Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am curious to know if anybody has info on the blue tegu's locality, point of origin, or if they were bred by crossing different species together. Also, I am using shredded redwood with
bark mixed in as a base substrate. Is this ok to use or is redwood problematic for them? My blue, approx. 6 mos. of age, eats a f/t hopper mouse daily, and that is it. Would this type of meal be sufficient regarding nutrition? If anyone has any input or suggestions on the above, I would love to hear it. Thanks!

Blue tegus originate from the northern region of South America. There is currently some scientific debate about their classification. For now, they are thought of as closely related to Colombian tegus. They were now bred to gain the blue tegu, but found in the wild. However, the story goes that all captive blue tegus in the US originated from 6 specimens, lending to quite a bit of inbreeding.

An exclusive diet of rodents may lead to hair impaction. I would offer a variety of meats, and it may eat some fruit, and may not. Being like the Colombian, it will be mostly if not all carnivorous, and will be awake all winter. Try whole little fish, whole rodents, organ meats, cooked egg, quail chicks (when it's bigger), and ground turkey. I like to alternate organ meats and ground turkey with whole food for mineral balance. A diet of just organ meats and ground turkey is low in calcium. I only feed cooked egg once or twice a month.

I'm not familiar with the redwood. It's easy to get cypress mulch here and that's what I use. Keep it moist, but not wet. I also feed outside of the enclosure when possible to prevent impaction.

I must disagree. They are thought to be closer to the argentine tegus, not the colombians. They look NOTHING like the colombian tegus and can be very similar to the argentines. As far as point of orgin there is a post somewhere so photo's of wild animals eatting rattle snakes and such. I would have to look for the post but I'm pretty sure it's just north of brazil. If the red wood you are using is the same stuff as the red cypress mulch that can be purchased from home depot/lowes I'd get rid of it asap. If not I'm not sure what it is. 6month of age and a hopper mouse a day seems a little off to me. I'd highly suggest using other food items mixed in. Just ensure the tegu has little to no folds on it's sides and it's weight should be right around where it should be. Good luck with the little guy!
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John Light

I never thought they looked like Colombians, LOL. However, I've never read/seen/heard of anyone classifying them as Argentines and I've only seen literature classifying them as T. teguixin. Personally, I think them as separately altogether, but no one asks me what I think. I'd like to see them with a subspecies designation in either T. teguixin or T. merianae.

I want to thank you folks for all of the input. It's very much appreciated.

There is obviously some misconceptions and/or notions regarding their point of origin and/or locality. It appears that thus far nobody has any hard facts regarding such. I am not referring to those of you with input on the subject, but in general as I have heard.

At any rate, I would love to see and hear a lot more regarding their locality/point of origin. It's very interesting!

There is definitely a lot of disagreement in the scientific community! I'm not making any negative comments about Serpent Coil's message when I say that, but the contrast in our posts does show the controversy out there. The Blue looks like the Argentine, but shares a lot of behaviors of the Colombian, so it's difficult to place. The interest in tegus is relatively new, so it will take some time to sort things out.

In the meantime, enjoy your wonderful creature! I'm hearing so much of little tegus with MBD this year, make sure you have good UVB lighting. By the way, as for feeding, I feed my young ones as much as they will eat in one sitting, every day. At the end of the feeding, they look fat, no wrinkles, but they have that longitudinal fold the next day. I slow down as they get older (about 2yo) and feed every other day so they don't get obese (rather common in adult tegus).

Another quick note....

I did some quick checking and apparently redwood is on the list with cedar and pine as no-no substrates. I'm not sure why, though. I'm in FL and have never even seen a redwood, LOL! Cypress is so cheap here that I can get it for less than $2 a huge bag. Sounds like you're on the west coast. Can you get eucalyptus or orchid?

Contact Rick at www.thetegu.com he knows far more about this subject, he even has comparison pics. There is no guess, he knows exactly where they are from. If I remember correctly it's a place just north of brazil. They could of easily been illegally exported out of brazil, much debate on this subject has stayed hush hush.
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John Light

If you can contact Rick, you get the grand prize!!

He's been out of the picture for quite a while. I don't even think he's breeding any more. If you really want the first hand story, contact Ron St. Pierre. I'm sure he's the guy that gave Rick his info, and his tegus. He had some breeding issues the past couple of years, but he's very well known for his work with blues, snows, and albinos.

While all of these guys may be knowledgeable about the ins and outs of tegus, they are not necessarily the scientific community that sets taxonomy. That group is in a world of academia that is not quite the same as common herpetoculture.

