There's been a lot of discussion on this forum lately about crossbreeding reds and blues and I think it's only fair I warn everyone of what can happen. I have a female Blue and was interested in producing a hybrid by buying a Red male. I talked to a number of breeders and was strongly cautioned against this. Here's why. My tegu is a wonderful pet. She is absolutely beautiful and is one of the tamest lizards I've ever handled. She is the perfect PET. What will happen if I put my beloved in with a full grown red? First off reds and blues have different mating seasons, so timing the two perfectly to coincide for the brief period that they do is extremely difficult. But most importantly...An adult male RED is huge compared to a female blue. Because of the difference in timing of breeding seasons, the male will want to have sex with my blue when she isn't ready. In short, he will rape her. And when a male does this to a female tegu it's absolutely brutal I've heard. The red will mount her and bite her kneck to hold on to her if she refuses, causing permanent scarring to the blue. Not a good thing. In short, PETS ARE NOT BREEDERS and if you cherish your blue, you'd probably be better off not letting her get raped, and scarred, not to mention the fact that all of this will most likely change her temprament for the worse. If you want to breed, get a BREEDER, don't use your pet or alas you might end up with an angry and scarred blue female.
Just a word of caution so no one or their tegu gets hurt. And take note, this is only directed for those who are in my position, those who have a female blue and were thinking about getting a male red. I have no idea what it would be like the other way around (blue male x female red), and of course it's a different story altogether when breeding 2 like members of the same species.
Chris and Amika
