theTegu.com - Tegu information, photo gallery, forums, caresheets, diet & nutritional info, taming tips and more for the argentine black and white tegu, argentine red tegu, blue tegu, colombian black tegu and the colombian gold-phased black tegu. Tupinambis merianea, teguixin & rufescens.
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 1164 Location: panamacity florida
Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:22 am Post subject: Breeding tegus
Breeding tegus
Argentine tegus breed soon after they come out from hibernation. About three weeks to a month after they emerge from hibernation. The males begin to actively pursue the females. Copulation takes place for one to two weeks. The female will start to build a nest seven to ten days after this takes place. I have found that fine hay and leaves work great for nesting. Females will build a nest that is about three feet in diameter and two to three feet high. They like to build these nests under things. I use a piece of plywood leaned against the side of the enclosure. All other tegus must be removed when the female starts building the nest. Females become very aggressive at this time. They will attack anything that they perceives as a threat to their nest and eggs. They will also get aggressive with their keepers. Argentine tegus and the Blues are the only lizards in the world known to build a nest. The female builds a two part nest chamber. The bottom chamber is for the eggs, the top is a guarding chamber. Females tend to hold this aggression well after the eggs and nest are removed. I would not suggest putting her with any other tegus until time for hibernation begins again. They have been known to attack and kill other tegus. In my studies, they keep this guarding mode regardless of where they are. I have tried to put them in a separate enclosure for up to a month after laying. When I add another tegu they attack it on sight. They are best kept alone during this period. Bert Langerwerf has seen these same actions with his animals. He too has stated it is better to house them separate until time for hibernation to begin. Argentine Black and White tegus begin breeding here in Florida around mid March until mid April.
The ratio of more males than females insure a fertile clutch. If one male is used with one female the clutch tends to have a 50% fertility rate. It is best to have two males to one female, or three males to two females, or seven males to five females, this will greatly increase the fertility in the eggs. Males are very impressive animals, the look like they would be very aggressive towards each other. I have found that males get along quite well, even during the peak of the breeding season. It is strongly recommended that Argentine tegus hibernate if the are intended to breed. Bert Langerwerf claims that if these tegus miss a hibernation, they will be infertile and unable to produce viable young. The eggs are carried in the females system into hibernation. When she emerges, the male copulates and fertilizes the eggs, she lays her clutch and then starts to grow eggs in her body for the following year. Bert claims that they are useless for breeding if they miss one of these cycles of hibernation. Colombian tegus are not bred in the United States to any great extent that I know of. They are often times imported. They also do not require hibernation. I would tend to believe they would be more like the Ameivas and whiptails then the Argentine Reds, Argentine Black and Whites, or the Blue tegus. Gestation and removing the eggs.
The female will lay her eggs within days after completion of the nest. This period is about three to seven days after the nest is made. The female has been seen drinking vast quantities of water in dry conditions. It is believed that the female regurgitates water on the nest when it becomes to dry. Nests have been found to be more moist than the surrounding soil. Females can have between ten and seventy three eggs in one clutch. Bert Langerwerf recorded a single female lay seventy three eggs. The average clutch is around thirty eggs.
The female will be seen as quite thin after laying her clutch. At this time the eggs will need to be removed for incubation. Be sure not to rotate the eggs when removing them from the nest. It is also best to have the incubator already set up and the temperature and the humidity right. It is best to set up the incubator when you notice the female building the nest. _________________ www.tegu.com and www.Varnyard-herps-inc.com
I have a question. I have heard on the forums that Blues dont really hibernate in the wild. And I dont know for a fact that this is true or not, but I saw a post on here saying that. So do Blues need to hibernate every year to produce offspring? Or can they wait a couple years to gain size and then hibernate them a year or two prior?
All other tegus must be removed when the female starts building the nest. Females become very aggressive at this time. They will attack anything that they perceives as a threat to their nest and eggs.
We leave our tegus together during this time, and we rarely have any problems with the females attacking anything else. However, I will say Varnyard's warning does have value in that although we don't tend to see females attacking the others, we DO often see the males eating the eggs.
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The female has been seen drinking vast quantities of water in dry conditions. It is believed that the female regurgitates water on the nest when it becomes to dry. Nests have been found to be more moist than the surrounding soil.
Actually, it's the other end of the tegu the fluid comes from. A lot of reptiles urinate on their nests, particularly tortoises. Sometimes it's to soften the soil for easier digging, other times it's to provide moisture for the developing eggs.
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Be sure not to rotate the eggs when removing them from the nest.
It is best to be careful with the eggs, but tegu eggs can be rotated safely without damaging the developing embryo. We usually wash our tegu eggs after collecting them to minimize fungal contamination, a process that involves rolling them around and such, and it doesn't affect the viability of the eggs. It is in crocodilians and chelonians that the embryo adheres to the egg membrane and where rotating the egg damages them.
