to old to buy?

DragonRyu · #1 (**permalink**) 04-11-2005, 03:47 AM

hey everyone, i was wondering if i could get someone's opinion on what i should do. basically, i've been looking for a blue tegu for the longest time, but i havent been able to find one. i live in canada and i dont know if agama international or bluetegu.com would send one to me. i send them an email but i havent gotten a reply yet. anyways i was at a pet store near my house and i found two blue tegus for sale. normally i would of bought them on the spot, but the price was a little steep (about $1000 canadian for the pair), and i was told they are about 1-2 years old, thus a little big. now the size and price arent a problem since i was planning to accomodate these factors anyways. they are a little over 2 feet long and male and female. i would normally wait till they had some more blue tegu babies but when i talked to the owners they said that they have no tegu suppliers and thus, are not expecting any more blue tegus any time soon. enough of the back story:

my question is this: are tegus that are around 1.5 years old too old to get as a pet. i want a tegu that i can interact with and will be friendly for the most part, and im worried that since they spent over a year at the store in a tank, will they be too far gone to begin taming as a house lizard. i know that they normally require alot of time to get used to people and i can do that, im just wondering if they would just need more work or if they are already past the point of trainability.

NicoleRussell · #2 (**permalink**) 04-11-2005, 11:37 AM

only you can answer that since you are there and can see their dispositions.
In general though no--that age is great because you have the size and they are still young enough to train.
The real question is ...what will you do with the babies?

DragonRyu · #3 (**permalink**) 04-11-2005, 02:34 PM

thx, good to know that they are at a good age. as for the babies, i was originally planning on not putting the tegu's into hibernation, not at first at least, and i was told that that would prevent them from breeding. after reading a few posts on here though, i learned that theres a chance that would still breed. i already own a couple hovabators and have adequate room for a baby tank till they are old enough, so if they do breed then i may keep one or i may sell the babies back to the store. i've checked the store out (as i also have some baby dragons on the way and maybe some uromastyx as well) and from what i can tell, they can properly care for the baby tegus as they are already raising other baby tegus from the other species.

beardiedragon · #4 (**permalink**) 04-11-2005, 02:49 PM

I would inquire about their diet and husbandry. They seem on the small side. Mine are 8 months old and the male is nearly 3' and the 2 females are both over 2 foot. You sure dont want to adopt unhealthy animals.

DragonRyu · #5 (**permalink**) 04-11-2005, 02:52 PM

i'll look into that, thx. i may have been mistaken about there size, since i was basically eye-balling it, and i tend to have difficultly accuratly guessing reptiles length due to the tail. but i'll make sure to check that out to just to be safe.

NicoleRussell · #6 (**permalink**) 04-11-2005, 06:15 PM

tegus kept outdoors will naturally be larger and more robust.
You can check into health but no petstore will tell you they are unhealthy--you could try and get a fecal done before hand but even then there are not gaurantees.
For the most part, unless you see something that tells you otherwise---it's a gamble with stores...that's why I buy from the same breeders.

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