# Tegu in same tank with Nile?!



## Lexi (Dec 12, 2007)

I was on craigslist.come the other day.. and there was a guy who claimed to be a reptile rescuer... he had pictures posted of he reps.. but he had a Tegu mixed with a Nile monitor!!!! In the pic the Nile monitor was standing on top of the tegu all puffed up (neck was puffed out) I just thought it was horrible and i feel the need to vent..cause your not sopose to mix speicies like that (and the tank was so small)..He tried telling me that he tried sperating them and they wouldnt eat! I dont believe that for a secound!


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## VARNYARD (Dec 12, 2007)

This guy is 110% pure wrong, niles don't even like each other, no alone a seperate species. They also have different needs, this is just crazy.


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## WhiskeyTango (Dec 12, 2007)

thats crazy and not right!!!!!


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## Lexi (Dec 12, 2007)

THANK YOU! i feel 8 billion times better about this now.. cause i argued with him... I told him reptiles arnt like dogs and you cant mix monitors with any other animal!


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## VARNYARD (Dec 12, 2007)

Lexi said:


> THANK YOU! i feel 8 billion times better about this now.. cause i argued with him... I told him reptiles arnt like dogs and you cant mix monitors with any other animal!



Niles can't even be kept with Niles unless breeding. They can and will kill each other.


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## Lexi (Dec 12, 2007)

you dont understand how much better this makes me feel!


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## KoreanDeathKid (Dec 12, 2007)

that sounds pretty bad, can i see a pic? if not where did you find it, i want to have a look my self


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## dorton (Dec 12, 2007)

where was the tegu at? maybe someone from here could get it and give it a better life.


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## Lexi (Dec 12, 2007)

the dude was from Mass. I would adopt it but i dont have the money right now..plus i dont think he would let me..now that he had an ear full from me!


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## Lexi (Dec 12, 2007)

this is what this guy told me!..

"Reply to: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e -->
Date: 2007-12-11, 4:53PM EST


Wow, I can only assume I am stepping on someones toes. I do not mean to, I have had several people contact me from Mass and recomended I post here and VT. I never said anything about being a non-profit org. I was upfront and honest. I am a breeder of higher end boas, not your everyday pet reptile. I have many years experience and many contacts for unwanted pets. I do not sell my rescues, If I pay $1 for a mouse to feed that snake I charge $1. Most of the rescues come to me needing some type of vet care. A real rescue, please let me know of one.. As far as the tegu and nile, They were rescues from CT. They were raised together along with 2 other monitors and 3 other tegus. They had there own room. The nile is not happy because I am there not about the tegu. She is a typical nile. I seperated the Nile and Tegu but they both refused to feed. They are both in good homes now and seperated but it took 8 months to do so. I rescue everything from ringneck snakes to large gators. I just picked up a 7 foot gator in Mass a couple months ago... I was told by the police agnecy that they had tried to find someone for 3 months that would deal with this ornery gator. Information people, Just ask.. Hell, call me and lets talk or email me.. I am always willing to talk herps and help with anything I can. Sean 518-885-6452 
Ohh yeah and the Nile is handelable now and used for shows in NY, MA, and VT...


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## Lexi (Dec 12, 2007)




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## Lexi (Dec 12, 2007)

Who puts small animal bedding in a lizard tank anyways?


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## nat (Dec 12, 2007)

I had a nile for a couple of months until I could rehome it (it was a rescue) and it was the messiest, most aggressive lizard I have ever dealt with. I know niles can be great animals in the right hands but this one was just so aggressive, and so incrediably messy (feces up the sides of the tank, water bowl knocked over, repeat one hour after I cleaned it up... every single day) 

I can't imagine housing it with anything else. I couldn't even stick my hand in the tank without welding gloves. There is no way on earth I would stick another living animal in there with it! That guy can't call himself a rescue if he's putting the animals in an unsafe environment.


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## Nyarlathotep (Dec 12, 2007)

It'll be fine until its not, which shouldn't take too long. This is clearly an example of poor husbandry (if you have a football stadium sized tank its still risky).

With such disregard for their well-being, its quite likely that other aspects of their care are also lacking. I'd bet good money these animals don't have proper space, environmentals, diet or UV. Combined with stress, they might lack the will to fight, living together "peacefully" demoralized.


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## dorton (Dec 13, 2007)

Nyarlathotep said:


> they might lack the will to fight, living together "peacefully" demoralized.



Good call, Just like when you go to a reptile show and the animal that was just so laid back gets warmed up, and is hell on wheels.


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## VARNYARD (Dec 13, 2007)

I will bet when it happens, you will never hear about it. I am not going to say IF, it will happen, if it has not already.


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## olympus (Dec 13, 2007)

Some people just don't care at all, and should not own a reptile.


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## DaveDragon (Dec 13, 2007)

WADAYAMEAN I can't house my Tegu and Guinea Pig in the same enclosure??? They've been best friends for the last... uh few seconds. Oops!


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## PuffDragon (Dec 13, 2007)

its like housing two male betas together. a fight is just bound to happen.


