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Thread: Tegu threat in FL

  1. #11

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    ugh how ridiculous. I understand that an invasive tegu population can be very dangerous for native wildlife, but that doesn't excuse the article's negative portrayal of tegus. I hate those buildup sentences just before they dramatically reveal that they're talking about tegus. No way is a tegu going to hunt down someone's dog and in no way is a three foot properly cared for pet Argentine "slightly menacing".

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central FL
    Posts
    4,349

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    I saw this segment on the local 11 news which prompted me to find the story in print. It'll be interesting to see people's reactions when my tegus go to library programs, camps, and parties this summer. "Are these those scary lizards I saw on the news?" After the Burmese python in the news everyone asked, "Is that the kind of snake that killed that little girl?". If I had a dime for every time I heard that one....
    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

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Labasa, Fiji
    Posts
    27

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    Ideally tegus shouldn't be just so readily available just because of the fact that the pet stores who sell them don't really give you an idea of what type of commitment you are making with a tegu. I also could never imagine releasing Jaws or losing him in the wild but given the sheer expense it is to properly maintain even 1 of these animals I could see the average person who buys a tegu on a whim releasing it later which is very sad. And just for the record since I bought my tegu I've paid extremely close attention to the care various pet stores take of their reptiles and in every case it has been sub par. I saw a 3.5 foot tegu and an even larger monitor in Jacksonville who were being kept together in an enclosure less than half the size of the enclosure I use for my 1 tegu - and this was in a pet store. These aren't low maintenance or low cost pets at all as you all know. Between bathing, feeding, administering medication, letting him outside for free roaming, monitoring humidity, temperatures, lights, making sure he has a variety of vertebrates, invertebrates, taste of the wild dog food, fruits, etc. having a 7 foot enclosure in my house taking care of my tegu is a job in itself. I've spent easily close to $2000.00 if not more in the 8 or 9 months I've had him (This was my first tegu and first reptile, so I had nothing). I'm sure it's the same story for any herp that grows this large. If people had an idea of what they were getting themselves into with these pets I don't think half of them would buy them in the first place. However this is never going to happen given the fact that when I purchased Jaws the pet store told me all I had to have was a basking light and an aquarium and made it sound so easy just to make a sale.

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