Argantine Black-White Tegu

[Steeve B]

She’s so cute!
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/502/959croc_bite_248-med.jpg

[Tim and Julie B]

Tegu's too! Man your collection is looking better and better! I love my Goldens but they are spaztic little things! I hope I have a pair! Their vents look a lot different.I am not comfertable enough probing them. I love Tegus they are highly underated. That is a great looking one too. I have never seen one with that much black on the head before. Pretty cool looking!

[V.hb]

Tim, I'am pretty sure there are easier ways to sex the Tegus without probing them. Put up a picture of the "pair" and maybe you can get some guesses..

[Steeve B]

you can sex them with your index, males have hard scales clusters on vent side, females also but you cant feel them.
let me try to take a photo back in five!!

[Steeve B]

Male top female bottom, you can clearly see the clusters on male, but more important you can feel them with your finger, you can sex Tegus at any age like this. You can also see the femoral pores on male. These are red Tegus didn’t want to disturb BW again today.

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/502/959untitled-stitched-03-med.jpg

[Tim and Julie B]

Cool thanks guys now all I have to do is risk my fingers and check them out! :D Thanks! I will let you know.

[Tim and Julie B]

Crap well if females don't have those pores then I have two males. That sucks I was hoping! Ones pores you can feel better then the others. Damn it I am so disappointed now. Although I got them both for free I was hoping I could offer some CB babies in the future. Oh well maybe another one will come around. SOL!

[Steeve B]

make sure your feeling the clusters on each side of vent, not the pores. aim very sorry this turned out a deciving thread for you, as I started it to pleas you. still its better you know.
kind regards

[Tim and Julie B]

Oh no it is all good it just means I have to get females now! haha I appreciate your help any and every time you give it. Yes it is very good I know so I don't stick them together. I just relized this.....you have red Tegus as well!!!!!!



Ok I wasn't going to say anything but I want to learn. What clusters beside the vent? Are they bigger scales?

[Colonel SB]

Could I hate you any more Steve, jeez my jelousy grows with every post.

[Steeve B]

The clusters can be 2-7 enlarged scales, even if you see them in females you won’t feel them with your finger, all you need is to sex a pair and you will immediately know

http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/502/959bw_sex-med.jpg

[Steeve B]

first contack this year, he's usualy a real pet
http://www.ssnakess.com/photopost/data/502/959croc_bite_297-med.jpg

[Tim and Julie B]

Oh thank Steeve that pic is great! I have learned something very useful. Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me. All I was told in a previous post was all you can do is probe. Well I will check again. Awsome.

That's a great pic. Look at the teeth!

[JeffT]

What are their bits like Steeve? Do they have really powerful jaws?

[Steeve B]

I dont know? and aim not going to try it! they have a prety violent head shake and death roll, my guess whod be if you ever get bitten hold on tight to the lizard, what ever you do dont let go of him befor he lets go of you, Tegus will make sure they kill your hand befor they release it.

Ps. the good thing about them is they usualy dont bite!

[Tim and Julie B]

Steeve you couldn't be more right! I got bit last month on my finger (second knuckle). It was already closed at the time and I had a firm hold of the Tegu with my other hand (thank god!). They do not let go for anything I tried dunking it, running water over it. What finally worked is Julie put the feeding tongs in its mouth and spread them apart. They are sadistic, every 30 seconds they give you this extra little squeeze just to cause more pain. It didn't hurt to bad at the time (not a lot of blood) but the next day my knuckle was swollen and was difficult to bend. I only have Golden Tegus to they are less then half the size of the larger species. Thank god those larger species are more docile! :D
I let one get a hold of a glove yesterday and it grabbed it and shook it so hard it went air born back and forth until it let go and hit the side of the cage. I don't ever wear gloves to pic them up it makes it harder to hang on to them. But I wanted to see what would happen if it ever got a good bite.

[Steeve B]

then you know exacly what I meant, just a little tipe! I keep grape fruit peel in my reptiles room at all time, my breakfest residue, if you squeze a peel in your lizards mouth, tecnicaly there suposed to releas imidiatly.
whats funny about this, I never even tryed this yet!
nevertheless I always have a suply at hand.

[Tim and Julie B]

Good idea because I think I would rather take the pain then waste the gin in the freezer! lol :D I will remember that one.

[asphyxia]

Thanks for the thread folks, very informative.

Best regards
Brian

[Tim and Julie B]

Ok they are both smooth. No clusters. For sure! Julie is going to barrow a didgy cam from work so I will post some pics. But they deffinatly are smooth.

[JeffT]

Yeah those are great looking lizards. I saw some at the last reptile show here in Calgary. What is their adult size? How big a cage do you need?

