Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We've been taking our tegus to a local park on the Minnesota River. They are both well behaved in the car. They sit on the dash and watch the landscape go by with interest. The fun starts when we get to the river. They both seem to like to swim. They sometimes go out into the water on their own. They certainly move faster in the water then they usually do on land. We have a hard time keeping up with them when we're walking; we couldn't swim as fast as they do. That's why it's absolutely necessary to have them on a leash. Ok here's the link.
http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/toupar/Tazswimming.MOV
If it doesn't work with your browser try right clicking on then "save link target as". Once it's on your hard drive try "open with" QuickTime or WMP er something else.
http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/toupar/landho.MOV

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Taz swimming

Right click on it "save link target as" then try opening it with quicktime.
Time to go bask

He looks so gracefull in the water. Cool video!

Taz is so big now! These were fun to watch, Rollin. It's no comparison to swimming in a standard bathtub, eh?

Have you had any issues with them swimming in the river, like getting parasites?

Thanks Ripley! We've seen them swim a little in the tub but we were blown away at first when we brought them out to the river. We even started cracking up when they took off like torpedoes. Did you notice that he even swims totally submerged? That must be what that clear eye lid is for. I don't know about the parasites, we just started taking them out to the river this week but we've been taking them outside almost daily for months.

I wish we had clean rivers here, whats worse is theres a Bird Sanctuary nearby, and they bring in so many ticks, mites, and god knows what else.

Really?! I'm surprised; I'm not worried at all about taking them outside and stuff. Maybe it's because I grew up in the great outdoors you know living in Minnesota. You begian realize that animals belong outside and that's where they come from. I don't think its right to try to seal up your animal in a glass cage to protect it from some unseen danger. Can you imagine someone saying they won't let their dog outside because it'd be bad for him? I think it's good to bring your animals out if just to get some exercise. I've been hanging around this forum for well over a year and I've never seen anyone have problems with ticks or mites or anything like that and some people even keep there tegus outside! Berts tegus are kept outside and people bring them into their homes all the time without having problems. Can you imagine Bert getting worried because a bird landed in their water dish? Even on his web site he talks about opossums getting into the tegus cages, do you think he immediately tries to sterilize everything?
http://www.agamainternational.com/merianae_housing.shtml

Both my red and my gold really seem to enjoy swimming, submerging, and splashing in the bathtub. Always supervised, of course.

I'd love to take 'em to a swimming hole. Many of the local lakes are filled with seagulls, ducks and/or pet dogs, or areas with "don't eat the fish" signs, and I really don't feel comfortable bringing them there.

I might get one of those plastic kiddie pools for the backyard instead.

I've got one of them kiddie swimming pools in my back yard for the tegus too. They're cheep enought that you don't have to think twice about it I think it was only like 5 bucks! My tegus didn't seem to like it much though they just swim to the side and get out If your so worried about birds what about if one lands in the pool? Another thing you've got to consider is if there's birds that land on your lawn (like mine) and walk in the wet grass then you bring your tegu walking out there etc.. Why are you worried about birds anyways? Most of the time those fish warnings are because of a build up of mercury levels in preditory fish over years of eatting smaller fish at least here in Minnesota. On the other hand I've never seen a sign that said don't eat the fish around here, I just read you shouldn't eat them more then once a week or so. So I'm not worried about the tegus, they aren't catching many fish out there! And they do really seem to like it out there so I'm goina keep bring them back. If I run into any problems I'll be sure to tell ya all, but I really doubt it. I've seen pictures of people bringing monitor lizards to the river, that's were I got the idea.

Actually, my tegus don't like birds. When we're playing in the park and the occasional bird flies over, they freak out. I pet 'em and assure 'em everything's ok, and they calm down and go back to investigating and tongue-flicking everything. Same thing with pet stores and bird squawking, so I don't take 'em by the bird section. The lake area is filled with birds (lots of people feed them bread, etc.), so from that perspective, I wouldn't take them knowing how uncomfortable they'd be.

I understand many folks house theirs outdoors without problems. As far as lakes & rivers in human-populated areas, I wonder what the health risks are, if any, and what are they being exposed to when they swim in and ingest water (and other things) used by the local wildlife, pet dogs, etc.?

Taz looks like he's having a grand time, I just wanna be sure he's safe.

I know what you’re saying about birds. It seems like my bearded dragons always have a nervous eye towards the sky. Even when we drive under street lights I can tell they get a little freaked out. We wouldn't stray far from our female tegu at the park either because there's these huge hawk like birds just flying around in circles. You know they're looking for something to eat! As far as dog germs/mites or whatever don't you think it'd be more risky say like with that pic we just saw of some ones tegu laying with their dog?! I would think anything from a dog, bird or whatever would be extremely diluted in the millions of gallons or water flowing through there. It really isn't that populated of a river either (hey Minnesota hehe) and it isn't considered a health risk. I certainly wouldn't put them in a spot that said "no swimming". Don't get me wrong though I do appreciate the concern Ripley! I would hope someone would tell me if they thought I was doing something wrong. If it makes you feel any better it's going to be frozen over before too long anyways. It’s going to be too cold to bring them anywhere outside. I don’t know where they’re going to go the bathroom then. They're getting too big for the tub they just crawl out.

Theres this german lady that walks along the creek and yells at you for 'disturbing' the birds, imagine what harsh language she would use if she saw a 4 foot Tegu 'disturbing' the birds

LOL well maybe the tegu would scare her off! Unfortunately Taz isn't going to be able to use his predatory instincts to scare anything down there. This isn't the type of river that has flocks of birds or German ladies But I'll keep my eye out for a spot and my video camera handy hehe.

Wanted to tell you that I downloaded both of the swimming videos, and they are awesome!!! Amigo also likes to swim, we have a pond out in our back yard, and he has been starting to swim in it every day! No rivers just yet though

Great movies.

Ley x

I'm glad you enjoyed it. If you want to see it I've got another older video too. It's the one were I get Jazz to run to me (when she's hungry) by patting the floor and calling her name (no sound). I still get a kick out of pausing it then using the arrow keys to watch her run frame by frame; the camera blur makes her look like a cheetah!

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http://mavweb.mnsu.edu/toupar/P1110001.MOV

Yet another awesome video!!!! It's amazing how fast they can go when there is food involved! hee hee

How old was Jazz in this movie??

Ley x

Well lets see Jazz was born the beginning of July 2002. Then she hibernated for 6 months. The film was taken in April. So she had about 3-4 months of growth my then. My records show that she was a little over 30" at the time. Her growth spurt ended shortly after wards at about 34" (May 3rd) since then she has managed to grow to about 39" now. She's had about 9 months of growth total.

jeeez, she's a pretty big girl for having hibernated!! I live in Florida, and I want to avoid hibernating Amigo, if possible, should be pretty easy here as the temperature is always quite high, even in winter. No mate or babies planned as of yet!!!

Ley x

I love these videos, Rollin.

More! More! More!

I'm glad you like them! I should get one of these cameras myself so I can take more. Heaven know I wouldn't be able to borrow it anymore if he know I brought it down to the river!