orange belly tegus

Hi,
I am Rodney Irwin from tegusonly,

I am capturing argentine tegus from a wild population in south florida.
that escaped or were released from a breeding operation about 12
years ago. It is not their fault, however, they are reeking havoc
on our natives. A small percentage of the ones I capture have a distinct
orange color on the underside. I would like to know if this is found
in all argentines or if it is specific to the population group I am
trapping and relocating.

If you have info on this, please contact me at irwinisland@gmail.com

or call 305 772 8140

Thanks,
Rod.

Hi Rod,

I don't have a lot of information on the orange belly color, but I got a tegu from Bert Langerwerf many years ago. After a few months, I noticed the tegu's belly became a salmon/orange color, and emailed Mr. Langerwerf because I was worried. His reply makes it sound like this is pretty commonplace. Here is a paste of the short email reply:

ert Langerwerf
5/15/08

to me
Jeanie,
That is no medical issue. Some tegus get pinkish or orange colored bellies here also.
Kindest
Bert
Agama International, Inc.
timo2@earthlink.net

We are not a ZOO, please no unannounced visitors.

I know it isn't alot of information, but hopefully it helps.

Hi Jeanbag,

Thanks for your email. Bert was correct(of course).

I capture tegus from a wild population here 30 miles south of Miami.
The ones I call firebelly's (had to call them something) have a more pronounced
color variant the the captive breds. Please allow me to make this clear,
I did not breed them to produce this or any other traits such as Chacoan,
extreme giants etc. Only a small percentage of the ones I capture in the
wild have color. It is not a seasonal or medical issue as I have them in all sizes,
ages and sexes.They are, in all respects Tupinambis merianae.

Thanks for your input.
Rodney Irwin