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I have a question. I have heard on the forums that Blues dont really hibernate in the wild. And I dont know for a fact that this is true or not, but I saw a post on here saying that. So do Blues need to hibernate every year to produce offspring? Or can they wait a couple years to gain size and then hibernate them a year or two prior?
The problem with this is Blues are not recognized as their own species, scientifically. So any report of Blues doing anything in the wild is purely conjectured. Currently, most scientists aware of the existence of Blues and having compared them claim them to be nothing more than a morph of Tupinambis merianae, however many hobbyists disagree. Breeding them under the same regimen as T.merianae seems to work. Rick has shown that you can avoid hibernating tegus for a season and can reset their cycles to breed with hibernating in subsequent years.
Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 972269 Location: Central Maine
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:54 pm Post subject:
tupinambis wrote:
We leave our tegus together during this time, and we rarely have any problems with the females attacking anything else. However, I will say Varnyard's warning does have value in that although we don't tend to see females attacking the others, we DO often see the males eating the eggs.
I have observed my female tegus become aggressive toward both male and female tegus as well, normally once the eggs laying starts. So now I place the females in a "nesting box" by themselves until the eggs are laid. I'll also note that even as friendly as my tegus are, the females will even attempt to attack me if they have laid eggs. Merely removing the eggs will not calm them either. I need to rip the nest apart and leave them in the nest box for awhile to get over the fact they something took it's eggs.
In the wild, I would think this behavior would be intended to keep males from raiding their nest.
I have not stuck my hand into a nest prior to egg laying, (for obvious reasons) but I will agree that the nest does often smell of tegu urine.
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 1164 Location: panamacity florida
Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:07 am Post subject:
I will also add to this. Bert has 60 separate enclosures for single bred females. He has also seen and knows that they will not only attack other tegus, but in fact try to kill them if they try to get anywhere near them or their nest. I have seen this as well.
I have had females and males both beaten up pretty bad from nesting females. I know what they can and will do.
Maybe I need Colin's females if they are not aggressive during nesting. But that is not the case with mine. It is like Rick stated, no matter how tame they are before breeding, they become very aggressive even towards me. I had one of my tame tegu females bite clean through a pair of rubber boots, I guess that would be proof enough for me.
If you intend to breed your females be prepared to have a separate enclosure set up. You will need it when you breed her. _________________ www.tegu.com and www.Varnyard-herps-inc.com
Varnyard, again you are reading stuff in my posts I didn't write. I never said they weren't aggressive. In fact, I would definitely say that out of the two sexes, females are pretty much the nastier sex. Ours will certainly go after us when we go into the pens to collect the eggs. We just haven't had any problems with them killing pen mates. The differences might be in the size of pens, access to more retreats, more natural behaviour (ours I will never claim are tame, they are not raised to be pets and have very little human interaction). Behaviour can be highly variable. You claim it's fine to house males together. Our experience is the opposite. We can hibernate them together, but come spring, if there are two males in the same pen, we usually wound up losing one, if not both. You have success putting multiple males together with a single female, we seem to have great success putting multiple females with one male. Personally, if it were up to me and I had the space, I'd have 1:1 ratios AND (believe it or not) follow your recommendations of splitting them up. But with a yearly production of around 1000 tegus, I can't say we're doing badly.
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 1164 Location: panamacity florida
Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 7:21 am Post subject:
Quote:
We leave our tegus together during this time, and we rarely have any problems with the females attacking anything else. However, I will say Varnyard's warning does have value in that although we don't tend to see females attacking the others, we DO often see the males eating the eggs.
I don't think I am reading stuff in your post you didn't write. I will also say that bert has this same problem and does use large enclosures. I might also add his tegus are not tame at all.
If you produce 1000 tegus, what do you do with them? I know one of the two largest breeders/exporters of the Argentines tegus down there. He is also one of two people that hold a permit to export tegus. Do you know Roberto Fracchia? I met him in Daytona, we talked for a good while. _________________ www.tegu.com and www.Varnyard-herps-inc.com
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 1164 Location: panamacity florida
Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 7:39 am Post subject:
Also, do you have any pictures of this breeding program and these numerus females nesting together?
I will also say, I guess Bert Langerwerf is wrong as well about keeping the ratio of more males than females. He is the one that taught me about breeding these awesome animals. I might also add his males are not tame, and like mine they do not fight. I will take his advice on this, he is the biggest breeder there is of this species anywhere in the world. He produced well over 3000 hatchlings this year. _________________ www.tegu.com and www.Varnyard-herps-inc.com
Joined: May 16, 2005 Posts: 1164 Location: panamacity florida
Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:57 am Post subject:
Here is proof of my males being housed together. As you can see in the picture they are very healthy and happy together. This is the only picture I have of males together. They are hibernating now. But you can clearly see two adult male together in this photo.
Click on the picture to make it larger.
I will take more pictures of my males together after they come out of hibernation this coming spring. _________________ www.tegu.com and www.Varnyard-herps-inc.com
Varnyard, not that it really needs to be pointed out, but you are really acting the petulant little child.
