Dec 1, 2015)

Selfishly I hope he stays gray... Then you could coin some ridiculous morph name and overprice the offspring!! Seriously though, he's a good looking tegu. How old is he now? Length? My Chacoan is 2.5 months (hatched on sept 11) so I'm just looking for some growth comparisons and what to expect in the near future.


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## DangerousDann (Dec 1, 2015)

Dozer came from Underground Reptiles (hatched in May 2015, and we got him September 5th, so he's about 6months old. This pic was from today when he climbed onto my back. I'll post one of when we first got him to see if there is a color change.


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## DangerousDann (Dec 1, 2015)

When we first got him


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## Walter1 (Dec 2, 2015)

Natural sunlight should provide best color for pics to compare.


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## Rud3dog (Dec 2, 2015)

Well my cell phone cant focus worth a crap  I tried the carpet but his head was blending in so I got a trash bag and hoped for the best. Cuiser was hatched in mid July at underground. Last time I measured him he was 21 inches long. So he is just over 4 months old. Not bad growth I guess. He is going through major color changed in the past month though. He never had any red under his belly til a few weeks ago. Now there is some small hints of red, more red then orange like the ones tegusonly sells. Is it me or the tegusonly tegus look kinda different. If you look at his adds they have a much skinnier head then most of the others in the pet trade. I heard they were all Paraguayan but I could be wrong. 

You will have to trust me that his head is mostly gray and my camera sucks. Sorry


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## Rud3dog (Dec 2, 2015)




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## Rud3dog (Dec 2, 2015)

So do you all think his head will whiten out, stay that color or darken?


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## Walter1 (Dec 2, 2015)

Never having ever seen a grey head, my money's on it whitening up, may just take a few more sheds.

I think the exact same about the tegusonly tegus. their snouts are long/narrow. All of them. I find it handsome and have become pretty good at identifying a Rodney tegu.


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## Rud3dog (Dec 2, 2015)

I would agree that his head will have to whiten on the fact that I never have seen a grey headed adult. If his head will continue to whiten, it is possible 1/3 of his body will eventually be white. The grey/white head has been taking over more and more real estate of his body. The first few months I didnt think he would have much white at all, now I am starting to change my mind and hope. I think bright white and black tegus are the prettiest out there.


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## Walter1 (Dec 2, 2015)

Yup, high white with black contrast is a jawdropper. Saw such a picture on Teguterra site on blues. Lotta white, black teardrop, a partial black lateral band and other black too, but with a burnt nose. Even if not as extensive white as the one in this picture, I can see a teardrop developing on yours from the carpet side shot. Certainly points to white.

http://www.teguterra.com/bluetegus.htm


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## Rud3dog (Dec 2, 2015)

NOw that i think of it, blue tegus are not very white when they are younger are they? Maybe I will see some awsome white when he sheds a few more times


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## Walter1 (Dec 2, 2015)

Right, they're born green as well and not in high contrast after green fades.


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## snibborsirk (Dec 2, 2015)

Rud3dog, I def see yours being a stunner as he ages. That pattern and white head will be killer. Anxious to see how mine colors up as he ages too. Just about to finish his first shed in the 3 weeks I've had him and he's also got some orange (wait I mean fire!) showing up on his underside now. Here's some pics of Jack...first two are from today, the second two are from ~ 3 weeks ago when I got him.


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## Rud3dog (Dec 3, 2015)

Wow your is very pretty to. Yours has alot of white already


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## Rud3dog (Dec 5, 2015)

So I am getting in touch with UnderGround to see if I can figure out who his parents are and the exact day he was born. The date I dont think is such a big deal since I got a very good idea since he was a hatch-ling when I got him. I some times feel a little loony thinking my tegu may become something special as his colors change. I honestly dont know, but if all that gray turns white he will be 40-50% white unlike other tegus I have personally seen. Maybe he is only special in my eyes because he is mine and there lies ridiculous nature of my thoughts. If I get any results on his parents from Austin the owners son I will post them.

If I could just say what bothers me:

1. Alot of tegus like the beautiful one in the post above already have white in them and they are smaller then mine.

2. I cant find any adults with a grey head or see ones with giant grey areas

So this is kinda contradicting to myself. Obviously the truth will come out sooner then later and I guess I just need to shutup and be patiant. Either way, him having a almost all grey head or white head will be awesome!


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## sr3052 (Mar 11, 2016)

Rud3dog said:


> Nice! No doubt underground produces some of the rarest and prettiest tegus out there. But will these aka extreme giants really get larger then a Argentine? I will have my doubts till some one shows me some more evidence. Regardless I love these lil guys and yours looks like ( guessing by the looks a male, its really early to tell by looks ) he is growing very fast for his age.  I am hopeing for some very pretty white and black contrast from these guys. I wonder if we have the same fathers lol What did you name him? And btw, the fact they can sex them %100 as hatchlings sealed the deal as my breeder of choice.


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## sr3052 (Mar 11, 2016)

Purchased this chacoan from underground in july it's a male he's great couldn't be more happier.


