What happens to all the untame/aggressive tegus?

[Miranda2]

Ive been to quite a few reptile expos and have seen plenty of 50 dollar gold or black and white teguixins being sold.
I dont see many people with adults on the message boards but do see lots of people with baby or juveniles asking for advice on taming. So what happens to all these tegus later on?
So what happens if I cant get mine tamed down? What do others do?

Personally Im not sure what I will do. I dont need him to be cuddly I just want to be able to clean his cage without getting chomped and be able to let him out for exercise..Maybe be able to tranfer him to an outdoor cage in summer for some real sunshine.Give a reasonably good life without risking mine
BTW how long do these guys live?

 

[Walter1]

Well, the answer is sD. They get pawned off on the unsuspecting or given to reptile shelters. 10-15 years about right. Probably somewhat longer with good care.

before purchase doesn't solve it all but helps a lot.

 

[Miranda2]

Pawned off sounds about right, like all those crazy iguanas.
I think the problem with research before buying is that you see all these people saying they are untameable but you hold on to that one or two that have the tame ones and brag about how tame they are, then one thinks, oh I can be one of the lucky ones that can tame them down.
Then reality sets in...

 

[Walter1]

Yes, sadly like green iggies. Price drops, sales go up, then malnourished and/or mishandled and some naturally agressive males get dumped. I've kept green iggies since the arly 1990s. I like them so much that my general advice to people is don't get one. Cheap animal isn't necessarily an easy animal.

T. teguixin is the Comumbian Tegu, often given confusingly similar names to the Argentine, T. merianae. Often on purpose. A handsome beautiful species but way on average much more high strung than an Argie.

I hope the price stays high on Argies for the good of all. Fewer orphans.

If yours is an Argie, they rarely do not settle down. Soon as they see you don't hurt them, they quickly come around. Of my three, the least friendly is the male, and he's just indifferent. The two females more interactive with me.