Environmental differences between blues and B&Ws?

[starksark]

Okay, I'm trying to get a handle on blues, but they seem to be hard to research, so I'm going to go lazy and just ask.

Blues seem to be smaller, which seems like they would be easier to sell to city-dwellers (hence the popularity of chihuahuas, which I don't get . . .) Are there environmental differences that make them less bred? Do they hibernate, handle the cold, handle the heat, etc. as well as Black & white's, or do they need special care? As I can't figure out exactly where they come from, I'm at a loss here.

Thanks!

Crystal

 

[DaveDragon]

They're just one version of a B&W. From what I've heard there was a clutch of 6 to 8 imported about 8 years ago. No others have been imported so they're fairly rare. Current hatchlings would be 2nd generation captive bred. There is a very small gene pool while brings up the issue of inbreeding. Since they are only the second generation (and if not bred brother to sister) I don't think this is an issue right now. There are plenty of reptiles that are "line bred", breading brother to sister, to bring out certain traits. Ball Pythons and Bearded Dragons are some of them.

Of the possible few hundred in existence it seems not many people have breeding pairs. Tegu's also don't always produce eggs every year. So the number of Blue Tegu hatchlings available is very low. I've heard from one breeder that he only knows of 5 clutches hatched this years, including ours. There are still some available if you're interested.

Our male & female Blue's are 3.5 feet long and about 3.75 lbs, quite a bit smaller than a B&W. We recently sold a 18 month old female B&W which was about 39" long and 5 to 6 lbs, and still had more growing to do. Our Blue's fit comfortably in their 7ft x 3ft enclosures. A 4 to 5 foot lizard would be cramped. They seem to handle the heat and cold just the same as a B&W, but I think they may have originated in a more northern (warmer) climate and don't fully hibernate, and possibly can't handle the same cold temps as a B&W. During the winter they may sleep for a day or 2 and be up a day or 2. Or big male Red has been down for over 2 months in the same room.

 

[MMRR - jif]

Dave has offered some great information on Blue Tegus but I just have to correct his time line. It has been at least 10 years since the Blue Tegus were imported, probably 1997-8. Ron St. Pierre has photos on his website of Blues that are dated the year 1998. I was keeping Blue Tegus in 2001 and hatched a partial clutch in the year 2003 so this year's hatchlings could actually be 4th, maybe even 5th, generation.

 

[mr.tegu]

thats awsome mmrr,, keep up the good work,sweet looking tegu pic to.