photo of adult female A b&w tegu

[wumpscut]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v425/Terra5Designs/IMGP8095-1.jpg

are adult females supposed to look this...um...portely?

and of this male...is he healthy looking too?
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v425/Terra5Designs/IMGP8096.jpg

thnx

[Johelian]

It looks to me like the sexes are mixed up, but its hard to tell by the pics. Females can be fat (though I believe theyre meant to be naturally a bit slimmer, they can obviously get obese too), but generally, in appearance, they tend to have smaller heads in relation to the neck and shoulders after reaching sexual maturity. The "female" in the pics seems to have rather rounded jowls which is often more associated with males - having said that though females can still have some large neck folds, so its not to say she isnt a female. The "male" though looks more like I would expect a female to appear. It will depend on their age though - how old are they?

The one at the top looks a little chubby, but it may just be the pic - cant see the rest of the body. The other is missing the tips of his fingers poor mite, but it shouldnt affect him.

[Broodwich]

Hey wumpscut,

I am going to have to say if that top pic is a female...it is one of the most obese female tegus I have ever seen X.X Yeah my guess would be a male in the top pic by looking at it...but you never know right until it is properly sexed. Johelian said or should I say typed a mouthfull and saves the rest of us having to do the same :wink: But I have seen healthier tegus...im not saying they look absolutly horrible but I have seen nicer looking tegus. I feel so bad for the bottom one...his poor little toesies. It looks like he has a little tegu mitten on :( Ohh well...just properly sex them to get the right awnser. Hope it helps and happy herping :D

[wumpscut]

yeah, the pet shop own has them in a 4' x 4' and keeps them with out hides, in 3" substrate and if these two aren't saddening, today i saw a monitor with so much unshed skin...i :evil: t's topside looked just tan and flakey.

he also has a 1.1 of T.m. that are only about 24-30" TL. he says they're about 4 years old. he tried to tell me that they were probably just a subspecies...lmao. could lack of feeding do that?

anyway, yes, it's sad; the condition of these two and that they'll never breed.

[Johelian]

Theres a terrible little reptile shop (or rather, pet shop that happens to have reptiles too) about 10 minutes drive from where I live, all of whoms lizards are in the most feeble condition. They had a nile monitor (what shop that is tailored for families with no reptile knowledge picks a nile monitor to hold as stock?!) in a tall, narrow cage whose basking light was never on any of the times I went in - the poor thing was sat underneath it desperately trying to warm up. He isnt there any more after about a year...

Just recently they have had in a female tegu who the shop owner says is around four years old, and who is about 1/3 of the body size of big Teg. Now, Ill be the first to admit that big Teg is rather rotund, and females tend to be rather smaller than adult males, but she is about the size he was at 14 months, and he was quite small when we got him. Poor wee thing. When I commented on her size (when I asked her age I was expecting about a year tops), he said that "they rarely get over 3 feet" and that he "had never seen one over 3.5ft". I would bring big 4-footer Teg in if I werent afraid he would catch something.

Size and poor heating/correct lighting can stunt growth in all lizard types I believe.

Incidentally, the only reason I tend to go into this shop is to marvel at how terribly all the stock is kept.

[wumpscut]

i tend to comment quite loudly when i find sick critters at petNo's and such and in some cases yes, i call the animal police in that town, email some photos etc...just doing my part. I also try to hold events and invite the city lwmakers and it seems to help. some just hate me for it but oh well. i don't see anything good from worrying about others feelings when animals are concerned.




(...what's the name of this place...)

[fresh2ugal2000]

my husband and I are behind you! we agree one hundred percent getting money for sick and uncared animals I m glad theres people like you around!I tend to stick to one pet store in my area because the animals arent confined to small cages if not needed playpens for the puppies fish tank are clean and the other animals look clean and happy the owners handle em! The tegus there belonged to rick and the The other man in the reptile room is really into lizards and snakes! One thing Im impressed with is they make you disinfect hands before handling the animals!!! Ive seen alot worse! HATS OFF TO YOU!! keep up the good work :D :o