Hi everyone. Meet my Chomper!

[nmbugs]

Hi everyone. I have been lurking for a bit now and thought I would take a moment to introduce myself.

My name is Racquel and I live in NM with my hubby, 2 boys and a "farm" of animals. We got Chomper a little over a month ago and he is my first Tegu. He was previously owned but the people really never had the time to devote to him that he needed. Needless to say he required a lot of work but boy he has come around so much in just a short time. He now eats by hand feeding, matter of fact he is getting spoiled and wants all his food this way now...lol. When I first got him he wouldn't even take food with tongs and he hated being picked up. Now he loves being picked up, even comes out and begs to be picked up. I never new lizards could be so darn dog like but these guys really are!

Anyways the rest of our animal family is: Lizards first- Rango - yeah a Veiled Chameleon (this is what happens when the 7 and 9 yr old are allowed to name the new family pet!), Yoshi - Leopard Gecko. I also have a ferret sanctuary and dog rescue which includes 9 ferrets and 11 dogs. I was going to name everyone but I am too damn tired to do so plus nobody probably cares to know all their names anyway..lol. This is a forum about tegus after all, right?

Speaking of which you all probably want to see my baby's picture, which we estimate him to be about 7 months old.

I do have one silly question I will ask here. Can a tegu fart? When I first had him whenever I picked him up after eating to put him back in his habitat he would make this sound that sounded like a loud fart. He does it only once in a while now. Not sure if he was making that sound with his mouth as sort of a "defense" mechanism, although I would think a fart sound would have your predators rolling on the ground laughing, but maybe that is how they escape, I don't know. Sorry my macro "sense of humor" coming out. Us macro photographers tend to see animals, insects, spiders, reptiles a little more cartoonish like than most with personalities and such. Heck most of us even talk to them, how weird we are!

 

[james.w]

Welcome. Yes they can fart, mine will burp sometimes when I pick him up.

 

[omgtaylorg]

They also sneeze by the way, his eyes look awesome around the outside of his pupil, so crazy looking. And welcome! Feel free to ask any questions you might have, the answers are here.

 

[TeguBuzz]

I know they fart. That's for certain, Sobek woke up from what appears to have been weeks of sleep, and when I took him out to let him roam around, he let out a damn noticeable fart.

 

[reptastic]

Welcome aboard, i have my speculations that tegus are actually a south american hairless dog breed but test keep coming bk inconclusive lol

 

[HPIZZLE]

oh my gosh that picture looks beautiful!
can we get a full body shot?

 

[martinreptiles_3]

Welcome to the site! Beautiful animal! I can't wait to get mine

 

[Sirhc401]

Welcome! that is a nice picture. captures the eye very well

 

[nmbugs]

Welcome. Yes they can fart, mine will burp sometimes when I pick him up.

Okay good, I was afraid I had lost my mind. I searched online to see if a Tegu could fart and it seemed like most thought they couldn't not sure why though, if one can poop why can one not fart? :s

They also sneeze by the way, his eyes look awesome around the outside of his pupil, so crazy looking. And welcome! Feel free to ask any questions you might have, the answers are here.

Thank you! Believe me I will have plenty of questions. I don't have as much reptile experience as I should have before jumping in and getting a lizard that isn't a beginner one but neither is a chameleon..lol. I do tend to research the heck out of things and I don't mind asking "stupid" questions so I tend to get educated really quickly.

I know they fart. That's for certain, Sobek woke up from what appears to have been weeks of sleep, and when I took him out to let him roam around, he let out a damn noticeable fart.

My husband tried to blame a stinky one on poor Chomper last night after I told him yes they do fart. Men!!! Question: do people tend to let their Tegus hibernate? I have turtles too (bad mommy!! I forgot to list them!) 2 red eared slider inside which do not hibernate and 3 desert box turtles outside that do hibernate. For box turtles allowing them to hibernate leads to a healthier and happier turtle but then again these we rescued and most likely wild caught by their original owners.

