Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i own monitor lizards and pythons. but never had a tegu. are tegus calmer than monitors? oh and what showld i look for when buying a tegu.
thanks

Alex Oliver

Hey Alex,
If you're looking for a calm tegu then you have a few choices. You could get an Argentine B&W, red, or a blue tegu. If you're looking at a B&W one the Argentines tend to be calmer then the Columbians so you'll want to watch for that. Both my tegus are great about being handled, very trustworthy in my experience. Here's a pic of my male Argentine B&W.

thanks nice tegu. my monitors would probaly take my finger off if i did that. LoL

Alex Oliver

Hi Alex! Yes, in general, they are much calmer and gentler than monitors. I let my 3 foot male roam around in the front yard on the weekends (supervised of course) and he just likes to sit around in the sun or dig in the dirt. NEVER tries to run away. If I did the same with any monitor I've ever owned they would be gone ASAP! Monitors are very cool in their own way, but Tegus make MUCH better pets IMO. If you want a big, intelligent, responsive lap lizard, get one of the varieties that Rollin listed. You won't be disappointed. Billy

>>thanks nice tegu. my monitors would probaly take my finger off if i did that. LoL
>>
>>Alex Oliver

Yeah, Tegus RULE! I originally wanted a Dumeril's monitor but then decided to go for the tegu instead, you won't be dissappointed..

Later,
Ralph

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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

Yeah, neither of mine ever try to run away either. They're not nervous around us at all. Like when I take them out they'll walk all around without pause but when I pick them up and put them on my lap they'll sometimes stay for 15 mins or more. The other day despite my protests my wife was feeding them cherries by hand I observed them being very careful not to bite her. My wife doesn’t think they'd even bite in self defense haha.. especially Taz, he's big but he certainly doesn’t act so tuff.

Squishy is great but he does NOT like to be picked up an held. He was out in the back yard the other day and when I picked him up (by the base of the tail) and tried to pull him out of the bushes, he wasn't ready to go inside and took a swing at me. The first time ever, I might add. When I tried again to swing him up onto my arm he nailed my thumb so quick that I just reacted and pulled it out of his mouth. He only caught two teeth but they sliced my skin like a knife. LOTS of blood, but no stitches luckily. Poor guy was just having fun digging in the dirt and here I come to stop all the hooplah! I would've bit me too! Hahahaa!! Anyway, we both survived...

>>Yeah, neither of mine ever try to run away either. They're not nervous around us at all. Like when I take them out they'll walk all around without pause but when I pick them up and put them on my lap they'll sometimes stay for 15 mins or more. The other day despite my protests my wife was feeding them cherries by hand I observed them being very careful not to bite her. My wife doesn’t think they'd even bite in self defense haha.. especially Taz, he's big but he certainly doesn’t act so tuff.

You might want to watch out with that. I tried to do something similiar and my tegu is now missing a portion of his tail. And it took almost no real pulling on my behalf, it dropped off with no effort.