Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Which is more friendly a male or female and which is smaller? Im talking about a Argentine black and white...

Also would someone be willing to share how much each week or month they spend on food(and what kind how often) for an adult?

Thanks so much C
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I think that temperament has more to do with the individual animal as opposed to the sex. They all have their own individual personalities. Females tend to be smaller. As for food costs, I spend over $100 a month on food for a pair of tegus. And I raise my own roaches. You can raise your own rodents too. But that in itself costs money, takes time and energy, takes space. And they smell bad. Plus you then have to deal with killing them, etc. For me, it's worth the added expense to just get bags of mice delivered to my door every couple of months. In short, it's not cheap to feed them. They eat far more than most people realize. If you're thinking it's an animal that you can throw a few mice at a couple times per week, you're way off base. My male snow tegu eats like 6 mice per day on average. Plus roaches and on occasion SDZ diet and veggies as a supplement.

Males tend to be kinder, or so I hear, Females can get moody at the worst of times.
Though, I'll admit, that I believe as well that most of it is individual personas.

Food.. Is mixed, I don't pay attention to my food bills.. but I'd say atleast $200 a month on meats alone... I raise 3 species of roaches, and when the heat is down, breed my own rats.. I'm not even counting what they cost to feed them (Though the Lobsters seem to subsist on left overs alone, I do buy Roach food for them)
Then the tons of greens I get weekly.. is.. rediculous.

But that's a full collection

For a single adult Tegu, I'd imagine most of it would be vegetable and fruit matter, you could raise roaches (NO Smell! WOOT) as a supplimentry protein/calcium source.. with the occasional dusting, I'm not sure what species you're getting, but I understand depending on the species, they'll eat more or less protein as adults, as they have little growth left to do, and their diet will become abotu 70% plant matter, maybe more.

That said, I have no experience with Tegus... Just similar monitors, multiple Omnivores, and a Monkey skink...
So, yes, all guesswork.

Best of luck
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2.5 Leos
2.1 Beardie
1.0 Burm
1.1.24 Common Boa
0.1 Sav (Bosc) Monitor
0.1 Monkey Skink
Wish for: Candoia Sp, Frilled D

i have 2 collombians and one red tegu. i feed them mostly sdz diet with occasional mice and other meats and vegetables. i really doubt that i spend over $35.00 a month on the three of them. i have two large iguanas a medium sulcatta and a tiny sulcatta and i easily spend about $50 a month just on veggies for them. uvb lights and basking lights are another expnse worth being concerned about. i believe in both. my growth rates seem to be much better than most but i know people who do better than me.