# black and white tegu



## edventurous77 (May 10, 2008)

ok, so my friend just bought a black and white tegu, the pet shop said it was around 2 years old, and im informed its 18"-22" long, is that a normal length. and it has a faint tint of green on its head, if i remember correctly that means its an argentine(?)

thanks
eddie


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## P. Novak (May 10, 2008)

Well I have a 20-22" Argentine B/W tegu, and he has no green on his head. Can you please get a picture of it, it may be a different species of tegu or something can be wrong with it. OR he may have just gotten an exceptional looking one.

Make sure your friend understands that these do get quite large and are quite active so a big cage is gonna be needed. The smallest I'd say you go is 5'L x3'H x 2'W. Also, humidity is vital for these guys, so keep the substrate moist with a big waterdish all the time, clean it daily. UVB is also very important with this lizard, so a UVB bulb will be needed and take him outside once in awile to sunbath is good too.


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## edventurous77 (May 10, 2008)

am i correct with the green tinge meaning argentine?

my friend may just be over estimating his size slightly, how big should a 2 year old be?


and my friend keeps many large reptiles including a sav, but thanks for the concern


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## P. Novak (May 10, 2008)

edventurous77 said:


> am i correct with the green tinge meaning argentine?
> 
> my friend may just be over estimating his size slightly, how big should a 2 year old be?
> 
> ...


IME, savs are much easier to properly keep than tegus. 

I'm not sure, can you ask to get some pictures, I'd like to see this green tinge. I've never heard anything relating a green tinge to argentine tegus.

Where did he get the tegu from?


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## edventurous77 (May 10, 2008)

an exotics shop in conway, wales


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## nightbreed (May 10, 2008)

Tupinambis merianae have a green head as very young juvies but by 2 years old that should be distant memory.

As for the size, I'd say thats very small for a 2 year old, B&W's grow pretty darn fast.

If he does indeed have an Argentinian B&W, green head plus small size equals....its a pretty young one


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## Meaningless End (May 11, 2008)

thats about half size fo what a 2 year old should be.. they can get to almost 3 feet in a year no problom.. the green on the head is common in all argentiens but only for about the first month or two of its life.. it quickly goes away...


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## edventurous77 (May 11, 2008)

ok, so i went to see the tegu at my friends house today, and its in a bad way.

firstly it is very lethargic hardly moving and when it is moving its extremely slowly and clumsy, i know tegus arent exactly nimble, but there is deffinately something wrong. The fact this animal is constantly trying to sleep even though it is being moved into its new home isnt a good sign. The man at the petshop says it eats 2 med mice every three days, and once it eats it sleeps/doesnt move till it gets hungry again.

secondly, it is extremely thin, i mean spine sticking out, leg bones visible/no muscle mass. its tail bones are extremely pronounced. My friend informs me that for the two years this tegu was in the pet shop he thinks it was fed no vegetable/fruit matter

thirdly, if it is two years old, then it is small, my friend did not lie about the size it is only around the 18" mark,

ill post pics shortly, any advice in this situation is greatly welcome, please help me save this little tegu.


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## edventurous77 (May 11, 2008)

the box he is in is about a foot by 6 inch

these pics really dont show how skinny he is, i guess the old story about the camera putting weight on you is true


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## P. Novak (May 11, 2008)

Wow that thing is thin! Poor lizard! I feed my tegu everyday, which is what that tegu should be getting. Feed it insects and fruirts everyday, and every 2 or 3 days give it a couple of mice. Make sure it gets calcium dustings 2 or 3 times a week and vitamin dusting once a week. Get a UVB bulb asap, and keep the humidity up for the poor fellow. I'd also give it 2 or 3 baths a week, and take it outside for an hour or two every 2 days or so.

I also noticed that in the first pic he appears to be on sand, thats a NO NO! Get him on something that can retain moisture really well asap. 

Poor lizard, I feel really bad and sorry for it. Your friend should of read up on keeping tegus before buying it, atleast we can tell you to tell him how to take care of it because there is no way we'd be able to tell the pet store owner that.


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## edventurous77 (May 11, 2008)

that pic is from the petshop, he is on bed-a-beast.
in the pet shop he had no UVB at all we however have given him some.

thankyou very much for your reply

do you think he will be ok? will he fully recover


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## P. Novak (May 11, 2008)

edventurous77 said:


> that pic is from the petshop, he is on bed-a-beast.
> in the pet shop he had no UVB at all we however have given him some.
> 
> thankyou very much for your reply
> ...


He might, but I'm not sure. Just do everything I said to do, and keep handling to a minimum and he should be ok, that is if it isn't too late already. What size tank is he in, and what are the temperatures. 

Make sure he gets alot of water via misting, moist substrate, waterbowl, and bathing. He's very dehydrated amongst other problems.


