Hello all. I've lurked around for a bit and decided to join. So, nice to meet you and such.
I just moved in to a larger home and finally (after nearly two years of research and planning) have room, and soon will have money to support a tegu. The time is come. But, now I have a dilema:
Black and white or red?
Everything everything everything I've read online says Black and white argentinians are smarter, tamer, and all around better than red. Everyone I've asked at the pet store says red are far better. Specifically, Paraguay red are far more intelligent.
Now, I know the tendency for pet stores to try and sell Paraguay reds as more expensive and hoodwink the public, and I wouldn't put it past these people to try and get some dough. On the other hand, this place has the best reputation around (at least likely in the state, maybe the nation), and I know that at least one or two of the employees also work for the San Diego Zoo, and sincerely care and know about their herps. Now, I've asked several different employees at several different times, and they all say the same thing.
As an added note, one thing might also factor into the equation on the pet store's side: They have a dry feed available which has been specially designed for them by herpatologists at the local zoo. This is not the crap-in-a-can we're used to as far as I can tell. It's a dry pellet form of feed providing all the essential proteins necessary to a tegu, including a lot of poultry and small rodent proteins, and a bunch of vitamins. If it works (as it seems to do), this also means that the tendency toward aggressive behaviors would be significantly diminished. In such a case, could it be possible that their fancy red tegus might really be better?
Discuss.
I just moved in to a larger home and finally (after nearly two years of research and planning) have room, and soon will have money to support a tegu. The time is come. But, now I have a dilema:
Black and white or red?
Everything everything everything I've read online says Black and white argentinians are smarter, tamer, and all around better than red. Everyone I've asked at the pet store says red are far better. Specifically, Paraguay red are far more intelligent.
Now, I know the tendency for pet stores to try and sell Paraguay reds as more expensive and hoodwink the public, and I wouldn't put it past these people to try and get some dough. On the other hand, this place has the best reputation around (at least likely in the state, maybe the nation), and I know that at least one or two of the employees also work for the San Diego Zoo, and sincerely care and know about their herps. Now, I've asked several different employees at several different times, and they all say the same thing.
As an added note, one thing might also factor into the equation on the pet store's side: They have a dry feed available which has been specially designed for them by herpatologists at the local zoo. This is not the crap-in-a-can we're used to as far as I can tell. It's a dry pellet form of feed providing all the essential proteins necessary to a tegu, including a lot of poultry and small rodent proteins, and a bunch of vitamins. If it works (as it seems to do), this also means that the tendency toward aggressive behaviors would be significantly diminished. In such a case, could it be possible that their fancy red tegus might really be better?
Discuss.
