Hillbilly,

I have both and they are more different that I initially thought. I describe Tegu's as "stoner" lizards. If Snuffleupagus was a lizard, he's be a Tegu.

They don't seem to be as alert, inquisitive and always on edge like my monitors are. I don't think they are as intelligent as monitors and they don't have the climbing ability. If you put a Tegu on a table, it will walk off of the edge.

They have a really awesome feeding response though! They bite at anything and everything because either they think its food or they just love to have things in their mouth, I'm not sure which. Eventually one of your fingers will end up in their mouth too. Much much more mellow (except when they think food is around)than my monitors appear to be. I used to walk with my Tegu's around San Francisco, take them to the park, etc...it was awesome.

Physically, of course you notice the monitors have long pencil necks, and Tegus have fat stubby ones(which i adore). And Tegus toes just hang there like they aren't sure what to do, appearing to be rather useless. Tegus have regenerating tails, unlike monitors. They will also eat fruit, as mine love bananas.

They hibernate in the winter time, and I usually provide a basking temp of 100-110 for them, so they require slightly cooler temps than monitors.

As for habitat, I have noticed they seem to like cypress mulch/orchid bark better than dirt. They don't climb so they need lots of floor space to roam.

My first big lizard was a tegu and doing research on him among other things is what got me into monitors. So I guess he was, for lack of a better word, my "gateway drug"

So I guess the similarities are that they are both lizards, they both get pretty large, they are carnivorous, and they are beautiful.

Those people that are looking for "lapdog" monitors, should probably get a Tegu instead. Mine have no problem just laying there.

Hope that helps?
-Jeff

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