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rodmaker
03-13-2006, 01:25 AM
I've spoke to Bert ( Agama International ) and I'm looking at getting a pair of argentines from him for pets and future breeding. He told me that taming a tegu can make it difficult to breed. Can anyone shed light on this subject. Thanks.....

austonhorst
03-13-2006, 06:03 AM
I'll try my best but I don't guarantee that I'm right. Instincts are survival patterns that allow the tegu to live and thrive in the wild. Hunting, killing, fighting and breeding are all natural instincts that are necessary for survival and future offspring. When you domesticate animals they don't need to rely on those instincts for survival and thus are not as good of breeders.

Rick
03-13-2006, 09:14 PM
Many natural instincts remain even through domestication. Cats & dogs are the most domesticated pets on the planet and they still breed, hunt, etc.

Then back to tegus; Tegus are not domesticated, they can be tamed a bit, but they still have a natural urge to mate. If your tame tegu is not mating it more likely to do with improper cycling. I have tegus breeding right now and they are all tame. These tegus are taken to the park almost daily during the summer where they have tons of human interaction. They also take turns going to a petshop I volunteer at 2 days a week where they also get lots of human interaction.

I know Bennett (beardiedragon.com) breeds reds. He also takes these reds to schools and other places to inform children. I would have to assume those are pretty tame tegus too.

Any animal brought into captivity that looses it's instinct to breed, will not prosper as well as tegu have over the past years.

Rick

rodmaker
03-13-2006, 11:25 PM
Hey Rick. Thank you very much for that explanation. I'm still wanting to get a pair, Bert just got me wondering. I'm gonna go for it, I just wanted to check to see what other people had to say about the subject. Thats what makes these forms work. Thank you very much......