Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i figured id ask tegu owners that have beardies (cause i know that people in the beardie forum would just say their awesome point blank). i was thinking about buying one mainly for my wife and was wondering if u beardie owners have any input on em, good or bad? thanks, justin

they are really cool to own i bought 2 for my wife,if your looking for a great lizard these are it,,, each one has its own pearsonality my wife loves them thy are easy to feed and most of them seem to love to be held my wife walks around the house with them hanging to her shirt ,they have mutible variety of colors availible if you have anymore qustions just email me...sorry about the spelling.

I used to own a pair of them. They're definitely awesome lizards, generally very docile (The one I had was an adult who was never really handled, so I had to work with him. Took about 3 days to tame him down, heh. I've always had good luck with taming animals) And they have loads of personality.

But, I will say, I prefer Tegus. Get one of those! They're just so much more active than bearded dragons (Or, well, more inqusitive, so they spend more time walking around.)

I always prefered the "Citrus" color phase. Or atleast I did starting yesterday. This isn't the best picture. I saw a little picture in a Reptiles Magazine that just blew me away. Sooo brightly colored.

I keep my beardie's temps so that the hottest spot is about 105 and the lowest temperature on the basking site is 90-95. He'll bask around a lot, and hibernate through winter, but they really enjoy getting heated up under the basking lamp and then coming out to run around and get into trouble.

I would like to get a tegu though when I move out. Right now I have a beardie and a mali uro (recently rescued from a very neglectful owner...he had her in a ten gallon tank with nothing but a hot rock, old food, a rock, a disgusting water dish, and tons of feces...there's a lot about it around the uro forum). I barely have enough space for the beardie's enclosure and the enclosure I am soon to get for the Uro (she's in a 29 gallon right now). That's something you should take into consideration too. Tegus definately need a lot of space, and their enclosures are usually more utilitarian. If you want a reptile that you can play with but who's enclosure can be designed to look almost like fine furniture, a beardie is the way to go. Only problem with that way of keeping a beardie is that you don't want to feed them crickets in the tank (if you use anything other than carpet or shelf liner), and it's a little more upkeep to make it look nice.

There's really a lot of variables. A beardie usually comes pre tamed (just the way they are I guess), but a tegu will take time to tame down. An adult tegu is an impressive site though. I'd say go with your whichever one will be better suited to your life, and which ever one your instincts tell you to go with.

-ryan

It was higher than 105, probably closer to 120 surface temp (They had a stick to walk up to get warmer if they wanted to.)

They were still active, don't get me wrong. It's just my tegu is almost constantly walking around. And if I let him out, trying to get him to stay still is like trying to stop a charging rhino. My bearded dragons on the other hand, while they'd wander, they wouldn't do it nearly as much as the tegu does.

While age may have played a factor (The bearded was a rarely handled adult, the tegu was young), my *PERSONAL* experience was that the tegu was considerably easier to tame.

The bearded would trash like mad when I picked it up, run like hell, and try it's hardest to bite (And was successful twice)

The tegu would run off when it saw me and trash around for a few seconds when I picked it up. It would also open it's mouth occasionally (Pretty rarely) but would never attempt to turn it's head to bite. By day 2, he had stopped trashing and opening his mouth, by day 3 or 4, he wouldn't even run.

How ya doing! I have both and love them all. Beardies are pretty sweet from the get go. The tegus takes more work, more space, but when they calm down they're are really impressive. Why don't you hint around and see what she might prefer. Show her pictures of both, talk about them and she may let you know herself which you prefer.
Take care,
Karen

I have bearded dragons and I love them! They are easy to care for and are very docile loving animals. I bred mine for the first time this year, it was a very fulfilling experience!

Good luck, you won't be disappointed with a beardie!
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0.0.1 Argentine Black and White Tegu
0.0.1 Baby Aru Green Tree Python
2.1 Bearded Dragon
0.0.4 Hatchling Bearded Dragons
1.1 Honduran Milksnake
1.0 Florida Brooksi Kingsnake
1.0 Blood Red Cornsnake
1.0 Jungle Carpet Python
0.1 Desert Kingsnake
1.0 Western Hognose Snake
1.0 Bull Mastiff

Bearded dragons are pretty awesome. They come in a bunch of different phases, and are pretty easy to care for. They're kinda social too, so they'll head bob and arm wave at each other. Plus they breed easy.

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Pray now baby, pray your life was just a dream. The world in my hands, there's no one left to hear you scream. There's no one left for you...

AIM: MatchFlameStick

thanks for the input and im still gonna think about it, she wants one tho. they really dont like to explore like the tegus do they? thanks again, justin

I've had 2 bearded dragons for over 2 years. Yes they do act differently then tegus. When they're in the cage they both are pretty docile just basking/laying around but my bearded dragons are sitting out more then my tegus are. Sometimes my beardies will scratch at the screen for like an hour and it gets annoying, my tegus don't do that. When I put my beardies on the floor they'll sit there for awhile then scamper across the room to a different spot pause there then move for a few seconds ect.. it won't take them long too get into a spot and sit there until I find them and put them back. When I take my tegus out they'll walk around without pause analyzing their surroundings unless they know where they are and want to go somewhere. The tegus seem much smarter in this since kinda like they're curious, like a ferret poking their nose into places. I'd say they're more entertaining to watch/interact with and later I’ll find them back at home provided they can get there.

I have four bearded dragons (I got three babies as an early Christmas present from my husband, definitely a very cool gift) and two tegus. I love both species of lizards for their own unique qualities, however, I think I get more enjoyment out of my tegus. My tegus are so much more interactive with me personally. Granted, I can get my adult male beardie to sit with me on the couch and watch TV, he won't really go for walks with me like the tegus will. But I definitely love them all dearly.

Lindsay