Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i jsut read abut these little guys. can any1 tell me somethig about them and where i could get 1 or a pair.

Thanks

Big P

The "Dwarf Tegu" (Callopistes maculatus) is a smaller relative of the true tegus (Tupinambis). They are rarely available. As far as I know, the last time they were available was 2002. I know of no captive breedings. They are not for beginners as they have proven to be difficult to keep alive for very long. I'd give my right arm for a group of them!

I dont usually leave my forum of spiny lizards. My best friend and I were talking about Chilean Dwarf Tegu's, so I decided to chech around in here.

I used to work at a nationally known hole in the wall(in Modesto, California) called Snakes 'n' Things (it closed in '95-'96). It was owned by Ed Wiley and Mike Baugh. We produced Chilean's consistently every year. Wild collected specimens were brought in the state through the 80s and 90s, they were loaded with parsites, at that time only vets were effective at getting rid of. Otherwise yah, they almost always died. After the first generation in production there was never any issues. We sold ours for I think $48.00. No higher than $78.00, I sure. They did well in a one hunded gallon size wooden enclosure, with a screen top with a secure lock. With rock slabs for burrowing under and fine mesh play box sand available at any home depot. We had full spectrum lites, and a red heat bulb on a thermostat. The red heat bulb would round off the temp to the proper degree then shut off. At nite the full spectrum lites were shut off buy a switch. The red heat bulb was the only thing left on at nite. This setup held a tro or up to two pairs. A friend of mine that had no experience with reptiles bought one and had it for years. The diet of our breeders was mainly mice, and dusted crickets a couple times a week. We had a tuperware tub with a hole cut in the lid, that we had in there 24/7, 365. If you still want some I will give you a link of someone in florida that still has them available. I dont know if they are imports or captive produced, but if they are wild caught a simple trip to the vet is all it would take.Try this (http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/Maximumreptiles/)
or email them at (Snakes2U@aol.com) or (954) 782-3428
Talking to you about them is making me think this might be a fun project, I want for myself.
I hope this helps!
Gary Cline
mtnsnakeman@excite.com