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## Michael Graham (Mar 12, 2016)

Looking good. They probably have larger Tegus due to the foods that they are feeding them. That would be my guess.


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## sr3052 (Mar 12, 2016)

I got him in august he was 4 weeks old he's great


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## sr3052 (Mar 12, 2016)




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## sr3052 (Mar 12, 2016)

Purchased from beeger boxes 6x3x28 pvc enclosure


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## Michael Graham (Mar 12, 2016)

I love the enclosures on their site. How's his temper and eating habits?


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## sr3052 (Mar 12, 2016)

He is totally awesome eats great 


Michael Graham said:


> I love the enclosures on their site. How's his temper and eating habits?


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## Walter1 (Mar 12, 2016)

Beautiful enclosure. Does he have a hide?


sr3052 said:


> View attachment 10460


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## sr3052 (Mar 12, 2016)

Walter1 said:


> Beautiful enclosure. Does he have a hide?


I have 3 but I don't use them he loves hiding under mulch comes out in the morning about 7am and goes back under mulch around 5pm he loves it tank holds humidity very well he's very happy growing nice.www.undergroundreptiles.com has awesome tegus


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## sr3052 (Mar 12, 2016)

sr3052 said:


> View attachment 10456


They get much bigger than argentine he was born in july I got him in august he is growing so fast he is just a great tegu they produce some awesome tegus and we love our chacoan


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## Walter1 (Mar 12, 2016)

Interesting about time. I have a 1.2 Florida WCs from tegusonly. They're down for five mints of the year. When up, male is out at 0930 hrs followed by the females maybe 1/2 hr later. Out area hrs then down til tomorrow.


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## sr3052 (Mar 13, 2016)

This is a video of my chacoan from underground reptiles he is much bigger now.


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## sr3052 (Mar 13, 2016)

When he was a little guy and this is actually my son's tegu I'm with him more than he is lol lol


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## Walter1 (Mar 13, 2016)

I'd rather have a tegu as a kid's hand-me-down than many other kinds of pets!!!


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## thatoneguy (Mar 13, 2016)

Rud3dog let know what you find out frome underground, my tegu is similar to yours. He is more grey then white.


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## DangerousDann (Mar 13, 2016)

We've had Dozer now for just over 6 months now (Sept 2015) and we're pretty sure he hatched in May. He is growing so fast, was wondering if this is typical for those from Underground Reptiles 
(Picture taken yesterday he was shedding again)


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## thatoneguy (Mar 13, 2016)

I'm pretty sure my tegu from underground hatched in june, he looks very similar to yours. I will attempt to measure him and get a size so we can compare


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## snibborsirk (Mar 14, 2016)

Growing extremely fast is typical for any tegu that is fed properly/consistently - thats just what they do! Especially those that don't hibernate/brumate. I'm anxious to see how big all of our chacoans get. Just remember the "extreme giant" moniker/marketing ploy doesn't guarantee your's will be huge!


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## Walter1 (Mar 14, 2016)

snibborsirk said:


> Growing extremely fast is typical for any tegu that is fed properly/consistently - thats just what they do! Especially those that don't hibernate/brumate. I'm anxious to see how big all of our chacoans get. Just remember the "extreme giant" moniker/marketing ploy doesn't guarantee your's will be huge!


 Exactly. Plus, there's variation among individuals in any trait, growth rate included. i've seen some enormous males that were pretty dark.


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## thatoneguy (Mar 14, 2016)

Ok so he is about 9 months old and measures approximately 38 inches long, he was not cooperative in the measuring process.


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## Walter1 (Mar 14, 2016)

That is one corn-fed hoss!


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## thatoneguy (Mar 14, 2016)

Walter1 said:


> That is one corn-fed hoss!



I have nothing to compare too, I don't know how big they are suppose to be


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## Walter1 (Mar 14, 2016)

30+ inches in a year is good.


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## DangerousDann (Mar 14, 2016)

Dozer was at 35 inches last I measured him. I am hoping to get a scale soon to get his weight. I don't care either way if he gets really huge or not, I'm very happy with his temperament and and how friendly he is. After I recover a little more from my surgery, I plan on finishing his room off so he can at least free roam a little bit.


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## Walter1 (Mar 14, 2016)

Hey, get better Dan.


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## sr3052 (Mar 24, 2016)

He's growing and growing


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## Walter1 (Mar 24, 2016)

If it were a fish, you'd have to let it go!


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## DangerousDann (Apr 7, 2016)

Sorry it's been a while, had some issues with Dozer while recovering from my surgery. Dozer doesn't seem to eat when he sheds, and one morning I went into check on him and change his water, and I noticed he was twitching really bad. After a bunch of calls to try an find a vet (closest was an hour drive), and after consulting messages boards and a few pet stores, we figured he was calcium deficient and started him on a mixture of powdered calcium and pedialyte which got him through it. I am happy to report Dozer and I are doing much better. Since then he started eating much better and now loves mice. He is growing so big. Here is a video I shot today.


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## Walter1 (Apr 7, 2016)

Good news! Can not go wrong with whole mice and dusted.


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