Ron either didn't know or wouldn't comment on the locality of the blues. He was the original one to import them. Dealing with importers can be fishy, they will take animals from places like brazil that can't be exported out of and go to another close by place and send them out.
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John Light

went back into some forum pages (30 or so) and found all the information Rick at Thetegu.com wrote. I don't think he'll mind me posting this. here it is:

The Argentine Tegus are found throughout Argentina, but most of the ones in the pet trade are from the cooler middle to southern parts of Argentina. These tegus hibernate during the winter when it is cooler. The main central area of Argentine is hot and humid during the summer (December to February) and cool in the winter.

The Blue Tegus however, are not seen in these areas. They have not been noted in the wild in Colombia either. These animals are known to be less cold tolerant than Argentine Tegus as well. Currently there is no scientifically given species name for this tegu. When seen, they appear very much to be Argentine Black & White Tegus (T.merianae), but with a trained eye you can see the visual differences. Upon closer inspection you will also see that the scale meristics do not match any of the currently described species of Tupinambis.

What are Blue Tegus? Where are they from? Until now it has been unknown. Mostly because they do so closely resemble T.merianae that when spotted or photographed in the wild, they were assumed to be an already described species. Recently some photos of a blue tegu eating a rattlesnake have surfaced. The photos were taken by French speaking photographer, Daniel Heuclin. I contacted Mr. Heuclin with a series of questions, which after some time I received the reply I had been waiting for. The reply to my main question, if you are reading this.. It's your question too... "Where is the Blue Tegu from?"

Well, we now have the answer, from a man, a photographer, beyond repute. A gentleman with nothing to gain or loose from the truth. His answer.. French Guiana!

Mr. Heuclin took these two pictures in French Guiana, which is a territory of France in South America, located east of Suriname and directly above Brazil.

The Blue Tegus range may extend into Brazil & Suriname, but this has not yet been documented.

The weather in French Guiana is completely different from Argentina. In French Guiana the weather and climate is Tropical. The dry season is from August to December; The rainy season is from December to January and April to July. It is hot all year round, with cooler nights. Average temperature in French Guiana is 27°C (85°F).

This would explain why Blue Tegus are not as cold tolerant as the Argentine Tegus. This also explains why it is believed that Blue Tegus do not require hibernation. It is my opinion based on the above information that Blue Tegus brumate rather than hibernate, much like the Ball Pythons. Unlike hibernation where temps are dropped and food intake is stopped, in brumation the daytime temps remain the same and the night time temps can be dropped slightly. Food intake does not need to be modified.

We now have a more detailed name: French Guiana Blue Tegu

Pics are available from this post:

http://thetegu.com/postt3082.html
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John Light

Thanks, everyone! It's all been very much appreciated. I actually ran across that same writing from Rick as well. It's all very interesting. I believe I was checking out TeguTalk, and ran across several pieces on the subject; Evidently it's a very heated topic. At any rate, it's great having a point of origin and/or locality for the blue tegus. Whatever they are, they're awesome! Thanks again for all of the input. I intend on researching more, if possible. I'm going to change out his substrate this weekend as well...

Great info...and kudos to you for patiently searching!

I know I'm probably being annoying, but I just have to split hairs on this one. Reptiles do not hibernate. It's a metabolic process reserved for mammals. Reptiles brumate. I know a lot of people use the terms interchangeably, but it's not scientifically accurate. If you think of the Colombian tegus, they slow down for the winter, probably because of the cooler weather, but they do not brumate like the Argentines.

Sorry, I'm not picking at you, Serpent's Coil. It's a really interesting post to hear about the origination and photography of the blue tegu. I guess the science teacher in me just couldn't leave the brumation/hibernation part left alone.

Wrong.

Argentine tegus hibernate. Blue tegus brumate.

If Bert Langerwerf says they hibernate, they hibernate. His qualifications speak for themselves and there is no argument.

Have you ever seen the lifeless, deathlike body of an Argentine tegu in hibernation?

Probably not.

Bill

Intersting. Do the Argentine's ever drink or eat at all during this "hibernation" period? If so, then it's a brumation (as I suspect) and not a true hibernation such as bears. I always thought reptiles brumate and mammals hibernate, scientifically speaking. I was speaking with the late Bert last year regarding the black & whites, and I cannot remember if he said that they ate or drank during the cool down period. I do believe this got off the beaten path however of this post. Perhaps a new post regarding the hibernation or brumation aspect is next?

I started a new thread, sorry I hijacked your other one. Well, I only have one sleeping tegu right now (yes, I have actually seen it, LOL!). I live in FL where the weather gets warm throughout the winter. She hasn't eaten since Aug, but when warm weather comes through, like last week, she will wake up and bask for a few days and drink some water. Then she goes back down again.