New to Tegus, could use some advice!

[Rumplequins]

Hello! I'm Quin, im a newbie to the Tegu world. I have been breeding crested geckos/leachianus/Chahoua for a number of years,i have also kept veiled and Panther chameleons, So I have experience with reptiles, just nothing along the lines of a tegu. Im wondering if any of you have suggestions as to which type (leaning towards Argentine B&W)also if you have a suggestion for a breeder? I am in Chicago and will be at the NARBC in tinley next week, most likely buying supplies for an enclosure, but might be looking to purchase a tegu too! Thanks in advance, looking forward to using this site as a reference for years to come!

 

[N8bub]

Argentine bnw is a large umbrella. Chacoan, black and white, blue, firebelly any other are all salvator merianae or simply "argentine" tegus. That being said the bnw is a fine choice as long as it isn't colombian bnw. Not to be slanderous to the colombian tegu , some turn out fine, but they have a fairly well deserved reputation for being flighty to downright aggressive. Haven't been to the tinley park show so don't really know who's going to be selling tegus. Ty Park is pretty much the biggest name in tegus, also hectorshabitat.com which is where I bought mine and he's great. Good luck!

 

[Rumplequins]

Hey thanks so much for your input! Is there significant temperament differences between the different varieties of Argentines that you know of?

 

[N8bub]

Blues are supposed to be a little more active and squirrely. My boy is a blue/bnw cross and he's pretty active, always cruising when free roaming and wearing out the glass while in the cage in an attempt to get my attention to let him out. I think they're all fine choices. Blues by the way also tend to be smaller and less heavy bodied , hope that helps

 

[Walter1]

Argentine Black and Whites are nice. Rodney Irwin of Tegusonly has nice animals.