Blue Tegus - Information

[ClarkeReptile]

So I've never heard of a blue tegu until I came to this forum. I came here in search of black and white tegu information but discovered blue tegus! I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on care information such as enclosure requirements for all stages, heating/humidity requirements, diet, handling, lighting, ect.

Also, from what I've read on here, it seems not many people keep or breed blue tegus. I've certainly never seen them in stores before. Are they rare or hard to breed?

 

[Jer723]

i think they are just rare, if i was you send dave or(Dave Dragon) a private message, he is a tegu breeder and the main blue tegu guy, i have talked to dave and from what i know everything is the same with a blue tegu as all the other argentines, 60 to 70% humidity, a 105 basking spot, tank shouldnt go lower then 75 degrees on the cool side. need uvb/uva, eat mostly meat as babies can ease them into fruit as they get older. they are very docile, i think they are the most 2nd most docile of tegus behind the arg. B&W's. they only get 3 to 3 and a half feet or so, and they look awesome, hope i helped you out somewhat, but private message dave anyway hell tell u all the specifics, im new with tegus too bro. welcome to the boards,

Jerry

 

[antzilla]

cool

 

[ClarkeReptile]

Thanks for the info. So what makes blue tegus so rare? Is breeding them difficult or are there just so few breeders? If I really like having tegus (I'll be getting my first one hopefully this year) I might consider breeding them in the future, but thats only if I really get into them. According to many, these guys are addictive.

 

[crimsonrazac]

Thanks for the info. So what makes blue tegus so rare? Is breeding them difficult or are there just so few breeders? If I really like having tegus (I'll be getting my first one hopefully this year) I might consider breeding them in the future, but thats only if I really get into them. According to many, these guys are addictive.

Blue tegus were imported in very small numbers at first, and there were only like 5 breeders last year I think.

 

[Jer723]

from when i talked to dave it didnt seem that he thought the breeding was difficult, i just think that there are not that many of them.

 

[Mvskokee]

there were very few blue tegus imported into the us. so most blues are imbred to some extent. i used to have a female. they dont grown as large as the argentines. mine maxed at about 3 ft. adult enclosure should be minimal 6x3x3. diet and everything can be identical to arg b&w. i know of a couple breeders. davedragon as stated above and will combs of captive bred creations whom is a good friend of mine. either could help you out

 

[DaveDragon]

The Blues are a rare (outside of South America) variation of the B&W Tegu. Care is the same, they just tend to stay a little smaller. The pair we bred last year are 3.5 feet long, a big advantage if you don't have room for a 8ft x 4ft enclosure. Ours are in 7ft x 3ft enclosures. I assume you can get them to grow bigger if you power feed them.

I've heard there were only 6 or 8 hatchlings imported about 8 years ago. Since they need to be 3 years old to breed, the first inbred generation is about 5 years old, as ours are. So the Blues we hatched were 2nd generation out of the wild. It is unknown if the Mother & Father are directly related (brother & sister), probably cousins.

Without Bobby's help there is no way I could of successfully bred them. And having a breeding pair that cooperated!! I heard one guy has 4 breeding pairs and didn't get one egg last year! There's no guarantee the female will produce eggs every year. We'll see what happens this Fall. They breed later than B&W's. Last year the female hated the male until one day in August, and she wanted him bad!!!