The Blue tegu’s origin is scientifically unknown, however thought to be (Tupinambis merianae) by many, including myself. This would be a different local, or subspecies of the Tupinambis merianae. It is said that they can be found in Brazil, and Colombia, however there has been photos taken of them in La Pampa, as well as French Guiana. This would be an area many miles apart and would suggest a very large range. Some of the common names for the Blues are Blue Tegu, Powder Blue Tegu, Blue Albino Tegu, Albino Tegu, and Snow Tegu.
I do not agree with albinism in reptiles that require ultraviolet lighting, in my opinion this is nothing but the creation of a very cruel morph. Albinism is well known for being less tolerant to bright lights, it is torturing these animals to keep them alive. I do not have a problem with nocturnal animals, such as geckos, and snakes with the albino traits due to them lacking the need for lighting.
The Blue tegus that are available in the pet trade are not animals that I desire as a breeder, or promote as pets. They are very inbred, due to the very small gene pool that was first imported into the United States. The original animals were said to be a very small number of six hatchlings. These were imported as Tupinambis teguixin, but were found by the importer to be unlike the normal Tupinambis teguixin they were received before. This makes these animals very prone to undesirable traits, thus the albinism, toes that do not bend, over bites and under bites, also blindness has been found to be very present in these animals. For a few years now there has been very light colored albino blue tegus sold as snow tegus. The snows do not exist in this species, but rather a very light albino. There has never been any Melanistic tegus to produce this morph, it has been found when breeding these false snows that they produce albinos, rather then snows. There have never been any other Blue tegus imported into the United States except these very few; this is something to keep in mind when choosing your animal
I do not agree with albinism in reptiles that require ultraviolet lighting, in my opinion this is nothing but the creation of a very cruel morph. Albinism is well known for being less tolerant to bright lights, it is torturing these animals to keep them alive. I do not have a problem with nocturnal animals, such as geckos, and snakes with the albino traits due to them lacking the need for lighting.
The Blue tegus that are available in the pet trade are not animals that I desire as a breeder, or promote as pets. They are very inbred, due to the very small gene pool that was first imported into the United States. The original animals were said to be a very small number of six hatchlings. These were imported as Tupinambis teguixin, but were found by the importer to be unlike the normal Tupinambis teguixin they were received before. This makes these animals very prone to undesirable traits, thus the albinism, toes that do not bend, over bites and under bites, also blindness has been found to be very present in these animals. For a few years now there has been very light colored albino blue tegus sold as snow tegus. The snows do not exist in this species, but rather a very light albino. There has never been any Melanistic tegus to produce this morph, it has been found when breeding these false snows that they produce albinos, rather then snows. There have never been any other Blue tegus imported into the United States except these very few; this is something to keep in mind when choosing your animal
I am just tired of the breeders that know the history of them hiding the facts. Somehow they seem to think, what people don't know won't hurt them. Me on the other hand think people should know the truth and than have the choice to choose if they want an animal that might just come with many problems due to the history of inbreeding so heavy.
