LOL, "It's Pat" from Saturday Night Live comes to mind!!!! Well, I'm now confident I have one of each, just not exactly how I purchased them!!!Originally Posted by tupinambis
LOL, "It's Pat" from Saturday Night Live comes to mind!!!! Well, I'm now confident I have one of each, just not exactly how I purchased them!!!Originally Posted by tupinambis
MizM, from the photos you posted on the other site, I'd say your generalizations were a "bit" off. To me, your male definitely has a male head, and vice versa. Males do generally get jowly, but the one you show to me is not that heavily jowled, and she's carrying the weight further back on her torso, a female trait. The male's weight is more evenly distributed, again a typical male pattern.
Ach! It was my understanding that a heavy bodied, jowly build was a male trait. And the thinner, sleeker build a female trait. I usually do TONS of research and get numerous opinions... but it seems I'm in the right place here!! So here is my male, the dark one, and my female, the light one. The Opposite Couple!!! (Don't pay attention to the dates on the photo, I always forget to change it when I replace my batteries!!) :oops:
The heavy bodied, whiter one is the male, right? I'm terrible at sexing by photos, but that one is built like my red male. He's really stocky and thick all the way through with a fat tail. My females have loose skin around their necks, but they have a leaner look all the way around.
Laura R (FL)
1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.2.0 Red Tegu
1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
7 other lizards
1 little gator
3 FL box turtle
1 Sulcata tortoise
16 snakes
5 fuzzy pets
4 little frogs
a bunch of creepy bugs
and a partridge in a pear tree
Nope, laurafl, you've got it wrong, the whiter heavy bodied one is the female. As usual, people are looking for the "simplest" body form, and it doesn't work. Ask yourself, in humans, does "fat" apply only to males, and "slender" only to females? You need to be a little more astute than that to be more accurate. Not all animals grow at the same rate, or put on weight such, and therefore going by "slender" vs "fat" is highly artificial.
For just general body shape, males typically have their weight evenly distributed on their torso, and the snout is usually longer. Jowls do develop, but as a "true" characteristic, both males and females can get jowls, but only SOME males grow enormous, extensive jowls.
For females, more of their mass on the torso is carried towards the back legs. They tend to have shorter snouts (looking at the top of their heads, from snout to the line at the front of their eyes would almost form an equilateral triangle).
Exactly what I have learned here. The chubby light one lacks the cloacal scales. The slender dark one posesses them. So what we both thought to be a reliable visual sex determination from body shape is completely wrong. The snout shape also confirms what the cloacal scales show.Originally Posted by tupinambis
I am very appreciative of all the help y'all have given me. This species has been one of the hardest to sex of anything I've kept to date!!
Interesting. I've read many ideas on sexing tegus, but this is the first mention I've seen on the shape of their heads. I've noticed that their heads were shaped differently, but it never dawned on me that their heads were sexually dimorphic. My Tegu, Jango, will be 3 months old in a few days and he(?) is just over 28" long. He does not have buttons (yet), but his head is more isoceles shaped. He is showing a little jowl, but not any more than I've seen on older females. I am going to watch him/her carefully, since I'd like to know if the buttons are more dependant on size, or age. I have yet to find someone who has had one that was as big as Jango is at this age so It will be interesting see, if they do show up, what age he will be.
Edit: After looking at more pics of male/female heads, Jango's head looks more female to me. His(her) head is shorter, more blunt looking than the males I've found. Could explain why, at almost 30", there are no buttons.
I think the kids are going to have to pick out a girl name.
Last edited by Quijibo; 09-28-2009 at 10:06 PM.
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent" ~Qui-Gon Jinn
3.1 Juvie Humans
1.0 Pastel Ball Python
0.1 Ball Python
?.? Arg B&W Tegu
1.0 BUD (Big Ugly Dog)
1.0 Fat Cat
Does anyone know what age, as opposed to size, spurs start to show? Most info I've found says that they should show around 2-2 1/2'. If most Tegu's reach 2' at around 6 months, then it's easy to say they get them at 6 months. Jango is 30" now and still not showing spurs, but, he(?) is only 3 months old.
Does anyone have a male Tegu that had spurs at 3 months?
"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent" ~Qui-Gon Jinn
3.1 Juvie Humans
1.0 Pastel Ball Python
0.1 Ball Python
?.? Arg B&W Tegu
1.0 BUD (Big Ugly Dog)
1.0 Fat Cat
That is very interesting...I haven't seen this thread since my last post.
Sometimes I'm better if someone actually gets a pointer and says look here ==>
I still don't quite see the female weight carried in the rear, unless it is the bulk between the back legs just in front of the tail head. But now I want to go analyze all their heads...
Quijibo, I wonder if your tegu could be on a different track; it is an Extreme, right?
Laura R (FL)
1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
1.2.0 Red Tegu
1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
7 other lizards
1 little gator
3 FL box turtle
1 Sulcata tortoise
16 snakes
5 fuzzy pets
4 little frogs
a bunch of creepy bugs
and a partridge in a pear tree
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