Albino/ Snow Tegu

[Guest]

Hey everyone let me know what you think. :shock:

 

[juggernaut]

Where'd you get him?

 

[Chuey]

I think you shouldn't albino a tegu....

 

[chelvis]

Nice looking tegu, just watch the lighting with these guys. Too much light and UV can really damage their eye sight, then again too little and your flirting with MBD. I had a female albino, nasty temper and had to hand feed her.

 

[VARNYARD]

There is no such thing as a snow tegu, they are all Albinos, and there is no such thing as an Albino tegu that is not already blind. They all are blind the day they hatch from the shell.

 

[Wil]

There is no such thing as a snow tegu, they are all Albinos, and there is no such thing as an Albino tegu that is not already blind. They all are blind the day they hatch from the shell.

Are you saying that they are completely blind and can't see anything? If that is what you are saying then I would have to disagree.

 

[VARNYARD]

What I am saying, is every one that I have known of has been 110% blind right out of the shell. Wil, you can disagree if you wish, but that is the facts. I do not know of one that is not blind.

 

[Wil]

They are not 110% blind. What exactly are you basing your facts on?
Now am I saying that they have 20/20 vision? No, they don't. If anything I would compare them to being legally blind. There has to be some vision present to react to shadows and objects, but thats just my observations.

 

[VARNYARD]

I had a guy argue about that point a while back, he said that his tegu seen his food. But he tried what I asked then agreed with me. I asked him to hold a rat on the outside of the glass, to see if his albino would try to take the rat through the glass. He did not, he could not see the food, and fed by smell only.

I would ask anyone that has one that they claim can see, to take the glass challenge, and make a video of an albino trying to take a rat through the glass, until then all that I have ever seen are in fact blind.

 

[Wil]

That seems like an inconclusive test to me. I have tegus with normal sight that don't get that excited over food without the association of the smell. I have watched my albino react to my shadow and come towards a rake that I use to get the food dishes when I'm too lazy to go into the enclosure. I have seen him chase females around the enclosure. How can he do that if he is completely blind?

 

[eddyjack]

Very nice tegu, can't figure arguing with Bobby Hill though. Don't know of anyone more knowledgable than Bobby, pretty sure he has devoted his life to these amazing critters. Non the less try the glass method and please let us know.

 

[Wil]

Since when did stating ones observations and first hand experience become arguing? How exactly is the glass method going to prove anything when I already stated that he reacts to shadows? I have not nor will I ever claim that they have perfect vision, but I am also not going to say they are completely blind.

 

[eddyjack]

Perhaps because Bobby told us that they react to smell? I'm just saying, try it, whats to hurt?

 

[Wil]

All tegus react to smell.

 

[eddyjack]

Have ya tried the glass method yet??? Cause if he can't smell it and can't SEE it, there ya go! If he try's to get it through the glass, well then you will be RIGHT!

 

[eddyjack]

And PLEASE, let us know how it turns out.

 

[Wil]

Let me try to explain myself a little better. The reason that the glass test doesn't prove anything is because of this: As stated earlier, their vision is not good, placing a food item outside of the glass just means they can't focus on or clearly see the item. By doing this there is no changes in shadows, which seems to be what they react to the most.
Basically, what your telling me is that if you take someone who is legally blind and put them behind a sheet of glass and wave a cheese burger in front of them and because they can't smell it and they can't tell that it is a cheeseburger you have in your hand, they are blind and can't see at all?

 

[VARNYARD]

Well Wil, the tongue and jacobson organ are how they chase females and find food.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://chemistry.about.com/cs/medical/a/aa051601a.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://chemistry.about.com/cs/medical/a/aa051601a.htm</a><!-- m -->

While snakes and other reptiles flick substances into Jacobson's organ with their tongues, several mammals (e.g., cats) exhibit the Flehmen reaction. When 'Flehmening', an animal appears to sneer as it curls its upper lip to better expose the twin vomeronasal organs for chemical sensing. In mammals, Jacobson's organ is used not simply to identify minute quantities of chemicals, but also for subtle communication between other members of the same species, through the emission and reception of chemical signals called pheromones.

Read this about garter snakes:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/w/watson-organ.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/w/watson-organ.html</a><!-- m -->

The vomeronasal organ (VNO), or Jacobson's organ, is an auxiliary olfactory sense organ that is found in many animals. It was discovered by Frederik Ruysch and later by Ludwig Jacobson in 1813.[1]

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobson%27s_Organ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobson%27s_Organ</a><!-- m -->

The vomeronasal organ (VNO), or Jacobson's organ, is an auxiliary olfactory sense organ that is found in many animals. It was discovered by Frederik Ruysch and later by Ludwig Jacobson in 1813.[1]

During embryological development, it forms from the nasal (olfactory) placode, at the anterior edge of the neural plate (cranial nerve zero). It is a chemoreceptor organ which is completely separated from the nasal cavity the majority of the time, being enclosed in a separate bony or cartilaginous capsule which opens into the base of the nasal cavity. It is a tubular crescent shape and split into two pairs, separated by the nasal septum. It is the first processing stage of the accessory olfactory system, after which chemical stimuli go to the accessory olfactory bulb, then to targets in the amygdala and hypothalamus.

The vomeronasal organ is mainly used to detect pheromones, chemical messengers that carry information between individuals of the same species, hence is sometimes referred to as the "sixth sense." The VNO has two separate types of neuronal receptors, V1R and V2R, which are seven-transmembrane receptors that are coupled to G proteins. The receptors are distinct from each other and form the large family of receptors in the main olfactory system.[2] Evidence shows that the VNO responds to nonvolatile cues which stimulate the receptor neurons. Information is then transferred to the accessory olfactory bulb as well as other centres of the brain such as the anterior part of the hypothalamus.

Its presence in many animals has been widely studied and the importance of the vomeronasal system to the role of reproduction and social behavior (through influence on anterior hypothalamus) has been shown in many studies. Its presence and functionality in humans is widely controversial, though most studies agree the organ regresses during fetal development.

I will also say this, creating albino basking lizards and gators is nothing but 110% wrong anyway. It is not right to breed to try to get handicap animals, it is sad that these animals must suffer for profit.

 

[eddyjack]

Op! Your right! My bad! So sorry, please proceed.

 

[eddyjack]

As I say, don't argue with the professional, and the professional is VarnYard