Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone, I'm thinking about buying two baby tegu's this year. I was thinking of getting a RED/Blue female cross (does anyone know how big these guys get) and a B/W Male. Do you think this is a good mix and if they were to have babies what would happen? Any suggestion on color morphs would be helpfull. Doe any one know berts websight?

Bert's site is agama international. He has typically the best arg. black and whites. The red/blue cross (and someone here may be able to confirm this) originally occured by accident, not by intention. However a neat hybrid is the result. From what I've been informed that cross has been avg. approx 3.5 to 4 feet for males and roguhly 6" shorter for females. Though 4' may be pushing it a bit. Their wt. has also resembled those of larger blues, versus the mamouth reds. One factor which I have been curious about is the difference (if any) when breeding say a male red x blue female, or blue male x red female. The blue male is more unlikely cross due to size differences in that the red female typically is larger than a blue male.....

Greg

Greg (and anyone else) If you were to buy 2 new tegu's today. What would you buy? i want then as pets with the possiblity of breeding real nice babies. I want to get a redXBlue female. What male would you get? What color female would you want? keep in mind price. Cant afford to buy one for 800.00-1000.00

red/blue cross. If you want an intelligent pet you can interact with on a daily basis get a red. My Rufus (red tegu)is awesome when it comes to personality. I get down on the floor and crawl around with him. He lets me scratch his head, back, tail, everywhere there is shed skin that's stuck. I scratch the shed skin off his lips and he never bites. He might make a half hearted lunge to see me jump. I swear he laughs at me.

Before you all tell me I'm lost in anthropomorphic la la land reds are intelligent animals that don't mind interacting with people.

Mike B

So the Red X Blue does not have the same temper as your Red?

Not even close. The red I have is way better personality than my red/blue cross was.

Mike B

So how did it differ? Whas he violent? could you still take him out ot the cage. What are the tempers on the albino's?

I also would have to chose the reds. I have a three foot male that I raised from an 8 incher. While he will 'rush' the food bowl, he has a marvelous temperment. Even when I goofed and picked him up while smelling of hamster, he just took my finger gently in his mouth, and let go when he realized it was 'mom.' He is very personable, and I, too can stroke his lips with no fear of a bite. Very intelligent animals. My little female is also very sweet and would never think of biting. Reds Rule!

IMO they are all the same. Your looking at different colors and personallities. B & W's, Reds, and Blues all make great pets. People that have one will be biased. I have blues, I say buy what you want so you'll be happy. Thus is why when someone once told me to get a carpet python before jumping into chondros (years ago!) I went straight for the chondro. Personally I don't like hybrids so I'm against the crosses (look ugly to me anyways).
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John Light
JL Exotics
Contact Me
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All of your pets sound Awsome, i cant wait to get these 2 new additions to the house. I think i want a normal A B&W male and a RedXBlue cross Female. What is your take on these? Good mix?Will i have trouble with them fighting ect... Also where did you guys buy yours from and what will be the size diff between these two lizzies once grown? Any one have bearded dragons? Do the Tegu's try and mess with thier cage? I'm scared for my dragons (might come home and they are missing)

B & W's are supposed to be the largest, with reds next and then blues. Not sure where the red/blues fall; probably between the two. Mine does not bother the dragons, but he is never out without supervision. I'd never let him ut alone; he's too curious and two agile.

hmm good point, How old/big is yours? any pics :0)

Vince,

The red/blue is squirmy, liked to bite(drew blood), took forever to settle down(sometimes she never did. She is now a 3 year old( i have kept track of her) and about 25-26 inches and maybe 5 lbs? She has grown out of some of this, but no one gets their fingers near her mouth.

In her defense she is pretty with white, black, red markings and would make a good display animal. I hope this helps.

Mike B

Is this the common with all RedXBlues? I'm basically looking for 2 breadable great pets. Now i'm back where i started. 1-A B/W and 1- Red. new question, Albinos and snows? whats the deal with these two? if you bread a A B/W with a red what do you get?

You have to buy the tegus you like and want. Whether that is red, b/w, blue, gold, a cross, whatever. You are talking about breeding tegus. Do you understand the genetics behind what you are buying and what you hope to produce. Correct me if I'm wrong and genetics are difficult for me. If you take a red/blue cross and breed it to another red/blue cross you will get 25% genetically red, 50% genetically red/blue hybrid, 25% blue. So what would be the purpose of breeding a cross with a cross. Furthermore, do you think there is a market for the offspring. How would you know what you were selling? After all your efforts you might have to give them away because there is no market for wht you offer.

