Do you plan on getting a tegu?

This is a poll to see how many people are interested in getting a tegu.
All input is welcome.

Bobby,

Your Tegus are beautiful and obviously have a lot of trust for you to let you handle them in that way! My husband loves Tegus... I'm just too much of a Monitor person to acquire a completely different large lizard to have to accomodate (with already so much space and time being divided amongst the Monitors)! Your animals are spectacular, though! Keep up the great work with them.

Originally Posted by JungleGems

Bobby,

Your Tegus are beautiful and obviously have a lot of trust for you to let you handle them in that way! My husband loves Tegus... I'm just too much of a Monitor person to acquire a completely different large lizard to have to accomodate (with already so much space and time being divided amongst the Monitors)! Your animals are spectacular, though! Keep up the great work with them.

Jennifer, I was 100% a monitor man myself. Thus the name Varnyard (Varanus), I raised monitors for many years. I now do not own a monitor. The reasons are simple. Tegus are far more tame as well as much easier to care for. The eat just about anything. Monitors for the most part only eat meat. Tegus are more like a dog as well, they will come to you for attention. They will climb up your leg wanting to be held. I have seen tame monitors, but it is more like they tolerate being held, more than starving for affection as the Argentine tegus do. I still have my old name, but I am now a keeper of tegus for life. If you ever get a Argentine tegu, you will see the big difference I am taking about.

Also, thank you for the great comments!

Bobby that animal in the next to last photo looks like it could use the attention of a plastic surgeon, has like 5 chins

Nice looking,really big !!lizards ya have there buddy..Randy

if i ever have the space again for a large lizard it will probably be a tegu . i just dont see that happening anytime inthe near future . bobby your critters all look awesome .

Thanks Randy, and Mark!!

Well guess I should share too!! I have a new baby named Scooter that I purchased from Bobby.....yeah and I said I would never get another lizard LOL

Originally Posted by Laura Fopiano

Well guess I should share too!! I have a new baby named Scooter that I purchased from Bobby.....yeah and I said I would never get another lizard LOL

Laura, how do you like little Scooter? Feel free to post some pics to go with the name. lol!

I would love to have an tegu. If I wasn't legally prohibited, a tegu would certainly be my next addition to the family. Massachusetts and their silly laws . Everyone keep posting pictures I have to get my tegu fix some how.

A month ago I served as a halfway house for a columbian tegu and fell in love. He was a sweetie and loved just sitting around on me watching tv or watching me work on my book from my shoulder. Since then he has gone off to a new home to his family and hopefully a good life. But being with the big guy made me want one. I'm a keeper of tortoises and bearded dragons and 2 cats so I really had to think this through because in the winter time space can be limited especially since I live in the Seattle area. However a carpenter friend and I have worked out a way to turn my tortoise room into a tortoise/lizard room using stackable pens. This will enable me to care for a particular large lizard. That for me is a good thing because I have decided that I want to get an Argentine Tegu.

Watching Vanyard's video of the affectionate tegus really sealed it for me, well that and that they eat fruit and veggies along with meat. I'm so sick of escaped crickets that I really want to get away from insect eating reptiles. Or at least ones that can be fed silkworms and earthworms instead. So here I am working on 6- 4'x4' stackable pens for tortoieses and dragons and one 5'x5' pen that can go in my room for a large lizard. Of course I want to start out with a baby so the pen will come later and I can upgrade enclosures as the little tyke grows.

One concern I had was that I like all of my reptiles to go outside in summer. We only have about 2 months of really warm sunny weather and I like everyone to be able to soak up as many rays as possible. While in winter I do subsidize them with UVB lights I honestly believe that tossing their butts outside for 2 months a year has more UVB benefits than a whole 9 months of UVB lighting. I think of it as having them restock their solar panels. With a tegu I know they dig. I have pens that are 5'x5' outside now that the tortoises and dragons live in, they are wood with wire tops and locks on both sides and the russian pen is lined with fencing to prevent tunneling out. I wondered if this would be ok for a tegu. Some people have said that wire on the bottom will catch their toes and they will get stuck but I don't want to put a tegu outside in a pen without some kind of safety precaution keeping him or her from tunneling out. My russian torts can tunnel out in about an hour, I can only imagine it would take 1/4 that time for a tegu. Does anyone keep their tegu outside at all?

Well as soon as the indoor pens are completed I will be getting a tegu and I'm hoping Vanyard still has some of his little gems still available at the end of August.