agama international tegus

I owned an Argentine Black & White Tegu for seven years back in the 70's. She was an absolutely wonderful pet. I got her when I was working in a zoo while I was in college. She was an unexpected extra that came in with a shipment of reptiles from South America. They didn't have a place to keep her, and had had some bad experiences with some Columbian tegus. So, because of her large size and lack of knowledge about the Argentine tegus, the full-time staff were afraid of her. I thought she was a cool looking lizard. The fellow who ran the place told me if I thought I could tame her, I could have her. I went that evening to the university library and read everything I could find about tegus. I found a couple of articles about the Black & White tegus that talked about their intelligence and how they were easily tamed. The next day, I took him up on his offer.

She turned out to be much easier to tame and take care of than I could ever have imagined. She was very responsive to handling and seemed to like attention. I named her "Skeezix". She was 4 ft. 9 in. long and weighed about six pounds. Her intelligence amazed me. She seemed to have about the same intelligence and similar disposition as a good cat. She learned her name and would come when you called her (if she thought there was something to gain from it). In just one afternoon, I taught her to walk on a leash. I would take her outside almost every afternoon and let her crawl around and explore. After a couple of months, I realized that she had housebroken herself, on her own. She would scratch on the door to be let out. She was very curious and would very often go to investigate a noise or something she saw, people included.

Because of her size, and being housebroken, I let her run loose in the house most of the time in warm weather. She would often crawl up in my lap and root under my hand, like a cat, wanting to be scratched and rubbed. She really loved to have the top of her head and her back rubbed. I had a cat then and they got to be pretty good friends, often sleeping on the sofa or in my Lazy Boy together. She was gentle and completely trustworthy and never snapped at or bit anyone. Several times, I was invited to bring her, and a boa constrictor I had, to local elementary schools and I would to talk give a talk to the kids about the value of reptiles in nature and debunk a lot of the myths about them. And I would let them look at and touch Skeezix and the boa. But, the favorite with the kids (and me also) was always the tegu.

She was very good to travel with. I took her with me to many different places. She liked to lay up on the dashboard and stretch out and look around. We got some funny and surprised looks from people at redlights, especially when Skeezix would stick her head out the window looking around while flipping her tongue out. However, almost everyone that met her would end up liking her when they saw how gentle, intelligent, clean and responsive she was. Sometimes I would take her places in a wicker basket similar to a picnic hamper. She never fussed or caused a ruckus when I put her in the basket.

Her varied diet was also a surprise to me. I knew that she would eat meat, eggs, bugs, mice and such, but I learned that she also liked fruit, vegetables (cooked and raw), dog or cat food, melted ice cream, and even bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. There were very few normal people foods that she wouldn't eat.

My experience with the Argentine Black & White tegu is that they make a fantastic pet and are a truly unique member of the reptile world. I am looking forward to owning another one (or two).

Thanks Mr. Baker for sending us this email! To our readers, please send us your comments as well.

The differences discussed below apply to Argentine Black & White tegus and all Columbian tegus. Thus with "Columbian tegu" I mean any tegu coming from Columbia, and with "Argentine tegu" I mean the Argentine Black & White tegu. Now let's talk about the scientific name of this tegu. It used to be called Tupinambis teguixin until not too long ago. But their new name is Tupinambis merianae. The Columbian tegus are now called Tupinambis teguixin. There is a definite biological difference between these two species. One difference, among many, is that the Argentine tegu, T. merianae, has two loreal scales while the Columbian tegu, T. teguixin, has only one (see diagram below). The Argentine Black & White tegu is also called the giant tegu, as it is the largest tegu in the world.
Also easily observed is the difference in skin types. The Argentine Black & White tegu has a beaded skin, like that of a gila monster or an anolis. The Columbian tegus have very smooth scales that completely cover the animal. The Columbian tegus are smooth, like a skink almost. The Argentine Black & White tegus also have two linear arrays of yellow dots, one on each side of its back, running from the neck to the beginning of the tail . Those yellow dots form two clearly visible lines on the Argentine tegu's back. The Columbian tegus lack such lines. A non-scientific way to tell a Columbian tegu from an Argentine Black & White tegu is by knowing the purchasing price of the tegu you are looking at. If the price is around $100 or less (most likely $50), than you have a Columbian tegu. Also, by probability theory, the odds of seeing a Columbian tegu are much higher than the odds of seeing an Argentine tegu, simply because the Argentine tegu is much rarer and impossible to export from Argentina.

Our Argentine tegus are the largest tegus of South America, reaching more than four feet in length. Having kept in captivity both the Argentine and Colombian tegus, I can say that the Argentine tegus are also less jumpy than the Colombian ones. Furthermore, the Argentine Giant tegus are cold tolerant and can even be placed in hibernation. Thus no expensive heating devices are needed to keep the Argentine Giant tegu healthy in captivity; they can be kept outside in many places. A very important thing to note is that these Argentine Giant tegus are very intelligent and thus also much more easily tamed than Columbian tegus. Important too is the fact that our Argentine tegus do not only eat meat as the Colombian tegus do, but also a lot of fruits, vegetables, cat-foods, and breads. If your tegu does not eat anything besides meat products, it is most likely a Columbian tegu of some sort.

