Some of you may remember that I was on this list a few months ago because I had found two tegu's in a petstore and wanted to know all about them. Turns out that they were a B/W (arg) and a Red. At first I was interested in the B/W but it was a smallish female and I was specifically looking for a Tegu that might one day grow to a good ol' size (like Russ1066's fine beast, to give you an idea). So I left them both in the shop and asked the owner to keep searching for "my" tegu.
I regularly visit the shop for rats for my boas and a few weeks ago the Red had been sold. The new owners had been on a pet-buying spree: the tegu for themselves and a small puppy for their young daughter.
Last week the Tegu was back in the shop. To my mind it had grown considerably since I had seen it a few weeks ago.
"Not really surprising" said the shop owner "given that it escaped from the new owner's cage and ate the puppy!"
Mother and daughter had returned home to find 1 Tegu and 1/2 a puppy. That's a tough one to explain.
I am writing this just as a curiosity. There is no moral to the story - except that maybe there ought to be some sort of test for people who want to buy exotic animals.
The laws here in Italy have just been beefed up so that cruelty to animals now includes a far wider definition and the punishments are much more severe. However, I doubt it will come close to solving this kind of stupidity.