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## ApriliaRufo (Dec 13, 2007)

This is what most call ignorance and desperation for sympathetic praise. "I am a rescuer trying to find good homes for these animals." translates simply to, "I've searched the internet for free exotic pets, in hopes of selling them for what I call an 'adoption fee' in an effort to raise money for my addiction to watching snakes kill mice that are too big for them." People all over the internet are pulling this stuff. I have something going on right now with a similar situation so I will wait to elaborate on it. People are stupid. All of this "tame" crap drives me nuts, just as much as anyone with a small collection of reptiles calls themselves a rescuer. I have saved a few reptiles, and will pick a few up that do not have a home, but I do not consider myself running a reptile rescue. I think people manipulate the term in order to demand false respect. I don't know everyone's story so please don't think I'm calling anyone on this forum a fake. I just know that there are plenty of people everywhere pretending to be so-called rescuers who are just trying to make money. There are rescuers on this forum and I respect you all, but to the rest of the net and your BS, show me a rescue list like jif? And then you'll get some respect.


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## lizardboy101 (Dec 13, 2007)

I compleley agree with you ApriliaRufo.


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## Lexi (Dec 13, 2007)

Apriliarufo you are completly right! this guy i was arguing with just mad me so mad... and the worst thing is.. people where backing him up on it.. i wanted to scream!


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## Lexi (Dec 14, 2007)

Ok im sorry but i just feel the need to show you what this guy is EMAILING me about now..

-----Original Message-----
From: sean kirk <[email protected]>
To: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e -->
Sent: Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:43 am
Subject: Re: 


I have you in my email list, you must have contacted me before.. Do you know anything about Niles or ever had one? Have you ever seen a tame one???? Human contact or not it doesnt matter much. I have personally seen 3 dog tame niles in over 20 yrs. I seen you just cut and pasted your post so I will let you go back and read my reply I made on the site. That Nile by the way is actually fairly tame now and is used for demonstrations. Took me 8 months to get him to eat with out being with the tegu and to tame him down. She was a rescue from CT along with several others. Untill you get some experience I suggest you dont make posts without facts. You cant learn everything by reading books. Hell look in reptiles magazine and look up well known breeders and you will see species mixed. Knowledge will set you free !!!!.... Sean 


THIS IS WHAT I WROTE BACK CAUSE HE HAS ME SO MAD..eve tho i know i shouldnt let it get to me... it does..

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? now you have me mad... First off... Stop it.. You know what you did was wrong..and the people backing you up on craigslist are wrong too.. you dont mix Tegus with montior!!!! YOU DONT!!!!!!!! Dont tell me it took you 8 fucking months to get him to eat ...cause he would be dead so please stop lieing to me... the nile might be tame now yes... but when you had him in a tank with a tegu he wasn't.. so that has nothing to do with the conversation we are having!!!!! I know more then you think about Monitors and tegus I OWN BOTH TYPES! Dude you have to be jokeing... If i look in a Reptile magazine i will see breeders WHO BREED DIFFERENT TYPES, NOT MIXED IN WITH EACH OTHER.. im pretty sure your the one who needs to learn alittle bit more on how you handle your animals.. dont criticize my knowledge.


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## VARNYARD (Dec 14, 2007)

Lexi, this guy is a lost cause, he is not going to see it until he looses them both. I would not even waste my breath, you can tell him the truth until your blue in the face, but he is not going to hear the truth or the facts.


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## KoreanDeathKid (Dec 14, 2007)

i guess not every reptile rescues are a safe place for a reptile to be at after their horrible life, i remember when I had to take care of a sick ackie for a couple days because it's encolsure was way too cold, not a fun experience


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## Nyarlathotep (Dec 14, 2007)

(warning: I'm kicking a dead horse and I know it)

Dog tame nile? They're about 1 in 1000.
I had a tame one till last year (r.i.p.  ), and I trusted her with _me_ almost completely. I would not under any circumstances trust her with a tegu, cat, other human or other nile for that matter. (even though she was the "tamest" nile I've ever seen). The way she looked at my tegu when carrying her past his cage (and most living things) was unnerving ("One day, ...").

Tegu accidentally scratches nile? Nile gets food on its head? The number of possible ugly scenarios makes my head spin, and they all end with one dead and one mortally wounded.

He might as well have posted:
"I love snakes. Every morning, I feed my pets, get out my revolver and play russian roulette all my free lizards."


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## nat (Dec 14, 2007)

I used to get into arguments on a very regular basis with a guy who insisted pea gravel was the best kind of substrate for beardies. I know its tempting to keep fighting with them because there are live animals involved and you want him to know better so that the animal's lives are better... but unfortunately it rarely works out that way. 

better to spend your energy spreading education so that more people will be able to recognize his practices as poor and false.


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## KoreanDeathKid (Dec 14, 2007)

here's a couple list of arguments that i got into
-pet habitat, a full grown male pixie frog was housed on damp paper towels and was ina 10 gallon tank, their baslisk had no branches to climb on whatso ever and had no proper lighting, their ball python was being a hopper mouse every 3 weeks and has been shed for 5 months
-pet lovers, mixing species, 3 baby nile monitors in a 30 gallon exo-terra
-John ?, 5 female leopard geckos in a 20 gallon tank with sand substrate, 14' burmese python being fed large rats in a 5' long enclosure with a exo-terra water dish 
no wonder people call me freak, people like us know way too much than bad reptile people like them


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