# New Tegu! Is it a regular black and white? What sex?



## Reptaholic (Aug 11, 2016)

Hi i just picked up this little gem from the Hamburg reptile show last week. It was sold to me as a 6 month old Argentine black and white, but from looking at pictures of other ones i was wondering if it was a normal one or not. it has a very light colored face and seems to have a lot more yellow spots than most that ive seen. the tail also has very solid yellow stripes. could it be a Colombian hybrid? just trying to figure out exactly what i got and roughly how big he or she is going to get


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## TheWonderer (Dec 5, 2016)

Apparently, you can check via touching his/her vent. Also, the age of sexual maturity is different across individuals. Here's a video... 



That definitely ticked her/him off though.

I read they should be about 3' after which you can be satisfied but I'm sure that's dependent on many factors! Your tegu there, while pretty, may not be old enough yet. I'm struggling with the same issue. My tegu is 23" and I don't feel that bead but need to wait a few more months to be sure. It's name has changed a lot recently bc of the unknown nature of the ordeal...

Also, it looks like BW to me but I'm just basing it off of my own.


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## Roadkill (Dec 6, 2016)

That's a _Salvator merianae_, clearly not crossed with any other species. The sex you can tell from hatching by the scales around the cloaca, but it takes a while (a couple of years roughly) to tell by feel.


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