These are all things to consider and there are lots of other questions you can come up with on you own. It all boils down to you have to buy the tegu you want and make choice based on answers to your own questions.

Mike B

I put a few thoughts into breeding, basically I have brearded dragon named stripe and he is now 7 ( i think past breading age) not sure. But as i see him get older and less active I miss my young best friend Lizard. He's been trough alot with me and now I'm upset he never had any off spring. This is the only reason i wanted to breed the tegu's. From what i hear on the forums these guys will be great friends/ pets. As for the market and creating diff morphs im not into that. Make a few bucks maybe, but mostly just to keep the bloodline going of my pet. I dont think i would mind giving 20 Tegu's away to a great home just as long as i get the pick of the litter :O). If any know if i can still bread stripe let me know. I'm thinking about buying a female for him.

Loiosh is about 3 feet long, and he is not quite two years old. However, the breeder did not feed for a lot of growth that first year, so he did not stsrt to really grow until I got him. His sister has been a picky eater until recently, and she was the only one to go down for the winter, so she is smaller.

That's an old picture. I'll try to get a neer one up tomorrow.

Argentine Black and Whites. I have B/W's, Blues, Reds, and an albino. The Argentines are, by far, the most laid back and tolerant of all of them. I can feed them by hand without using forceps, I can handle them right after a meal, and they do well in our educational programs. They seem to tolerate and accept other lizards quite well and mine coexist with several different species of Iguanas on occasion.

Wow he's cute, how is the temper on the albino?

Albinos are fine in temperment. I sold my pair not to long ago. I keep blues and have had a different experience. My blues have been more calm then any other tegu I've messed with.

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John Light
JL Exotics
Contact Me
Web Site

Do you think its true that Sunlight makes them a bit "meaner"? My neighbor has two (Male/Female) that are housed outside most of the year in a big fenced enclosure (Florida).
I think they are magnificent looking and go over now and than we feed them. He was telling me that sunlight brings out their colors and brings out their bad tempers.
I keep Jasckson chameleons outside and small skinks and 3 ringneck snakes inside but love tegus .
We had a wild gold tegu in the area few weeks ago to. Few saw it crossing the road to "swamp" area.

sorry it took a bit to get back to you, though see others helped in their perspectives. Jane (Jiffypop) noted argentines as the most tolerable/tame and forgiving if mishandled. I agree with Jane 100%. She has done eudcational programs for a while and I have as well mainly with tegus, beardies, and uros. Anyhow.....the arg are the tamest and friendliest as a generalization. Now you ask which color red or black/white?
Technically Blues are not argentines, though will talk about them as well. Each tegu is different, remember this, as each person has a different personality per se from another. Working with all 3 colors and even golds, I really have found not too many differences (in general now) than black and whites and reds. Both tend to be very, very docile, friendly and have even roamed around with dogs, cats, etc.... Blues also are very friendly, though tend not to tolerate other tegus as readily as these others. I have also found and others can offer their insights as well. In all three, females tend to be more "cautious" or less forgiving than most males I've had. Though I am not talking a large or extreme difference, just they may take a bit longer to become less skittish........again this is only a generalization.

Hope this helps!

Greg

Freakin Sweet Pic!!! ok, So for the most part A B/W, reds, and Blues all have a good disposition, but it depends on a lil TLC on how they will turn out. So it is safe to asume that i could buy any of the three and as long as he is loved he will be friendly. (unless i get a freakishly mean one). OK, with that said i feel better, but still am having a very hard time trying to figuer out which one's to buy. I really like the albino's but they are expensive. I was leaning with an Albino female and a redXblue Male. i may just go with a A B/W Male and an RedXBlue female. how does that sound? I up for any sugestions. and would you guys give me a ballpark figuer on how much these guys would cost. I want hatchlings. my bearded dragons are great, they never go in the cage (only to eat).I've had them since hatchlings my male is not 7 years old and may be going senile (lol) poor guy! but i noticed its easier to raise hatchlings. Then buying juvies.

There,s probably someone out ther who breeds hundreds of tegus and can give an accurate answer to the question "Out of 100 B/W's how many will be difficult." With black/whites and reds I would expect the number to be very low. Based on what I have seen in pet stores and talking to people who have them golds would be on the other end with the most difficult per 100. Everything else falls somewhere in between.

My experience with crosses, blues/reds, is I will not go that way again unless I want a display animal.

Mike B