# When did your tegu lose his baby colors?



## jtpowers (Aug 16, 2011)

I'm wondering about the range of ages at which our tegus (specifically Argentine b&w's) lose their hatchling and juvenile coloration. Even more specifically, the orange/yellow underbelly colors - would there be any accuracy at all in predicting age based on that coloration? If so, is it accurate to +/- 6 months? A year? Once they begin "whitening up" on their undersides, how long does that process take before it's nearly completely white?

Since size isn't a reliable predictor of age (where poor or optimal feeding can produce big gaps in growth, and hibernation or lack thereof can affect growth rate), I'm wondering what other factors, if any, might have any reliability.

The question I'm trying to answer for myself is the closest age range I can narrow down for a male tegu that is 24" long, has no hatchling green but a very orange/yellow underbelly, and is known to have had poor husbandry from a previous owner. Aside from a broad guesstimate of 18 months to 4 years, is there any other known characteristic factor that could help narrow that range?


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## Neeko (Aug 16, 2011)

Mines around 2 months or so. Only has a tint of green.


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## tora (Aug 16, 2011)

Mine lost her green when she was like, six months. She still has some cream colors on her back and an orange/yellow belly and is now a year and two months. She came from high white parents and her sister is really white, she's just weird.

My baby red who is a few months only has like two scales that have a green sheen to them. 

Tegus color up differently, so I don't think coloration will help any. 

Why does your guesstimate start at 18 months? A well fed and cared for tegu, even after hibernating, will still be around 38" (give or take 5") at a year old unless they hibernated for 8-10 months or something crazy. So I figure it's still possible he's just a year. How badly was this tegu cared for? I think that's the best place to start looking when you're trying to get a guesstimate.


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## reptastic (Aug 16, 2011)

Actually most argentine tegus get the orange bellies around hibernation time, then they fade with 4 b/w tegus)all of my tegus usually lost their hatchling colors around 2-3 mos of age, clor isn't a good way of indicating age, there's no exact way of knowing a tegus age based on size, color or anything like that, your tegu could very well be a yearling as tora mentioned, even with horrible husbandry if a tegu is eating and getting enough heat/uvb they will stil grow, not as fast as a tegu that's getting optimal care though


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