Difference between Golden tegu and black and white tegu

[BallPython17]

I've owned many tegus and monitors over the years. I now dedicate my collection to ball pythons, but was thinking of getting back into tegus and monitors ( I currently own a Savannah monitor that is about 3 ft.). Anyways, I was wondering whats the difference between a golden tegu and a black and white tegu? From what I understand, the goldens are from Columbia and the B&W are from Argentina (please correct me if I'm wrong). I've owned many golds, but never a B&W. I know the gold's are very aggressive but can be tamed (kinda remind me of Niles in the monitor side) and I've heard that B&W are rather more tame (and I know they are wild animals and can't exactly be "tamed", but you guys know what i mean by tamed. lol) And also, are the black and white tegus the ones that have a little green on the head when they are baby's?

Thanks in advance for your responses. I will have A LOT more questions as this goes. lol.

[wolfy-hound]

They are different species.
Golds tend to be a bit smaller at maturity and a lot more aggressive. Black&White(argentines esp) tend to be more calm for handling, get larger and IMO(gleaned from listening to owners talk about what they feed their tegus) seem to eat more fruit.

B&W do have the green heads as hatchlings.

All lizards are individuals.. and I'm certain someone somewhere has a story about THEIR gold tegu who was named Lassie and kissed babies and rescued small children from wells. Also, some B&W tegus can be horrid monsters and never tame down. It's all individual, so I'm speaking ONLY of generalities, and ONLY from my experiance with my own tegus, and talking to other tegu owners.

Hope this helped

[BallPython17]

They are different species.
Golds tend to be a bit smaller at maturity and a lot more aggressive. Black&White(argentines esp) tend to be more calm for handling, get larger and IMO(gleaned from listening to owners talk about what they feed their tegus) seem to eat more fruit.

B&W do have the green heads as hatchlings.

All lizards are individuals.. and I'm certain someone somewhere has a story about THEIR gold tegu who was named Lassie and kissed babies and rescued small children from wells. Also, some B&W tegus can be horrid monsters and never tame down. It's all individual, so I'm speaking ONLY of generalities, and ONLY from my experiance with my own tegus, and talking to other tegu owners.

Hope this helped

Great info. Thanks. And yea i had a gold back then who at first was pretty tame, but as time went by he kept getting more and more aggressive. But the golden tegu is from Columbia right? Also, if anyone can inform me on which of these tegus would be easier to breed; reds, blues or black and whites? I'm interested in starting to breed tegus, but I've heard that some can be hard to breed. But I want to hear your opinions.

[wolfy-hound]

The B&W seem to be easier, but they are also pretty numerous. Instead of going with what's easiest to breed, you might want to go with what's most in demand, or rarest, which might be the blues or reds. I've owned a blue, two reds and a B&W(arg) and they all did okay with handling. The B&W started out tame, got to be aggro, the reds were more flighty as babies, but mellowed into the perfect tegu(I still have my Groo, best lizard ever), and the blue I only had for a short while, and she was good for the previous owner, and a bit of a pain in the rear for me(once she was properly warm and fed, see?)

So it's a lot of what YOU like best, because in the end, it's you taking care of them. They ALL need a huge amount of space and food, with the B&W being the largest. But all in all, they are comparible in breeding difficulty and keeping and personality, more or less.

Hope this helps.

[BallPython17]

The B&W seem to be easier, but they are also pretty numerous. Instead of going with what's easiest to breed, you might want to go with what's most in demand, or rarest, which might be the blues or reds. I've owned a blue, two reds and a B&W(arg) and they all did okay with handling. The B&W started out tame, got to be aggro, the reds were more flighty as babies, but mellowed into the perfect tegu(I still have my Groo, best lizard ever), and the blue I only had for a short while, and she was good for the previous owner, and a bit of a pain in the rear for me(once she was properly warm and fed, see?)

So it's a lot of what YOU like best, because in the end, it's you taking care of them. They ALL need a huge amount of space and food, with the B&W being the largest. But all in all, they are comparible in breeding difficulty and keeping and personality, more or less.

Hope this helps.

Yes, this helps a lot. But I got one more question. I've read that tegus have to be hibernated to be able to breed. Is this true? Or is this like the ball pythons that they don't have to be hibernated to be able to breed?

[wolfy-hound]

Ball pythons don't really hibernate. Tegus do.

I've heard both, that tegus have to be hibernated or you can never ever breed them again, etc etc. I honestly don't know. I let mine hibernate, because I think they are supposed to hibernate and thus I want them to do what they are supposed to in the wild. Groo is hibernating now.

[DragonBalls]

Our Blue Tegu's haven't fully hibernated and have produced clutches the past 2 years. Normally they slow down in the winter, sleep more and eat less. This year they seem to be mostly sleeping and haven't eaten in nearly a month.