Welcome aboard, i have my speculations that tegus are actually a south american hairless dog breed but test keep coming bk inconclusive lol

After my experience with my sweet Chomper last night I would have to agree. My husband who is just now starting to warm up to Chomper (he is a more of a warm blooded animal lover ) said last night how dog like he was. Chomper for the first time fell asleep and stayed asleep in my arms for about 1 hour. It felt like a real bonding experience. Before when I tried this he would wiggle and whip and wouldn't settle down. I almost started crying I was so happy!

oh my gosh that picture looks beautiful!
can we get a full body shot?

I have a pretty busy day today but if I get a chance I will get a full body shot of him and post it. BTW I think he is a him. The pet shop who had him consigned for the owner wasn't sure if it was a male or female. From what I have read his jowls look to be filling out more like a male but I am still guessing at this point. If there is another way to tell please let me know. We are also guesstimating his age too.

Welcome to the site! Beautiful animal! I can't wait to get mine

You will love it. Are you getting a b&w or red? I love the b&w but I thought Chomper needed me so I got him .

Welcome! that is a nice picture. captures the eye very well

Like I said I am a macro photographer so I spend most of my time getting detailed shots of spiders, insects and reptiles. My one macro lens which is dedicated (you can only do macro with it) magnified 1 - 5 times. That would get an amazing shot of his eye but I have to use a fairly powerful flash and until I can get him to really trust me I don't want to do that to him.

Thank you all for the extremely warm welcome and kind words. I look forward to getting to know everyone and learning more about these amazing creatures!

---

Btw next dumb question can someone tell me the code for

1.1.0 and other numbers. I am assuming it means something like currently own. formerly owned. deceased or something like that? I just want to make sure I have my order correct. I searched on the forums but couldn't find anything about it. Sorry if I missed the posting that gives that information.

 

[TeguBuzz]

I let mine hibernate if they choose to. To ensure that breeding occurs in the spring, it is believed that tegus must go down for hibernation.

 

[nmbugs]

Okay another question. I noticed Bill has some lovely B&W for sale. I could only get another if I could house them together. At what age can you sex the Tegus? I would rather get two males rather than male/female as I don't think I could handle breeding/selling, I get too damn attached. I read they need to be about the same size otherwise the bigger one will be more dominate and then problems could occur. How close to the same size do they need to be? Also do Tegus do better with a cage mate or do they do just fine living solo? I know with ferrets its best to have two and better to have three in a community. Tegus seem so social of creatures that I would imagine having a friend would be good for them. I read when having male and female after breeding the female has to be separated from the male which is another reason I would prefer two of the same sex. Also can anyone tell me why b&w's are cheaper than reds? When I was first learning about Tegus it seemed that the general consensus was that the b&w made for a better, calmer pet so I would think they would be more expensive.

 

[Sirhc401]

Black and whites are cheaper than reds because they are more common. All the argentine species are said to make good calm pets. But all tegu species if you work with them right can become good pets.
Unless you have a professional probe one then you can't tell sex until sexual maturity around 18 months.
The 1.1.1 thing is male.female.unknown. The sex and how many.
Hope this helps

 

[martinreptiles_3]

I am getting an AA May/June. I use to have a b/w but my ex took him when we split up . I also really want a blue!

 

[nmbugs]

Okay another question. I noticed Bill has some lovely B&W for sale. I could only get another if I could house them together. At what age can you sex the Tegus? I would rather get two males rather than male/female as I don't think I could handle breeding/selling, I get too damn attached. I read they need to be about the same size otherwise the bigger one will be more dominate and then problems could occur. How close to the same size do they need to be? Also do Tegus do better with a cage mate or do they do just fine living solo? I know with ferrets its best to have two and better to have three in a community. Tegus seem so social of creatures that I would imagine having a friend would be good for them. I read when having male and female after breeding the female has to be separated from the male which is another reason I would prefer two of the same sex. Also can anyone tell me why b&w's are cheaper than reds? When I was first learning about Tegus it seemed that the general consensus was that the b&w made for a better, calmer pet so I would think they would be more expensive.

Sorry I meant Bobby. I guess I got the B and the Hill mixed together.