# Giants in the uk



## reptastic (Mar 29, 2011)

Now im about 99.9% sure that this is a extreme giant....but i wanted other peoples thoughts..this guy belongs to a member of a reptile forum in the uk...i found it interesting because we all know bobby is the only breeder in the us..im wondering if someone over seas is also breeding them or is this one of bobbies that made it the uk, now that would be awesome...btw this pic was taken in 2007-08(pic was posted in early 08)[attachment=2210]


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Mar 29, 2011)

_I think he's Beauteguful  where ever he came from Bobby's or not._


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## reptastic (Mar 29, 2011)

My thoughts exactly, here is another pic of him....he is quite a stunner[attachment=2211]


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## Strange_Evil (Mar 29, 2011)

Sorry for the dum question,but what leads you to believe its and extreme other than the size?

Great looking tegu that guy has though.


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## reptastic (Mar 29, 2011)

Color, patterns, the shape of the head....after really studying the differences in giants and normals i have gotten much better at distinguishing the 2 from each other...im positive this is a giant


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## slideaboot (Mar 30, 2011)

Bobby does ship overseas. I've spoken to him about it.


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## reptastic (Mar 30, 2011)

I know about the 5 extreme tegus that were shipped overseas, but i was under the impression that that took place in recent years, this tegu had to have been born in like 2004-2005 or earlier

I know about the 5 extreme tegus that were shipped overseas, but i was under the impression that that took place in recent years, this tegu had to have been born in like 2004-2005 or earlier


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## Nicoherp (Apr 3, 2011)

Hi everyone ;-)
I'm one person who got extremes from Bobby .
I come from germany and have 3 females ;-) 
As far as i know it was the first export from bobby 

Nico


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## reptastic (Apr 3, 2011)

Im not sure how far germany is from the uk, but do you ever use the forums for the uk reptile keepers This is were i found this guy


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Apr 3, 2011)

_Hopefully Bobby will see this and chime in. Last I heard he didn't ship internationally because of the paper work required that he doesn't have. That could have easily been changed between now and then. But that Gu is much older and there's really no telling where it came from with out asking the person who has it. Even Bobbys Giants had to come from somewhere. 

If I remember correctly the last time it was posted that some of his tegus ended up out of the States was because someone picked them up from him and imported them on their own. Which Nicoherp picked up at a show. The only reason I remember that is because I was in Germany at that time missing my Gu._


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## seanUK (May 25, 2011)

Both those pics are of 2 different tegus I know because I took the pics as they were my animals. If you look carefully at the markings on the side one as more black. The first pic was taken around 2001-2002 second pic was taken a couple of years later. The first animal was picked up as a juvenile in around 1999 at a Dutch show. The second animal was brought to me in a part exchange from a UK dealer a few years later. They were both very big tegus around 52 inches and growing. The animal in the first pic had a more pointed shape snout and I have not seen any like this since, both had very white head and the animal in the first pic had no black on top of the head between where the scales join it was pure white.
I knew the late Bert Langerwerf fairly well as I had bought many tegus from him in the past. I have seen hunderds if not thousands of tegus and you can roughly tell which line or breeder they descend from.
To me T. merianae are all the same whether they have white heads, dark heads or are larger individuals. They are all the same species, the reason there are diffrences sometimes in appearance is just simple genetics and locality. For example people always relate the word "Chacoan" with white headed individuals because of a certain breeder out of Florida who coined the term. In actual fact the chaco plains which cover northern Argentina and Paraguay the tegus found there are a mix of dark headed animals and white headed, but we wouldn't call a dark headed animal a "Chacoan". This word is just a marketing tool to sell white headed tegus.
Don't get me wrong I do myself prefer the whiter tegus and would quite happily pay more for an individual with high white. The breeders know whats more desirable and in fairness the price reflects this but in reality the words or labels we put on them are just that names.

Going onto the other question regarding the giants that went into Germany. I believe 5 in total were imported by my friend who sold them on.


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## Bubblz Calhoun (May 25, 2011)

_Welcome to the site Sean and thanks for coming . 
Do you have more pics of either one that you can post?_


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## seanUK (May 25, 2011)

Bubblz Calhoun said:


> _Welcome to the site Sean and thanks for coming .
> Do you have more pics of either one that you can post?_



Yes thanks for having me. I thought I was already a member but I couldn't seem to remember my details anyway here I am. Yes I have plenty of pics of both those tegus, I will try and dig some out.
As some people are maybe familiar with me with varanus, I also love tegus although I don't keep them anymore. All the animals I see nowadays around Europe don't appeal to me but I am sure there are some fine looking ones out there but they are far and few between.

I would be interested in importing nice high white tegus or blue tegus for myself. I know the blues in Japan came from the U.S. so I cannot see problem.


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## Bubblz Calhoun (May 25, 2011)

_Yeah I know what you mean,.. a lot of people these days are not as selective as they should be when it comes to breeding. As for Blues in the UK,.. it's just a matter of finding someone with the paper work to get them there._


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## got10 (May 25, 2011)

Sure looks like an extreme to me 

Also remember. The extremes that Bobby has came from from somewhere along the line . He's a real smart dude but he is not a Dr Frankenstein to isolating the ONLY genes for this trait


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