Reptile & Amphibian Forums

yeah ive been wanting get a lizard that has some size to it for some time. I origionally wanted to get a nile monitor, but the guys over at the monitor forum told me to get an ackie. i am very interested in ackies, but i live in illinois and im not sure the climate would be good for one. thats when tegus caught my attention because their used to temperate climates (atleast the argentine b&w is) so yeah im liking tegus alot!! ackies seem to be kinda expensive whereas tegus seem to be a little cheaper.plus tegus have a milder temper and i like the fact that they bond with the owner. So now i have two lizards that i am interested in getting, each with their purks and negatives, but im not sure what to bet? any sugestions would be good.

I don't know anything about ackies, but wouldn't get a nile. I like big lizards, too, but if they're not handleable, then that's not a lot of fun for me!

I have three tegus and would just have a tegu ranch if I had the room! They are quite tameable and right now I'm having the most fun with our 8mo old as he gets used to us and explores our house with us. Our 4yo goes out into public quite a bit and wears her "Security" T-shirt. My teen daughter gets a kick out of that!

Our older girl is a bit slow, but she likes to hang out with us and free roams the living room quite a bit. She lives in a 6ft Visions cage in my garage, but I'm FL. Even on the rare night when the temps dip into the 20's, my garage never falls below 50. She loves the hot, humid summers, too. You just have to keep the humidity up a bit for them, and provide heat while they're awake. In the winter, they brumate, and you don't want the temps to drop below 40-50 on a regular basis.

There are two tegu websites, www.tegutalk.com and www.thetegu.com that you can check out as well.

They are both great I love ackies and tegus. For a beginner or size wise, you can't go wrong with ackies as long as you follow the caresheet. Argetina tegus are bigger and takes more space. I love them both. Don't look at the price since ackies are very rare and can't go wrong with them. You can always save more money and purchase what you really want. Never settle for less. Good luck.

by the way niles are not for beginners thats for sure. They rarely tame and their feces are huge and messy. I love them all. I just dont want to have to worry about entering his cage and there is this 7 ft lizard ready to huff n puff my ass lol.