New from Miami

[Olimpia]

Hey everyone! This is the first time I’ve joined a forum in a loooong time. As a little introduction, I’m a biologist living and working in Miami and have almost 20 years of experience working with herps and exotics, and for the last 10 years I’ve been heavily involved with chameleons in particular; authoring a chameleon blog and working as an author/executive editor for a few different publications. Right now I’m keeping chameleons (verrucosus) and leachianus geckos, and as of this past weekend a beautiful 1-month-old freshly-imported red tegu straight from the mother land.

She is my first personal pet tegu, but not the first tegu I’ve ever cared for (I've worked with several over the years.) She will, however, be the first baby that I bring up, so I’m sure I’ll have questions for you guys.

I say “she” because the friend I bought her from here in Miami has a really decent sexing rate and he tells me that he’s 80-90% confident she’s probably a female, so for now she’ll stay a female and time will tell for certain lol. I’ve attached a photo I took quickly while she was half-asleep, I just wanted documentation of her on her first day. I’ll post better photos when she settles in, I’m sure.

So for now, any votes on her name? Top contenders among friends are:

Clementina
Georgia
Poppy


Thanks!

 

[Walter1]

Hey everyone! This is the first time I’ve joined a forum in a loooong time. As a little introduction, I’m a biologist living and working in Miami and have almost 20 years of experience working with herps and exotics, and for the last 10 years I’ve been heavily involved with chameleons in particular; authoring a chameleon blog and working as an author/executive editor for a few different publications. Right now I’m keeping chameleons (verrucosus) and leachianus geckos, and as of this past weekend a beautiful 1-month-old freshly-imported red tegu straight from the mother land.

She is my first personal pet tegu, but not the first tegu I’ve ever cared for (I've worked with several over the years.) She will, however, be the first baby that I bring up, so I’m sure I’ll have questions for you guys.

I say “she” because the friend I bought her from here in Miami has a really decent sexing rate and he tells me that he’s 80-90% confident she’s probably a female, so for now she’ll stay a female and time will tell for certain lol. I’ve attached a photo I took quickly while she was half-asleep, I just wanted documentation of her on her first day. I’ll post better photos when she settles in, I’m sure.

So for now, any votes on her name? Top contenders among friends are:

Clementina
Georgia
Poppy


Thanks!

Hi Olimpia- Welcome. What a beautiful tegu. No doubt, she'll get great care. Sort of looks like a "Poppy" to me.

In the past I'd free-ranged a harem of C. calyptratus. they were wonderful. My tegus are three Florida WC black and whites.

Looking forward to hearing more of your new tegu.

 

[Olimpia]

Thank you Walter! I last lab was in Homestead, so we would see wild black and whites regularly, from young juvies to fully-grown adults, wandering the property. Fun if you're a tegu lover! Not so much if you're afraid of them, like some coworkers were haha. We have calyptratus as well down here.

 

[Walter1]

Thank you Walter! I last lab was in Homestead, so we would see wild black and whites regularly, from young juvies to fully-grown adults, wandering the property. Fun if you're a tegu lover! Not so much if you're afraid of them, like some coworkers were haha. We have calyptratus as well down here.

Oh, I know. Miami's my hometown, and I used to live in practically in downtown Homestead! Both calyptratus and Oustalet's occur together in Florida city.

 

[Olimpia]

Just for fun, here are a few photos of two different b+w tegus walking the property in Homestead.

 

[Walter1]

Just for fun, here are a few photos of two different b+w tegus walking the property in Homestead.

very nice photos. Very Komodo Dragon-like.