Argentine and Colombian Tegu growth

aznboi409 · Member Joined: Jun 12, 2005 Posts: 47

Back in June of 05 i bought a Colombian Tegu witch was about 15 inch long. When October came, he was about 20inch long till the little thing got lose and now is currently living in the wild. I bought my Argentine Tegu recently about 1 month ago. He was 10 inches when I got him and had alot of green on him. Today is his 1 month with me. He has grown extremely rapidly. He is at 19 inches. How is that possible???!! My Colombian took over 4 months just to get 5 inches and my Argentine only took 1 month and probably a week witch nearly beat my Colombian in longest and size. That is crazy. Any comments?

Teiidae · Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2005 6:55 pm Post subject:

I got my Black back in mid March at 14 inches - This past weekend he measured at 26 inches, so a growth rate of 12 inches in 8 months.
My Argentine hatched July 4th at around 6 inches "I believe", and was 9 inches a few weeks later when I received him - He is now 24 inches at 4 months old.

With the Argentine B&W's generally being the largest of the Tegu's, and with the majority of their growth happening in the 1st 1-1.5 years "without hibernating" - Seems reasonable to me IMO...
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CamDaLizardMan18 · Member Joined: Aug 12, 2005 Posts: 49

thats very strange to me be cause my argentine b&w is about 4 months and 2 weeks old and is only about 9-10 inches

what is the deal? is my tegu a midget or something im afaid that she is not healthy

but she looks, acts, eats, and poos fine so why is she so small???
is it because she is a female?

someone please help me

thanks much
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Teiidae · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:15 pm Post subject:

Females are generally smaller, and there is always the possibility of being a runt - maybe just a late bloomer and nothing is wrong at all - possibly I just got the male Beast of the hatchlings...
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drfish · Posted: Wed Nov 16, 2005 12:16 pm Post subject:

It's all down to husbandry at the end of the day. It goes to prove, that the right heat, enclosure, feeding, exercise, and general day to day looking after do make a difference. Obviosuly each Tegu has it's own body chemistry, but it's fairly safe to use averages based on other peoples experiences.

Mine for example, was supposedly fully grown when I bought him, at a guesstimate age of 2 years, and 38" long. Yet in the last year, he has grown another 10", and is about 6 pounds heavier.

To me this suggests that he was in fact more like 18months old, not 2 years. 6 months can make a lot of difference.

Go figure !

Shan · Honored Member Joined: Jul 26, 2005 Posts: 155

My tegu was born July 4th also. But he is no monster. I noticed once he was put into his 6 ft. enclosure and the temps were better in there than in the 20 gal long. He started to grow a lot more he is about 19 inches now and getting bigger every day. His appetite has gotten bigger too. This is Gooch I got him from Rick!

CamDaLizardMan18 · Member Joined: Aug 12, 2005 Posts: 49

so does that mean i should finish up my 6 ft enclosure and get her all set up?

she might like it better, i see her (when she is raoming about in her cages)pressing against the glass and pasing back and forth to see how big her cage is but i would think whe would know how big it is by now.

and what are the best types of heat sources? that may be a factor as well
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drfish · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:51 am Post subject:

6' may be a bit on the big side for a 10" lizard. It could basically compund the problem, as any move would. In a 6' enclosure, you may find your Tegu looks a tad lost, and doesn't settle properly. I wouldn't move up to 6' until he/she is about 18"+

jb · Honored Member Joined: Sep 01, 2005 Posts: 201

My Columbian black started out as a hatchling about 9" and he shed every 3 weeks for about 6 months-it ate everything offered-actually attacking my hand to get to the food from his cave. Now he is slightly obese and brumating for the last 3 weeks. My last measure was a couple months ago but he was 34" TL. So he grew like mad in his first year. No experience with Argentines. I always kept Columbian in a 75 gallon terrarium tank with cypress mulch, good UV and basking spot of 115F. Ambient temps usually about 80-85 during day and 78 at night. Until brumation he has been thriving and growing.

Shan · Honored Member Joined: Jul 26, 2005 Posts: 155

Gooch seemed to do fine in the large enclosure but he also had 3 hides and two water sources. With an underground den being one of the hides. He did ok with it. But he has become a little more skittish. I am not sure if that is the rite word to use. He now seems to act like he is about 20 ft. long and tries to scare me every once in a while. This started when I put him in the larger cage. He is still very calm once I get him out. So it could be good and bad. I guess it depends on how you look at it.