Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i had once had a chilean dwarf tegu, though i believe its an amevia, but its also called the jungle or forest runner. has anyone heard of these, or does anyone work with them. i remember they used to be popular, but i havent seen one since mine passed away in 2002.

I thought the forest runner was the Green Ameiva (A. ameiva). But, that's the problem with common names,

Chilean Dwarf tegus are not all that common, sort like whiptails and ameivas. No one really breeds them that I know of, and I've heard of people seeing them at shows here and there. Perhaps the lower cost and availability of tegus in general has replaced the other teiids.

yea, my fasination started in the early to mid ninetys, when amevias were one of the most common animals. and i dont really understand why theyre not bred.. that lizard was gorgeous, also some of the amevia species are coming back, i saw greens yellows and striped? amevias at a local pet store which only deals with reptiles. still havent seen a tiger amevia though, those were my favorites

Sometimes they are not bred because the time and money spent in breeding does not make sense when wild caught/imported individuals can be bought very inexpensively.

I have a Green Ameiva that I won during a trivia contest at a herp show. He's cute and will eat out of my hand. I don't think I would have bought one, and think they have a very small following because of their flightiness. But he's fun to watch and I made him a nice habitat. He's like a little tegu to me.

I thought Chilean dwarf tegus were lizard eaters and that put them out of favor with breeders as being high maintenance. I'm not speaking from experience, though, only hearsay.

i agree with you, but its the fact that these lizards are beautiful. id definately buy another chilean dwarf if i ever saw one again, and as for the amevias, as i said theyre finally coming back after being out of the herp world for a few years. youre right about the handling, mine was horrible, but in a 55 gallon with a lot of hides, and a few live plants he was amazing, and he had almost as much personality as my ackie monitors do.

It's a love/hate thing! (for people toward ameivias)

Mine checks me out when I walk by, especially in the am during feeding time. He likes to watch my hands and he is sure is pretty!