Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I asked a guy who has studied them in the wild .He said its posible but not likely. the very far south east of the country is the ony place they could be possibly from. The amazon river keeps them from entering any farther north . He also told me that merianae are not strong swimmers. I was not mean at all in my post. if you post and say things like you did, your going to be question by some people.so i guess you cant take a little constuctive critasisem(spelling). You know that importers will lie about were they got there animals just to make a buck .Peru as I have been told is a place were smuggling of exotics is very commone .Now my nexit Question is why are you buying wild caught tegus ,when they are bread here in the Usa by many people now and there price has come way down now . I know that bert sells them for 80$, now.? Your post sounded like a sales pitch, if that is the case why didn`t post it on the classifieds? Take care Russ

Well I think this proves that there is no way that Tupinambis merianae woyld evrer get into Peru. First they are a low land lizard also there are two rivers blocking there way.Since there not strong swimmers ,I would say that they would not cross the rivers .also they are only found as far north as Santa Cruz In bolivia , Wich is 800 miles away.Also the Andes and two rivers seperate there border. As I stated before Peru is a staging plcae for the illegal pet trade.

There must be some Chile Tegu's lol

Appearantly they have taken to raft building. You see, its a mutualistic behaviour between the river turtles and the tegus that wish to migrate accross the river. The tegus are simply getting towed accross safely to the other side on large pieces of floating debris.
Researchers have yet to figure out how the turtles benifit by the relationship, but suspect that there are "alterior motives."

Never trust a river turtle.

It has become painfully obvious to me that you are not one who explores the realm "outside of the box." Russ, literature and texts are constantly being updated and some even totally invalidated completely. When field studies are conducted, many resources are being calculated and utilized. Two of the main ones being time and funding. In most cases, researchers, students, etc. are led by guides or locals(locals of the already known regions where the designated populations exist) to areas were they already know that these animals exist to conduct their studies. When I lived in Central America much of the locality data regarding Dermatemys mawii was incorrect. Does this mean that the turtles that I collected outside of where someone said they are definitely supposed to exist, were smuggled to those regions? Do you follow me? Well, if you do not, just post more of what is already common knowledge...

You have shown no proof that your tegus are from peru. Infact if you believe your so called reliable sorce then I have a bridge I would like to sell you.Also WHY ARE YOU BUYING WILD CAUGHT TEGUS ,INSTEAD OF CAPITVE BRED TEGUS. especily when there so cheep now?Don`t you no that they kill 1,300,000 tegus every yer for the skin trade.!Untill I see a scientific paper published anout Merianea in Peru I find it hard to believe what your saying.Importers will lie abou anything just to make a buck.Also They could also be lied to buy people . Your Peru Giant tegu post sounds like a schem to try and make a buck!I have at least show proof that is availble that says there not from Peru. Show me some proof and I will conseed that I am wrong..Untill then dont believe everything your told, you really dont no what country they come from, And just buy captive bred tegus .There are plenty availible. take care russ

Thanks for the post Russ. Again, I was trying to bring something interesting to the forum. You have made a number of statements that would blatantly insult a great number of reptile dealers, importers and personal friends of mine, Russ. "They are liars" how else is this supposed to be taken. Russ, I will definitely take your wurd(spelling)for it. Enough about this and on with another topic...

Why did you buy wild caught tegus.?Why dont you show the proof there from Peru? And Are you trying to sell them as a rare verion of merianae? Why dont you answer these simple questions? And yes my spelling sucks from time to time .Know big deal , . You have made the statments not me. And as for exporters and inporters , Im shure there are some that are not liers , but I still would question what some would say.take care russ

Look man. Hes got valid points. I too am friends with a good number of importers and dealers.
The only difference between you and I, is that I know damn well that a good number of animals(most of them) that go through the dealers hands have been dealt with, less then honorably. And I say that all the time to their faces. Yes, to my friends. They arent in it because of their passion for reptiles. Theyre in it for money.
The difference between me and Russ is that It doesnt bother me. This sounds harsh, but after doing field work in S.E. Asia with cutting edge conservation biologists, it became clear to me that the real culprit is not the pet or skin trade, but devestation of natural habitat. At least the pet and skin trade are sustainable, but once habitat is gone... its gone. The 50 dollars that i spent on a "rare" monitor at the pet market in a third wirld country, fed a family for a month. I can live with that. What I cant live with is teke furnature, etc. This is the truth that even the biologists cant talk about openly. The skin and pet trade are suppose to be the root of all evil. But, there are far worse perils.

Nice post .Never even thought of that.take care russ

A week ago they found a 400 ft water fall in the middle of a National Park in CA. It had been rumored to exist for years but no one actually had proof till now. If we are discovering things like that in one of our own National Parks in the US who is to say that we also might not know everything about Tegus and everywhere Tegus are?
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

When I was doing field work in s.e. asia, we "discovered" that the king cobra inhabits an island that it was thought to not be found. The natives had reported for years accounts of a huge, aggressive, venomous snake, but they never actually produced any specimens. Until last summer that is.
In order for a species to be confirmed to inhabit an area, it needs to be officially documented. Word of mouth, isnt enough.

and thats the thing. in all honesty we really don't know what could be found is different places.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids