New to tegus

[MFjustin]

Well i am thinking about getting a tegu, but i kind of want to know some facts about them. Should i use a heating pad instead of a basking light? the basking light takes too much electricity any suggestions? thank you!

 

[Strange_Evil]

Welcome to the forum! You came to the right place to learn tegu lol!

With Tegu's you will need a basking light along with a uvb light, not only to mimic the outside lighting schedule(which is very important) but mainly because with out it they will not be able to properly digest,grow and process calcium.

These links will prove to be rather helpful to you and it is a absolute must that you read!So read and learn .

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[Bubblz Calhoun]

Welcome to the site :-D , thanks for coming and we're glad to have you. We have a lot of experienced and knowledgeable members here willing to help. to add to what Strange Evil has already said about they lights,.. they are a Must Have, if you're keeping them inside there's no other option.

Take some time to read the threads that have been posted as well as the Helpful Info threads on the home page. They will answer most of you questions.

When there's anything else you need help of have questions about feel free to ask.

 

[Toby_H]

Under Belly heating is great for nocturnal animals, but Tegus like to literally "bask in the sunlight". So without a warm light shining on them they will feel as if they are missing something...

UVB can be supplied by either flourescent or incondescent bulbs. The flourescents use less electricity. As for heat itself, a 100W light on for 12 hours per day or less won't use very much electricity.

Personally, I use a 4' (32W) flourescent UVB bulb that is on for 12 hours a day and 2x 75W incondescent bulbs that are staggered to be on from 4~8 hours a day (varies based on season). This supplies my Tegu with ample heat as well as UVB and a modest cost to myself...

 

[MFjustin]

Thanks for the help guys! a 100w doesn't use too much electricity? well i am going to have to look around and yes i will read around in other subjects. Right now i have Five pixie frogs and i am trying to get rid of some and hopefully willing to trade for a red tegu! Some shops keep trying to rip me off, but i'm trying to gather as much knowledge as i can before i even have a tegu

 

[MFjustin]

One more thing....! Do the males get bigger than the females or vice-versa? Is there any way i can tell a females from a male being at it's juvie stage?

 

[Strange_Evil]

One more thing....! Do the males get bigger than the females or vice-versa? Is there any way i can tell a females from a male being at it's juvie stage?

The males do indeed get larger than the female, if i am correct it is about a 1ft to half a foot difference.And at a certain age males start to develope Jowls,

This is a tegu with jowls,notice the fat bag ("fat bag" lol) under his chin those are a nice pair of jowls. Females do no develop those massive jowls like the males do.
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[myotis]

Another thing is the type of tegu you get. There's the Tupinambis Merinae, which can be either argentine b/w or blue tegu and even the extremes which grow huge. The blue tegu's are usually smaller from what i see and grow 3+ ft . There's the all american tegu, but TBH i'm not really sure what that is. There's teguixin which is columbian ( black and gold or b/w ) which are smaller about 3 ft. Some people say they're harder to tame but I have one and she's nice. Rufescen which happens to be the topic you posted in, the red tegu which get 4+ft. And then technically there's a few others like the yellow and quadralineal but those are either hard to find or require permits for importation.

And I wouldn't base gender solely off their jowls because females do have them just not as large, a more tell "tail" way of knowing is when it reaches maturity is check for spurs or BB's near where its tail attaches to its body. BUbblz has got some good info on that.

Keep askin questions and learn/prepare before you buy/trade.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Size varies but males are usually larger.
As for sexing a young tegu, like most reptiles it's a toss up with out probing. Eventually as they grow you'll know for sure when or if they develop jowls and spurs. Or you see one actually evert his hemipenis while defecating.

I don't know if Bobby probes or not but he usually gets it right when people request a certain sex. If I remember correctly it also has something to do with the shape or size of the head.

Myotis;

An All American Tegu is a hybrid between the Extreme, Blue and Red tegus. Bobby first bred them in '09.

 

[TeguKid80]

To add to the size issue, I have seen little to no proof that there is a legitimate difference between reds, blues, black and whites and extremes in size. Columbians are smaller and I have seen few to no exceptions. There are 4 foot blues, 3 foot black and whites and everything in between. I have only seen one example of an "Extreme Giant" actually being a lot larger than a normal black and white and that is one of Bobby's males. I have also seen massive reds, and massive black and whites so to base your decision between blues, reds, black and whites, and extremes on size is silly. If you want a small tegu get an adult that is small and full grown because the amount of variation is high between these different types. Males do however seem to be generally larger than females although there are also exceptions there.

 

[MFjustin]

Okay thanks for giving me the information i rather gather as much knowledge for these animals, instead of getting one and not know too much about them. Can you guys give me any connections to buying one? I have looked around in my area and found a couple, but i want to keep my options open and see if i can get them cheaper and as a juvenile. One more question. Who's this Bobby guy? Does he sell tegus?

 

[Toby_H]

lol... Bobby is Bobby Hill, of Varnyard Tegus. He's the host of this forum. Scroll up to the top of this page and click 'Home'...

The path I chose was to do all the research possible before buying a tegu, then bought a hatchling Tegu from the most reputable breeder I could find (which was Bobby Hill). This gave me the best odds at having a happy healthy tame adult.

I couldn't be happier with my choice nor my Tegu. He is a 10 lb 50" big sweetie.