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Underground Reptiles Chacoan White headed Tegus Are they really giants?

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
I have been collecting trading large lizards for 24 years or more from water monitors to iguanas. I have been out of the tegu seen for 10 years and the whole Chacoan white headed aka gentle giants is something I never heard when I was younger. I used to own a 4 foot long male Argentine Tegu in 1998 - 2005 and man it was pretty big ( not as big as my white throat monitor). It roamed the apartment / house and pooped in a kitty liter box. I thought the Argentine B&W tegus were the biggest until I contacted Underground Reptiles and told me the Chocoans were even bigger. Now since I originally owned a big tegu years ago I had trouble in my mind thinking one could get bigger. Well call me smart or call me a sucker, I guess only time will tell if these guys will grow larger then the one I used to have. I am very impressed in the fact that Underground retiles will sex them at such a young age and I bought 1 male name Cruiser or Cruz ( he is still young ). I am not complaining at all about my purchase, but would like to know if you all have noticed any size difference or any difference at all in these Tegus.

Btw, this is my first post and its nice to be here :)
 

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Here is my 2 month old Male, Cruiser.
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I seem to trust these guys and every thing they say seems legit except the sizes. Check this out if you havnt.
 
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Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Nice! No doubt underground produces some of the rarest and prettiest tegus out there. But will these aka extreme giants really get larger then a Argentine? I will have my doubts till some one shows me some more evidence. Regardless I love these lil guys and yours looks like ( guessing by the looks a male, its really early to tell by looks ) he is growing very fast for his age. :) I am hopeing for some very pretty white and black contrast from these guys. I wonder if we have the same fathers lol What did you name him? And btw, the fact they can sex them %100 as hatchlings sealed the deal as my breeder of choice.
 

thatoneguy

Active Member
Messages
130
He came from the first group that hatched, probably related. He is a male and I named him Drogon. He is also starting to develop orange on his belly.
 

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Mine was purchased on July 28th and delivered on the 29th. When I talked to Ryan, he said they had a ton. Judgeing by the size of my hatchling, he is about 6 weeks old and so far I have no yellow at all on his belly. So far he is 100% black and white with of course the green on top which is wearing away every week. I personally dont want yellow. When did you start seeing Drogon get yellow on his bellie and if you get time would you post a pic please :) Thank you so much for the info on your tegu, may your stay healthy as can be. :p

Wait, I am so jelouse of your camera, your pics are so clear and detailed. Is that the yellow under his front limbs or maybe that is the light? A pic would be sweet as all hell .
 

thatoneguy

Active Member
Messages
130
The pictures are from my phone lol. I had delays in getting Drogon do to the temperature where I live and then He got delayed due to storms and got to spend an extra night in a box. I first noticed it about a week ago it's more orange then yellow. I've read it's genetic, but now that I think about it, it could also be the red rocks I have in the cage.
 

thatoneguy

Active Member
Messages
130
I'm sure he will, just make sure you got good lighting and vitamins. I alternate between a vitamin with D3 and straight calcium. So far I have been feeding him chicken hearts and gizzards, ground turkey, tilapia, and scrambled eggs. I mix I the vitamins and calcium right into the eggs when I scramble them. Also lots of gut loaded crickets. He is not a fan of superworms. He hasn't eaten any veggies or fruits yet just not interested in them. Sometimes I try and mix a little in with the scrambled eggs.
 

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Funny you should say that! I read all the warning about superworms, and I have fed him nothing but mealworms but he does not like them! I have 4 cups in the fridge he doesnt want. I remember how I grew my last one big and strong, Frozen mice! It seems to give them what they want and need. But I am not a nutritionist, just an observer. If any one eles is reading and there tegu likes superworms or mealworms Id love to hear back :)
 

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Wow! Yours is huge compared to mine lol. Mine is growing fast, just not that fast. Tegus grow like 10 times faster then iguanas lol. I have 1 red and 2 blue (axanthic) ones that are months older and my tegu is almost big enough to eat them. Meat eaters always seem to grow faster then herbivores. The guy at Tegusonly.com sells tegus like this and calls then fire bellies. :) So far mine has all white underneith and that is fine. I was hoping to get as much white as I could. When I put my hand in the aquarium mine will walk up on it which blew me away with him only being 2 months old. So far he has never tried to bite or nip at me, has yours? Also are you gonna try hand feeding? I am thinking about it, I just dont want him to get confused when he is older. I have no idea if these lil guys hurt when they bite, had a water monitor (even smaller) bite me on the thumb, wanna talk about pain, and the son of a gun would not let go.
 

thatoneguy

Active Member
Messages
130
Yeah tegus grow fast my GF had an iguana who is almost 2 years old and my tegu had almost caught up to her. Mine will jump and crawl up on my hands too, he's more interested in exploring then me though. I usually hand feed mine a few bites then let him do the rest. Sometimes I offer him food by hand and he just jumps on my arm and runs up my shoulder. I have put my finger in front of his face when it was covered in food juices, sometimes he ignores it, but he has bit me, but it didn't hurt pretty gentle and he doesn't do the head shake anymore when eating. I even hand feed him live crickets. I think he learned though not to bite my finger because he hasn't done it again.
 

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Thanks for the feed back. I am done with crickets for now. They are hard to keep and expensive. I usually buy 1000 at a time, but since it is always 100 degrees in Texas they dont live long, I will buy frozen mice today and I will attempt to feed him by hand since you say it dont hurt. I am guessing the water monitors either have a more powerful jaw or sharper longer teeth or all of the above cause that lil thing hurt and I was jumping uip in down in pain whil the dang thing clamped on. He held on to me for over a minute and blod was pouring out of my thumb and into hi mouth. Yours may get huge having that yellow in him. Some where down the line he got that gene. I think mine would have yellow now if he was ever gonna get it. I will take a pic of his belly when he wakes up. Here is a idea for you, buy different size PVC pipe to be used as caves for them, they love it.
 

thatoneguy

Active Member
Messages
130
Yeah crickets are a pain in the ass, I thought I was done with them too, but all of a sudden he isn't eating as much as usual, so I picked some more up. I have a couple hides but he prefers to dig under this big rock I have for his basking area. I'm sure when they get older getting bit would be a very unfortunate event
 

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Mine is a baby compared to yours lol. But he looks like he has just a white and black belly. I think I would have seen more color by now if it was gonna change. What are your thoughts?
 

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thatoneguy

Active Member
Messages
130
Well for mine it seemed to start appearing as the green started fading, so I think if it was gonna show up it would happen when he starts losing his baby color otherwise it won't happen.
 

Rud3dog

Member
Messages
47
Thanks guys. Pet stores in the Austin TX area want a ton of $ for frozen rodents. Petco/petsmart want$2-$2.50 per fuzzy, unfreaking believable. I will order a ton next week when I have more cash for the shipping costs. But for now I am looking for some thing not messy and easy to use to feed my tegu. I have 3 cans of meal worms and he doesnt even want any of them. Any ideas? Please dont judge me here, I really dont care to chop up nasty meat parts but will if needed till I get frozen mice. Btw, he doesnt really care much for fruit atm. He is a picky eater like his dad.
 

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