Tinkerbell, my Colombian tegu :-)

I've been into geckos, frogs, snakes and beardies for a while now - - but recently, I decided I wanted something bigger and meatier. So, at a local herp show a while back, I scanned the tables for the perfect lizard, and I found her! (considering she crawled directly up my shoulder and onto my head, as illustrated in this photo...)



She was up for adoption, a rescue of sorts, sitting sadly in a 20 gallon tank on a table full of various herps. She caught my eye, and was instantly in love (anthropomorphism at its finest, sue me) - she's absolutely the sweetest thing. I know, Colombians don't have the best reputation, but she's a lover, and the best part, she loves only me :-) ...I hand feed her, she naps with me in my bed (creepy?), burrows under my couch cushions, and leans into my hand and closes her eyes when I scratch her under the chin, kinda like a kitty cat. I'm mostly posting this to debunk the myths about Colombian tegus out there. She's the sweetest tegu I've met, period, and furthermore, she won't get quite as big as the Argentines or other big lizards.

That being said, she's my first tegu, and any tips would be greatly appreciated! So far she's doing great, but if there are any nuances I should be aware of, fire away!

Very cool! It looks like both of you really lucked out finding each other!

She's my sidekick, I love her! Thanks for the kind words :-)

looks like a great pet. Ctenosaura Similis (spinytail iguana) gets a damn bad rep for not being possible to tame and super aggressive. mine acts like a puppy dog now too.

Are you sure it's a Colombian? It looks like a 2 year old female Arg to me...

I have a 3 y/o Arg male myself... If yours is an Arg and your interested in breeding her in a year or two shoot me a PM

that's definitely a columbian. obvious differences.

Lovely tegu you have there. I must mention though. most reptiles close their eyes when their head is being handled, not because they like it, but because they are shutting it out/ trying to pretend it's not happening. Though, I'm sure she is just resting lovingly into your hand.

I'm aware. I anthropomorphize all of my animals. Tink seeks out my hand for petting - so hopefully, he's not just masochistic and a glutton for discomfort. Yeah, he's a boy -- guess I just never checked under his skirt ;-)

And yep, definitely Colombian :-) ...and so smart, it's scary!

A masicist tegu! Hah! That would be hilarious...

Totally mispelled that.

hahahaha, misspellings are forgiven :-)

...I love him to pieces!

And sadly, most tegus tend to lean more toward the sadist side of things, especially when it comes to live prey (YIKES!)