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## nightbreed (May 11, 2008)

Ahh man that's a sorry sight.

Tegu's aren't nimble but they do motor, think of them as scaly bulldozers with a bit of reptile Bullterrier thrown in. lol

Novak's covered most of the bases but I will add a trip to reptile vet wouldn't go amiss, and don't feed him to much too soon tegus will overeat and the state he's in that might do more harm than good, build him up steadily.

Will he be OK?  Unknown, tegus are tough as old boots but he may well have organ damage because of being starved half to death 

Will he fully recover?  I wouldn't like to say for certain as I've never had experience of one in such a sad state, but I doubt he'll ever reach full size.


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## nightbreed (May 14, 2008)

>BUMP<

Any news on the poor little blighter?


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## Centruroides vi (May 15, 2008)

hello eveone im new to arachnobaords as a scorp owner and i got sidetracted and started reading this i was woundering im in texas are these aviable ? and how much (jw) if i get one i would diffently do al my research first but hay please pm if you have any info


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## P. Novak (May 15, 2008)

Well just because you're in texas doesn't mean you can't get one. People can ship them too you, as long as they do it right.


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## JohnEDove (May 15, 2008)

Centruroides vi said:


> hello eveone im new to arachnobaords as a scorp owner and i got sidetracted and started reading this i was woundering im in texas are these aviable ? and how much (jw) if i get one i would diffently do al my research first but hay please pm if you have any info


Contact Bobby Hill/Varnyard and see if he will have any that have not been sold yet.
I know he pre-sells most of his before the eggs are even laid but he was having a good year last I heard from him so he may have some surplus.
His website is http://www.varnyard-herps.com/
Mr. Hill is the best of the best when it comes to breeders of Argentine tegus in the US.


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## edventurous77 (May 27, 2008)

*update*

well, he is still alive and doing well. hes been getting 5 locust every other day and mango, grapes and collared greens every other day, along with 2 mice of a weekend, although this weekend he ate 4. He particularly enjoys swims, so we have given him 2 baths, as much as i would love to bring him out for a little uv i live in northern uk, so it aint exactly sunbathing weather.

ill post a vid of him in the bath or on the couch sometime today.

thanks for the help guys


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## olablane (May 27, 2008)

Mine always buries itself, is this normal??
Thanks,Blane


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## edventurous77 (May 27, 2008)

yer, mine does aswell sometimes, or just uses his hide if hes being lazy


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## halfwaynowhere (May 27, 2008)

seriously, he eats grapes? We gave Spike, my sister's tegu, a grape the other day, and he bit into it, and was absolutely disgusted! He refuses to eat any vegetation, which sucks. I suggested wrapping some sort of leafy greens around a hunk of chicken and see if he would eat it that way.


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## nightbreed (May 29, 2008)

They seem to prefer fruit if its a little past its sell by date, not rotten but just on the turn.

My pair seem to like plums, grapes, mango, apple, peach, nectarine and a lil bannana, gonna try them with a little melon tomorrow.

They wont have anything to do with leafy greens though, I thought I'd try them with some one day after I fed my Beardies, they kind of gave me a look that said if nothing better was forthcoming then I was gonna be added to the menu. lol


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## edventurous77 (May 29, 2008)

mine digs on any vegetable or fruit matter, probs cos he was never given any poor thing 

oh yer and they love melon


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## JohnEDove (May 29, 2008)

edventurous77 said:


> mine digs on any vegetable or fruit matter, probs cos he was never given any poor thing
> 
> oh yer and they love melon


To quote the top Tegu Breeder in the US, Bobby Hill;
"Food:
All Tegus are carnivores as hatchlings, which means they only eat meat. Crickets dusted with vitamins dust , Captive raised roaches, Mealworms, Super mealworms, ground turkey dusted with vitamin dust, Pinkie mice and cooked egg (Not raw) scrambled or hard boiled.
Please remember to remove any food that is not eaten right after your tegu has eaten his/her fill. Insects are well known for stressing reptiles. This also will help keep their cage cleaner. 
Adult tegus, For the Argentine Black and White and the Argentine red Tegu. They will take ground turkey, cooked egg (Not raw) scrambled or hard boiled, rodents, fresh fish (Not from a pet shop, due to the chemicals used in these tanks), baby chickens, grapes, tomatoes, strawberries, melons, and just about any other soft fruit. Bananas can be given as well, but not as a staple diet, only in moderation. This is due to the high content of potassium (Known for not binding with calcium). Not more than once every couple of weeks. They also tend to have a very high phosphorous levels."
http://www.varnyard-herps-inc.com/


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## edventurous77 (May 30, 2008)

this wasnt young, he is atleast 18 months, and was only being fed a small mouse a week, with no dustings and no uv


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