Sexing tegus (long)...

Englishtegu · Valued Member Joined: Jul 13, 2005 Posts: 111 Location: UK

ok. I have my 'pair' of CB04 merianae sourced from Bert at Agama Intl.

Animal 1. Larger overall (around 4 feet) with larger-looking head in proportion to body and much more jowly. Brighter black/white contrast. More confident and outgoing. Bumps near tailbase pronounced.

Animal 2. Same age but smaller (around 3 and a half feet). Head smaller in relation to body, less jowly, duller colours. More shy. Bumps near tail base much less pronounced.

Sounds like a sexed pair...

The female is roaming around my reptile room yesterday and poops on the carpet (not as funny as it sounds!). After, she drags her tail base on the carpet, and leaves a twin trail of whitish/translucent glutinous 'stuff'. To me these would be sperm plugs, making my she a he....However, I am fairly new to tegus, so just wanted to check....

Any thoughts? Also, the male has just started play mounting the 'female'.
Could 'she' just be a subordinate male?

Thanks,
Mark.

tupinambis · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 7:10 am Post subject:

Yep.
Bumps at the base of tail is male. Females simply don't have anything.

Englishtegu · Valued Member Joined: Jul 13, 2005 Posts: 111 Location: UK

Thanks Tupinambis. I've been told that females still have the bumps, but that they are much less pronounced. Is this definately not true?

Mark.

VARNYARD · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 1:33 pm Post subject:

Ok, here are some pics that will help. I just took these of an adult female.
Also click on the link below for the same shot of a male. The answer is no, I have never seen a female with them.

Here are pictures of her, so you can see what a full grown adult female looks like. This is The dark lady.

This is the link here to a adult male.

http://thetegu.com/postlite819-sexing.html

I hope this helps!

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Teiidae · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:04 pm Post subject:

It posted twice - deleted the latter...
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tupinambis · Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2006 3:32 pm Post subject:

I'm certainly in agreement with Varnyard. I've never seen a female with bumps, ever, and I've seen a LOT of females. You do get sub males that don't show the secondary sexual characteristics that look like females, and contrary to what a lot of religious figures will tell you, homosexuality is actually quite common in nature. Not to say that's quite what was going on, maybe the larger male was just asserting his dominance. Keep a close eye on them, you don't want them fighting.

Englishtegu · Valued Member Joined: Jul 13, 2005 Posts: 111 Location: UK

ok, thanks guys. Looks like I have two males. I was so convinced that the second animal was female, but the evidence is staring me in the face.

I will start searching for a female. Wish me luck!

Cheers
Mark.

Ezekiel · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 2:24 pm Post subject:

hey, i just got my first B/W Argentine but im still having trouble telling what sex it is even after looking at your pics. its about 2ft6 ,less jowly than most but may have tiny spurs or it may be just the way the skin roles. I dont have any idea of its age so any input on that would be great.Any idea on what size and age you can visably see the spurs would be good aswell, thanx.

Teiidae · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject:

Most accurate way would be to have it probed - Around 2.5-3 foot is when the cloacal spurs are more visible on the male...

Try to look past the smiley panda "For Rick"

http://thetegu.com/public/cloacal%20spurs.jpg
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Rick · Posted: Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject:

The cloacal spurs/bumps are on the male of the tegu species. Not on the female. I have heard from many people that Ron has stated females have the bumps too, but I have never seen the bumps on my females. In my opinion a female with smaller bumps is just a less mature male that will grow in time to have larger bumps. They can be the same age and one still be smaller. I have seen one hatchling grow to 3+ feet in a year while another from the same clutch hit only 14".

Rick
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Ezekiel · Posted: Thu Jun 22, 2006 6:01 am Post subject:

cheers guys but i can still only guess at the sex of my tegu. i'll just have to wait and see. Im gonna get my mate to try and sex it this week he know's alot more than i do.