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I don't think I am reading stuff in your post you didn't write.
Yes, you are. Yes, I wrote they don't kill each other or attack each other. Is the only level of aggression that your mind can fathom is death? They are aggressive, they are very defensive, we just don't have problems with them killing each other. I didn't say it doesn't happen in your set-ups, I said it doesn't happen in ours and tegus can and do display different behaviours.
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If you produce 1000 tegus, what do you do with them? I know one of the two largest breeders/exporters of the Argentines tegus down there. He is also one of two people that hold a permit to export tegus. Do you know Roberto Fracchia? I met him in Daytona, we talked for a good while.
You've heard a lot of hot air, and your opinion of the world is so narrow it's embarrassing. We don't supply the pet trade, we don't breed for money. In case you've overlooked the obvious and what has been stated over and over again, we are scientists, we breed these animals for responsible science so that we can supply the scientific need for them without depleting natural resources. Some of those animals also go back to the wild to replenish some populations because they've declined through habitat destruction, over harvesting, or simply exploited by unscrupulous collectors. We also breed caimans, turtles of various species, snakes, etc., etc., etc.
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Also, do you have any pictures of this breeding program and these numerus females nesting together?
For someone who keeps claiming to know all and everything, your skill of perception would lead me to think you're myopic, but I just don't think so. Do yourself a favour, go look in my photo albums, they are posted on this very site which you moderate. In the tegu specific album is a picture of our breeding pens. That is maybe half of them. In the one pen in the foreground I can make out one male and two females to give you not only a scope of our pens but proof that we do infact house multiple females together. Next, look in my other album, aside from pictures of a few of my own personal animals, I also have a few pics of other set ups of our facility (again, I would say we have way more than the photos represent).
Now, if you have the means, I suggest you go to a university or college library and ask them to do a literature search using the keyword Tupinambis. I would easily claim that 95% of the papers published since 1990 in that list were supplied with tegus from our facility. If you read each of those papers, I'm fairly sure at the end you'd find an acknowledgements section wherein they'll mention the name Augusto Shinya Abe, a man who has contributed FAR more to the understanding of tegus than you, I or even your deitic Bert Langerwerf. However, YOU wouldn't know the man because you can't seem to accept that there is much more than the pet world out there that has to do with tegus. It is rather interesting, however, that if you could get your paws on the tegu book that Bert co-wrote with Gunther Kohler, that you'd see a whole lot of the photos and information presented in that book were given by none other than the reclusive Augusto Shinya Abe.
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Here is proof of my males being housed together.
Again, Varnyard, what is your major malfunction?!?! I didn't say you don't house males together, I didn't say you can't house males together, and I certainly do not propose that tegus are little robots that all have the exact same programming and can be predicted to 100% accuracy in what they do behaviourally wise. I didn't say Bert was wrong either in the ratios he keeps, or you and Rick. I'm just saying we have done something differently and have different results than you do. In the first year of my hibernation study we housed males together to reduce the number of new pens we had to construct. Came spring it was a total disaster, the males tore the living hell out of each other. I wish I had held onto the video tapes, it would have been educational for you. The second year I housed 1:1 couples, they bred, the females laid eggs, and the females did not attack the males. They'd go after me like hell, but they didn't touch the males. They had reduced clutch size, but that was attributable to the telemetric implant, not to the presence of the males.
Last edited by tupinambis on Fri Oct 13, 2006 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total
wow Tupinambus, that's cool. i don't think i would have the heart to disect a tegu, LOL. anyways i had a few quick questions on the pronunciation of a few sciency words........
TeiidaeTupinambis merianae, rufescens,Teguixin
any other tegu related scientific name pronuciations would be great as there were more that i simply couldn't think of......
And you keep saying OUR breeding project. Who exactly is OUR?
You see mine is not a OUR, It is a mine. And I do know the facts about my tegus.
As for your rectally induced encephalic hypoxia, maybe a doctor could help you on that one. We could visit a proctologist for me, he might help you more than you could imagine also. We could also get a Brain Surgeon for your part He might even be able to remove your cranial by way of neurosurgery thus helping you with the concussion from the jarring injury you suffered in sticking your nose where ever it is now.This might be very important before craniosynostosis or a congenital brain disorder sets in from impact or lack or oxygen.
As for your rectally induced encephalic hypoxia, maybe a doctor could help you on that one. We could visit a proctologist for me, he might help you more than you could imagine also. We could also get a Brain Surgeon for your part He might even be able to remove your cranial by way of neurosurgery thus helping you with the concussion from the jarring injury you suffered in sticking your nose where ever it is now.This might be very important before craniosynostosis or a congenital brain disorder sets in from impact or lack or oxygen.
Also, does either of you know where i could obtain any info on gunter Kohler (i butchered the spelling srry) in ENGLISH?? taking german 1 just isn't enough..........lol
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