Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I definately want to get a tegu. I know that much. But it's really confusing which kind to get; columbian, argentine, chilean, red, blue, black & white... I know you are all going to have different oppinions but which should I get? I keep hearing about these great, smart tame lizards and then from some i hear argentines arent great and columbians are and vice/versa. I just want a nice tame smart lizard. Ive read stories about black & whites being good but people tell me to get reds. And i read on Bluetegu.com that blues are the tamest and the smallest but someone else said they are nippy! PLEASE HELP EASE MY CONFUSION!!

Uh, Thanks.

If tameness is what you are after, you can't go wrong with Arg B/W, Arg Red, or Blue, or Hybrid (Red x Blue). Any of these will be easier to tame than a Columbian.

The tricky part is that there are individual differences in each animal. It is really a personal preference which species/color to get.

In my experience an with talking to others, it seems that Arg B/w are mostly very tame from start to finish. I think that Reds are sometimes not as tame as B/W when they are hatchlings, but apparantly tame down quite well (I didn't keep mine long enough to find out). I have no experience with Blues, yet, but possibly people are refering to great feeding response as aggression. Some have told me that they are more hyper, but I also heard that they calm down nicely when they get bigger. I recently got some hybrids a week ago, so I don't know yet, but they seem handleable, but at 2 weeks old, they are flighty.

I am a little biased, as the very first Arg B/W I had was tame from day one (I got her when she was 2 weeks old). That one would always casually walk around my hand, even the instant I picked it up. I later sold it to people whose kids slept with it on their bed.

Oh yeah, I had one Columbian that was very tame, but that is definitly a rarity.

As for care differences, Stella wrote an excellent post comparing the levels of care necessary. You can do a search for "Ron St.Pierre".

Dave

Thank you so much. That information helped alot.

Mostly it is going to be your choice on which one you get. I have currently a columbian B&W, an Argentine B&W, an Argentine red, and a Blue. All 4 will allow me to handle them but the columbian is by far the fiestier of the 4. She always has been. The other three were as mellow as they come from the day I got them. My wife is a 4th grade teacher and the tegus except the columbian all go in for trips to the classroom on a regular basis. They will just walk around and let the kids hold them or pet them as they move around. My Blue deffinatly has a very aggressive look when she is feeding and she has at times I thought gone after my hand when I place the bowl down. I now think that she is not after my hand at all she knows when it is time to eat is all as I feed at the same time every day. if it is not meal time and I open the tank she is as mellow and friendly as always.
If size is of a concearn then Blues are the way to go as they are not as large as the argentine B&W or red. All of them are beautiful wonderful lizards though. My suggestion is go to a reptile show where you can look at as many as possible handle them if you can and see which one takes to you let the lizard pick you so to speak. I hope this helps take care and good luck.
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Beau W.