argenine columbian B&W Blue Red

[toastie]

Hi im after some sensible help rather than all the contradictory information i have found so far on tegus the way i understand it is that the argentine B&W is the easiest to tame but is the largest the red is related to the B&W is slightly harder to tame and is also large the blue is the smallest and also fairly hard to tame but related to the argentine ( and almost none in the UK)and the columbian is very hard to tame but also small (for a tegus) i know that it will all depend on the individual tegu but im after a general idea of people's experiances im basically looking for a tegus that is small for obvious reasons of viv size etc but dont want to get a nutter! so if i need to get a big B&W to get a tame one i need to modify my plans or not get one at all if any of that makes sense,
many thanks and any info is gratefully recieved

 

[crimsonrazac]

Whats the biggest cage size you can have?

 

[toastie]

hi its not the viv size im so worried about to be honest i know im going to have to build a huge viv no matter what one i chose its more the having a big tegus that hates me and im not after a big impressive scary lizard im interested in keeping tegu as a species and would just like a friendly one that is not so big its hard to handle and was trying to work out wich would suit my needs best if you see what i mean?

 

[alewis0890]

hi its not the viv size im so worried about to be honest i know im going to have to build a huge viv no matter what one i chose its more the having a big tegus that hates me and im not after a big impressive scary lizard im interested in keeping tegu as a species and would just like a friendly one that is not so big its hard to handle and was trying to work out wich would suit my needs best if you see what i mean?

Its really your choice, as far as I'm concerned, I purchase with the thought of "every thing CAN be tamed, or calmed down" Tegus are smart creatures, you work with one enough it will be fine. I have had a few really tough times taming some monitors, but they still came through... and even if you never tame your animal, you train yourself and realize what the reptile likes/dislikes, and how to handle then reptile how it feels safe. So I kinda think the tegu's are taming us in other words to what they feel comfortable with, and they will let you know what your doing wrong, its up to the owner to interperate that. So its a taming process on both sides you just can't buy an animal your going to be scared of IMO...

 

[toastie]

hi thanks for that its not that im scared ( only animal im scared of is horses for some reason and my wife loves riding at least twice a week!) i used to breed burms many years ago and i've had bites off of many a large reptile over the years including lizards etc its more my wife thats not so happy about getting something so large that will be nasty as i have nearly 40 reps allready im trying to talk her into it! just trying to get as much info as i can from people who actually own these animals and there own experiances so i can make an informed decision before making a choice

 

[alewis0890]

I wasn't saying you were scared directly, sorry I put it that way bro... I believe its all in how you raise it and handle it.. You will be happy with a tegu or 2 man.. I have only seen a few nasty Arg. tegus... Columbians are said to be tough to tame, but i have also seen a few dog tame columbians, which i don't know why I say that cause some dogs are just mean lol. I don't think anyone on this forum really has a nasty tegu, but I could be wrong..

 

[toastie]

no worries I know what you where saying and thanks for the help it is much appreciated so keep all those opinions coming please

 

[Beasty]

Well, statistically speaking, possibly the best to get would be a black and white "Argentine". Why? If I'm correct, they have been in the pet trade for longer -ie. more generations- which lends to a better chance of having been further domesticated for more generations than the others. That said, the treatment of the animal from hatching makes a world of difference.
Example:
I once had a "White head phase" from Agama International years ago.(which is a B&W Argentine really) Bert, while raising nice healthy animals, used the "ranch" approach. To say, he let them be lizards in a large area exposed to direct sunlight and only interacted with them minimally to feed and clean. Great right? Well, not so much if you're looking to have a well socialized animal. That lizard was flighty from day one and was always testy at best. Could have been my lack of knowledge of the breed or not, who's to say?

NOW I have 3 tegus. 2 from Bobby(Varnyard) and one from DaveDragon.(moderator here) Dave handled the little blue I got, along with it's siblings daily.(which came from "tame" adults, several generations out of the wild) That is an awesome little lizard! It's quite tame and I see no future problems keeping it nice and calm.

The 2 I got from Bobby are quite nice as well.(hibernated 2 weeks into having them and still down) While I haven't had much time to interact with them, the male seems very calm indeed while the female seemed scared a bit. (in my experience males tend to be calmer anyway) These Chacoans are from wild parents but seem to be fine. Many others on here have them and had more time with them before hibernation than I had with mine and all rave about how tame they are.
In conclusion, I'd say best bet for a tame, sociable animal with less chance of being the "monster, wife scaring lizard" would be a male Argentine Black and White tegu over any other. Find a baby, handled from birth by a reputable dealer with tame parents and you would be hard pressed to go wrong. That said, they all have their own personality, just like us. Here's to ya finding the "nice guy". :cheers

Feed in a separate enclosure, not the one it lives in. Place food in before you get lizard out of it's house.(after washing hands to remove smell)
Don't feed live rodents! (ie., let's not train the lizard to chase and bite warm fuzzy things...like US!) There's a few other do's and don'ts but those 2 will keep you out of trouble from the start.
Good luck!

 

[Red Earth Exotics]

good info folks....

 

[toastie]

excellent thank you very much indeed folks