Jeff---ThE KiNg

[Steeve B]

4.5 feet 25lbs you can visit Ron St-Pierre at www.Albinotegu.com
he breeds all morphs.
Rgds

[chuck911jeep]

Hi folks!
I own a argentina black and white tegu since he was young(about 6 inch). One day, he bite me and i can tell you it's painful and it was bleeding a lot lol. With all your info i'm dissapointed, it's a male. I use balsamic vinegar to release is jaw
Thank's
Justin

[ectotherm]

Great thread. Very nice animals Steve. Because varanids require permits in my state, I am considering tegus instead (Can't figure out why monitors are illegal but tegus aren't) . Both Bert of agama international and Ron St. Pierre have some incredible animals.

Funny analogy I was told with regard to being bitten by a large tegu:

"I'd rather have my hand slammed in a car door than ever get bitten again."

[Steeve B]

they do have a savage bite! but if you get a babie argentine fro Run or Bert or even myself depending on your location (where is MA- Miami?) they most likely will never even try to bite you. they realy get tame and will give ample worning when anoyed.
Rgds

[ectotherm]

I'm a bit closer to Canada.

MA - Massachusetts
Still in the planning stages of a reptile room in our basement. What the wife can't see, she can't complain about, so I plan on building a small room for herps.

[Steeve B]

hey I know a guy in Salem who keeps Indicus sinse 87 guess what the city cant see, the city cant complain??
where is the injustice, you keeping varanids? or not alowing you to keep them?
injustice is something you fight in court, justice is what you get in court, fighting with burocrats pasing uninformed regulations whont give you justic, in fact it will leave you in the same position as obeying them blindly.
this kind of battle I alredy been thru, dont go thinking you cant change this, cause if you do then you alredy lost.
on the other hand if your satisfied with tegus then no need to fight, but sooner or later they will ban tegus also, then remember this. Rgds

[unBOAlievable]

Super good thread,

I purchased my BW tegu from Burt, hand picked at his awesome compound 4 or 5 years ago. It was in January and but chillin cold and we didn't miss a cage. Picked one from under a large piece of carpet.

Usually he is calm as can be but he has been real aggressive after hibernation and the slow moving tegu hit that high gear, the one normally at feeding time and nailed my index finger and I heard bone crunch:eek: The pain was immense and I held on. They love to sling intestines everywhere for some reason and he tried to do the same to my finger. After a little silicone and a bunch of duct tape all that is left is a big scar. Oh and a little more awareness around the slow moving tegu. He's still my buddy though.

[Tim and Julie B]

" They love to sling intestines everywhere for some reason and he tried to do the same to my finger. After a little silicone and a bunch of duct tape all that is left is a big scar. "

OK! :jawdrop: Hospital?

[markb]

Back in 1971 I got a Argentine b/w for $2. I can still remember the bite = very painful.

What a great thread here re: sexing tegus with great pics Steve!
Very helpful, and insightful, even to an old dummy like me. Its been a long time since I worked with Teiidae, and if I recall, I do not recall ever seeing anything in any books sexing them as easily as you show here on this post!! I think another book on Tegus in order :)

But more interestingly, I remember when I fed it caterpillars, it scraped off the bristles before eating it - are the bristles toxic in N. American caterpillars? He did this repeatedly, not just once, but with every caterpillar I ever fed him.
Great animals if you don't get bitten, and fortunately, with him it only happened once....wish I could say that for the V. bengalensis I had! haha...
cheers,
markb

[ectotherm]

On a positive note, I stopped by the New England Herp Society site. At the least, it appears that the NEHS was consulted when the time came for revising the restricted animal list - it apparently comes up for revision every 10 to 15 years. The last revision was in 1991. At that time, a large number of animals that were restricted, became exempt, meaning anyone could own them without permits. Varanids still require permits. The logic at that time (which was correct in 1991) was that captive breeding had not reached sufficient levels to sustain a market depending upon the reduction of wild populations. Hopefully that reasoning will be readjusted very soon, for certain species at least. (Hurry up and breed more monitors Steve)

I find the teiids equally appealing, so if I am rejected for varanid permits, I will likely consider a group of tegus along with my soft spot for P.cocincinus (and maybe some acanthosaurus)

Looks like I should start building that reptile room.

[unBOAlievable]

Tim and Julie B, don't forget I am from the south and down here there isn't nothing silicone and duct tape won't fix. But I used it another time at the veterinarian when we were x- raying a skunk and it bit plum through my finger, fangs sticken out the other side. He said I was crazy to so you might be onto something.