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If your goal is to get a tame tegu we recommend that you start out with a young tegu as those are most easily tamed. It has been found that the Argentine tegus (T. merianae and T. rufescens) are the most tamable of all tegus in the world. We also have a few Columbian tegus (Tupinambis teguixin) kept inside. But even though they see us everyday they keep being jumpy and frequently slam their tails on the glass or into the water bowl making a big mess. Our Argentine B/W tegus we also see daily, but they are never afraid of us or anybody else visiting our place. They either stay where they are, sleeping or basking, or come closer to you sticking their tongues out to investigate. This suggests that they are the tamer tegus of South America. Furthermore, Bert went to Argentina to film the tegus there and had no problem photographing them in the wild. They even were in some city parks. There are plenty of stories going around about Argentine Black & White Tegus stealing fishbait AND lunch from fishermen! Bert also witnessed the tegus in the park begging for food from picnickers, just like squirrels do in New York or L.A., for example. Our good friend Dick Bartlett (author of many Barron herp books) told us that he had the greatest difficulties photographing any of the Columbian tegus when he was in Columbia. He could not approach them at all, as the Columbian tegus ran away once they got a glimpse of him (or anybody else). Thus under similar circumstances, both in nature and in captivity, the Columbian tegus behave more frightened of humans and are therefore far less tame than the Argentine tegus. That is why we believe that the Argentine Black & White Tegus are the most tamable tegus of the world!

In 1989, I received my first group of Argentine black and white tegus. Comparing the temperate climate in Argentina with the climate in Alabama, where I now live, I felt that Argentine tegus could be kept and bred here outdoors. The key would be to design large outdoor terraria in such a way that the microclimate would be similar to the one found where these lizards naturally occur.

The southern-most point of its range in Argentina is 41"S latitude. Outside the country of Argentina, this lizard occurs in portions of Uruguay and Brazil.

The Argentine black and white tegu is a versatile lizard. It ranges from tropical Amazonia south to more temperate regions that have moderate temperatures and cold winters. I chose to try to duplicate the climate of Victoria in the mid-north of the province of La Pampa, at 36"13'S and 65"26'W. This region of Argentina is temperate, and it is also home to the red tegu (T. rufescens).

In the county of Uruguay, the Argentine black and white tegu lives in stony meadows, river valleys and in the mountains. Both Dr. F. Achaval and Dr. J. Cei state that this tegu is an excellent swimmer, and that, if threatened, it can stay under water for a long time.

According to Achaval (1977), its food consists mainly of insects, snails, bird eggs, fruits, and vegetables. Dr. Cei (1986) writes that this lizard eats birds, small mammals, insects, mollusks, fish, amphibians, and fruit. Claudia Mercolli and Alberto Yanosky describe the food more extensively in the Journal of the British Herpetocultural Society (1994, vol. 4). They examined the stomach contents of 70 Argentine black and white tegus (bought from hide-hunters) in northeastern Argentina. They found that 66.8 % of the stomach contents consisted of vegetable matter; 12.9 % were invertebrates; and 20.3 % were vertebrates. This stands in contrast to what herpetoculturists tend to feed their tegus: almost 100% rodents and eggs. Dr. Fred Frye (1981) warns that the overuse of infertile bird eggs, such as readily available chicken eggs, can result in a lack of biotin.

These tegus can hibernate. The life cycle of the Argentine black and white tegu in my outdoor enclosure has been extremely interesting to observe. In the middle of August, when it is still hot here in Alabama, they start to refuse food and begin preparing their burrows for hibernation. They tend to all dig and prepare one large sleeping chamber. In the middle of September, they are all inside that chamber despite temperatures of 80 to 90 F during the day. The tegus close the burrow from the inside with earth. Any time during the winter when I open this to check it, they closed it again with earth afterwards. They stay in this burrow or chamber for 6 months to emerge again, covered by dirt and mud, in mid-March. It is not until April that they resume feeding. They have a 4 month activity burst in April, May, June, and July. During this time, they eat all they can find and catch.

The first reproduction I observed with captives of this species was at 3 years of age. The sub adult female produces about 36 eggs, which hatch after 3 months under natural conditions. The neonate Argentine tegus were shiny green and about 3.1 inches in SVL (snout vent length) and 7.8 inches in TL (total length).

The average SVL of the hatchlings was 3.5 inches, and average TL was 9.3 inches. In the first two months of life, young Argentine tegus exhibit an interesting behavior. If caught and handled, their tail starts vibrating in a manner not unlike that of some colubrid snakes. My juvenile Argentine black and white tegus regularly accept crickets, mealworms, and pinkie mice. They grow quite quickly in outdoor vivaria with exposure to natural sunlight in Alabama. At 19 days after hatching they start shedding their skin and their green color begins to fade. At 1 month of age, the green color is almost gone. At 32 days old, the length of one was 5.1 inch SVL and 14.6 inch TL. At 2 months of age, one tegu was 5.8 inch SVL and 16.3 inch TL and weighed 5 oz. (142 gram).

In May 1995, I observed a gravid female busily moving material to its nesting site. In 30 years of breeding lizards of many different families, I have never before observed a lizard using nesting material not already in the nest hole. These lizards were making nests as crocodilians do!

If you have future breeding in mind, then know what animals you need to purchase. Most tegus sold in the pet trade are no longer suitable for future breeding.

For future breeding in the USA or Europe, you need to get Arg tegus, which were born in the northern hemisphere, say in the USA or Europe.

Furthermore, if you buy older animals, you must be 100% sure that they had their hibernations. All of them, also the first winter!

I mention this especially, as almost everyone I sell Arg tegus to, asks me what to do to keep their tegus from hibernating.

Arg tegus, imported from the southern hemisphere, are also not suitable for future breeding, unless a very complicated scheme of cycling to the northern hemisphere is done, which is impossible to do for most people, and difficult for people who keep them outdoors in the right climate. In the USA Arg tegus are born in July and August. So, baby tegus purchased in July/August/September are born in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere Arg tegus are born in January/February. So, baby tegus offered for sale in the Spring time are imported tegus from the southern hemisphere and not suitable for future breeding.

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Visual Comparisons of T. merianae and T. Teguixin