Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone. I'm seriously thinking about getting out of monitors and getting started with tegus. I like the idea of tegus because of their personality and diet. It seems that they will eat just about anything. I currently have two baby monitors. One is a black rough-neck and one is a sumatran water monitor. I'm just curious about what kind to get and from where or whom. I live in the northern kentucky Cincinnati, Ohio area so I'm not sure about getting one shipped because I've never done that before. Thanks for any advice!

I have no experience with teids, but the preferred starter types seem to be the Argentine Reds and Aregentine Black and whites.. The Black and yellow, Colombian B W, and gold tegus as well seem to be more aggressive to some.
The red and Blue hybrids available at the link below seem to be promising, not sure of their temperment but from reports both tegus apart seem to be great pets and the hybrids are likely the same or atleast similar, however as with most it depends on the individual animal, some can be jerks and others can be dog tame.
Good luck in any case, what's going to happen to your pair of yong varanids?
Blue Tegu.com

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2.4.1 Leos
1.1.13(eggs) Beardie
2.0 Burm
0.1 Common Boa
0.0.1 Sand Fish
0.2 Desert Tortoise hatchlings
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D, BTS

As far as the temperment of the hybrids, mine is just as tame as my arg B&W.

I only have experience with the arg B W and it my understanding that they are one the tamer (or at least easier to tame) species of tegu but they are also the largest and will need quite a bit of floor space.
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0.0.1 Green Water Dragon
1.0.0 Tokay Gecko
1.1.2 Bearded Dragons
0.1.0 Columbian Red-tailed Boa
1.0.0 Yellow Ratsnake
0.0.1 California Kingsnake
0.0.1 Black and White Tegu

I'll probably be selling them off. I would love to trade for a tegu but, I'm having a hard time finding any argentines (black and white or red) in the cincinnati area. If anyone out there is interested or knows where I can find some tegus locally let me know. My email is toad112081@insightbb.com. Thanks!

i have 2 columbian black and white tegus that i purchased from tiny babies that are about 2 feet long now. afterworking with them for a while they tamed down pretty easily. i handle them regularly and i find them to be a lot of fun. the only thing i really object to is the fact that they are rather inexpensive and breeding them doesn't really seem to be that advantages financially. not that i have ever bred anything. i feed them dog food, cat food, strips of chicken and beef, and lean ground beef. i have 2 ornate niles too, they are over 3 feet long. i feed them the same thing except i feed them shrimp as well. the ornate niles are really better eaters than the tegus. i try feeding the columbian tegus vegies and fruit but i never see them eating it. the columbian tegus are'nt known for being as omnivorous as other tegus. my ornate niles are very tame and don't give me any trouble. even though i think the tegus are easier to handle than the ornate niles. my favorites are really the ornate nile monitors. i have three iguanas too. the largest is a male about 3.5 feet long. i enjoy them too. i want to get a more expensive lizard to try to breed it maybe. i like the bigger lizards though they are such a pain to house. there's a red tegu baby that i can have at a decent price that i might purchase. it doesn't look though like tegus are really vey easy to breed. what are your monitors like?

Both of them are excellant! They handle pretty easy just a little skittish like most baby lizards. They eat a variety of goodies including pinkies, crickets, eggs. Neither of them seem very interested in mealworms. They are eating everyday and doing well. About every two days or so they get to go for a swim in the bathtub. The sumatran absolutely loves it! The rough-neck likes it for the first few minutes but then is ready to get out. I enjoy both of them but I took them in for a friend who owed me money and what I really want is a tegu. Problem is I'm having trouble finding any around where I live.(northern kentucky) So, I'm going to sell the monitors and try and find a tegu on kingsnake. See ya, Zack