Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, it's been a while since I've posted a new pic and been too active on here. Here's are now lone male red Ozzie (name given to him by his first family as a baby, though we've had him for a while now. LOL) In the pic, he's 16 months 46" and almost at the 18 lb mark. He's a real puppy and walks around our home with our other critters. :0)

Greg

Oops, as you can see he is getting ready to finish his shed on his back/shoulder regions....

Did you actually weigh him or estimate?
I ask because these 2 are 47 inches and over 48 (with some tail missing) and both are 11lbs or less. I verified this with a digital scale.
This red tegu "Duddits" is a friend of mines, I weighed and measured him/her not long ago, 47 inches 7-8lbs.

This male B&W (Legolas) is also in the same collection, he is over 4ft and heavier, hes missing some tail, hes 10lbs if I remember right.

Hi there and terrific pics! His wt/lt is actual via digital scale. This includes his total body wt. tail and body. Some individuals have a difficult time and only obtain the wt/mass of the tegu's body, and the tail wt. is omitted. Ozzy, is very thick, though not depicted in the picture too well. I need to get updated dimension, though typically keep a composite of each of my tegus, uros, and beardies' tail base dims, stomach region dims. As adults, I will not do this as frequently, only if visually they appear to be losing wt and an illness could be appearant. Oops, got off track a bit......... back to Ozzie.
Now these dims are not actual as the above wt and lt. his belly region is is approx 23" circumference (as in our belt size). This is pretty close and might be off by 1-2" His tail base is approx. 14" circumference. My old b/w was 47" and 14 lbs. (Rex) at age 2.5 when I unfortunately had to get out of my tegus and uros due to finishing my graduate work, divorce, etc. I might still have a pic of him, here, though it is not a close up.....

Greg

And a digital fish scale that goes to 50lbs, that way they are weighed completely. If a pillow case can hold them, it works also.
I keep monitors and now only one beardie but it seemed strange to see some people claiming so much weight on different tegus, iguanas, and monitors a few years ago (seems like that stopped). Over the years Ive found that large lizards seem to be overestimated on their weights big time. Ive heard of 5-6ft green iguanas that owners claimed were 24-28lbs, but in reality a 6ft iguana is 18-19 inches STV and weighs around 14lbs if I remember. Ive seen pics of a red tegu that someone claimed at 4ft was 28lbs (famous breeder site), well I know from several reds that a few friends have or had in the past that they are very light for their size (Ive seen 6-9lbs for 4ft red tegus (chubby heavy built examples). Monitors were a big one also, a few years ago an argus rescue from a pro football player was given to a good friend at 5ft long he was supposedly every bit of 23lbs, reality he was 16lbs and a bit heavy, now 15lbs. My favorite ones are examples of whitethroat and blackthroat monitors (very heavy built animals as adults), Ive seen claims of 53lbs for a 7ft 3 inch male BT, I think it was a bit high even though the animal was a bit overweight. Ive kept BTs, WTs, and now crosses for several years, they are much heavier than say a bosc (American pet trade savannah monitor). I have an example now that you could pick up and easily estimate by feel and physical mass that she weighs 50-60lbs, in reality shes 29lbs the last time I checked, this is also a lizard that is almost 3ft STV and just shy of 6.5ft long. When she comes out from her burrow in the next few days Ill try to remember to measure her legs, stomach, etc.

I totally agree with you regarding exaggerations....
50 lbs lizard? Geez, I'm not into monitors, just tegus, uros and beardies, plus a few others. Believe me, I am more into the health of the tegu/lizards, etc than their size/wt. aspect. With Ozzie's wt. one would think he drags his belly on the floor.......nope, only when he is spreading his scent looking for a mate. :0) I definitely know the breeder's site regarding 28 lbs..... To weigh my tegus, I will use 2-3 methods (each tegu the same method as not to confound the wts with error chances), depending on their age/size. Babies/juives will be place inside a proper size bowl on the digital person scale (so your fish scale may be more accurate). Thus weighing the bowl of course, then the tegu, inside the bowl, substracting the wt. of the bowl. etc. Typically my adults will be weighed while being held, thus substracting my weight (at time of weighing each time as not to allow for too much error in my fluctuations). Or I'll also use a smaller rubbermaid container using hte same process as mentioned above for the smaller ones.

I also enjoy seeing photos of "sandfire" bearded dragons who look so very close to "normals" for increased profits.....
The one thing with tegus, they are not based on cost per lb. LOL......

Take it easy and thanks for the terrific conversation!

Greg

More, most are dull now.
I love my monitors, and really enjoy other reptiles and caring for them. I got out of beardies recently (except one of my babies, had to keep one). Some guy (he used to post on this site) has pics in a book of a bosc (savannah monitor) that was 4ft 3 inches and 22lbs, it was a serious porker, yet he acted as if it was some big mystery when it died after being so obese for so long.
There are so many names for so many slightly different types of beardies any more (everybody and their sister has their own type now), of course its all about money. I enjoyed the converstation.