Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just wanted to post an update on my two tegus, butch and sundance (both from agama international). i think it's safe to say that they've settled into the enclosure and grown accustomed to eachother. i like to watch them explore together... i swear that they enjoy eachother's company! whenever i let them loose (sometimes in the cage, too) it seems like butch always follows sundance around. it's not like they're chasing eachother either. i think that sundance is a bit more inquisitive than butch... butch never tried climbing off of the bed or couch until he saw sundance do it first... tegu see, tegu do? they also bask together, side by side... those are real kodak moments. and they sure can eat! at first, sundance would usually only go for live food, but he's not so picky anymore. he downs dead grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars and fuxxies like there's no tomorrow! he even outeats butch (while they are the exact same length, butch is thicker) every now and then! i can't wait until they get a little bigger and i feel more comfortable letting them roam since they'll be easier to find. anyway... that's it for now. i'd love to get some decent pix, but my digital camera hates me.

OT... my family keeps on sending me pix of their hognose, calking, pueblan milk, beardie, and leopard gecko, but i can't send them pix of my tegus and ball pythons! they also sent me some pix of the brown basilisks that live on our lake (they breed every year)... there's also one of a big green iguana that decided to lay on my father's machete to absorb the heat. i tell ya, as if miami didn't have enough lizards running around (green anoles, brown anoles, bark anoles, knight anoles... and lots more anole and gecko species than you can shake a stick at!), there are the established breeding populations of exotics. not that it's great for the natural ecosystem (what's left of it in miami, hiealeah specifically) but it sure is neat to watch. i used to go to amelia earhart park and see all kinds of stuff. iguanas and basilisks out the wazoo... what i could swear were colombian tegus... tons of spiny tail iguanas... and a hodge podge of monitors (there used to be a big water monitor that lived in one of the lakes... it was not for swimming, luckily). anyhow... i don't get very much off that in tallahassee, just a gecko or two and the occasional brown and green anoles. i'm done... i've rambled far too long.....

Gaul that sounds neat. I sure wish I would encounter a lizard when we go hiking or something. Not much chance of that around here though this is Minnesota. I was surprised to read there are a few small lizards up here but not in my area.

First let me say congrats on the good job you are doing with Butch and Sundance. I remember you having some issues with them in the beginning but it sounds like the little guys are well on their way now. Second, I know what you're saying about the exotics - I have lived up in Palm Beach County for over 15 years now. My latest catch was a roughly 5 foot green iguana on July 4th that was basking along a major road near my neighborhood. I was able to snag him (not without him drawing blood!) and let him go in my back yard. Luckily my neighborhood is bordered on three sides by canals, so hopefully he'll just hang around and stay away from those roadways, althought I haven't personally seen him again. My neighbor spotted him once in his yard though so I'm hoping he's still around and doing well. Along with several other iggys, the other really memorable catch was a 10' boa I was called out to remove. This was back around 91 or 92 and I was working at a pet store and everyone knew me as the local reptile "expert". So when the police needed someone to come get a "6' or so python" out of someone's yard they called me. Well imagine my surprise when I look under the bushes and see 10' and probably 50 pounds of angry, wild boa constrictor! Long story short, I sold her to one of my suppliers since she was just waaaay too much for us to handle. Gotta love South Florida!

Billy

and it's not just reptiles either...
about 10 somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago, my neighbors caught a kinkajou that was running around the neighborhood. a freakin' kinkajou... it bit them, too. i think they wound up selling it to a pet shop or something.

on a side note, my uncle told me about this a few months back, and i didn't know whether or not i should believe him at first... but now... i believe him.
check it out...
http://www.stpetetimes.com/2003/09/26/Floridian/Enter_the_dragons.shtml

apparently, there are a ton of nile monitors having a blast out there... of all the things, nile monitors... that's gonna get ugly pretty soon...

-steele

i was feeling adventurous yesterday and decided to feed my tegus together. i watched really close, but i couldn't see that either one seemed intimidated or stressed out by the other. i still plan on feeding them one at a time, but honestly... i was just curious to see how well they would get along. they're soaking now (shedding again!), and later... they get fuzzies!!! mmm mmm mmm!!!!!