Colombian tegu OR Ackie monitor?

[Skiploder]

Alright, so I've been thinking about getting an Ackie monitor or a Colombian tegu in the fairly distant future. What all can you tell me about either or both species? Which one is overall easier to care for and/or makes the better pet of the two? Here's what (I think) I know about them-please feel free to correct anything I've got wrong.

Basking spot: 130 degrees for the monitor, 100-110 for the tegu, going down to 75 at the cool end for both.
Food: Mostly insects for the monitor with the occasional rodent, mostly inverts for the tegu with the addition of fish, eggs, and rodents.
Environment: Minimum of 4 x 2 feet for the monitor, min. 6 x 3 for the tegu, both need about 60% ambient humidity and digging opportunities.
Handling: Monitor's supposed to be tame, tegu's supposed to be feisty?
Lighting: 50-60 watt halogen bulbs for basking, as well as UVB bulbs.

I think that's the bare basics of care and stuff. Once again, please correct anything I'm wrong about.


Any help and suggestions would be great!

Neither is easy to care for and neither make a "great" pet.

The care of both varanids and tegus is specialized and fairly advanced. It goes beyond diet and basking temperatures. It includes space, general and specific environment needs, deep, digable moisture retaining substrate (in the case of the ackie) and many, many other parameters.

There are specialized forums that address the questions you have. My strong suggestion would be to do the hard research and make sure you have ALL of the bases covered - to the extent where most of the questions you currently have may be answered.

The problem with shopping for opinions on forums is that you will often get opinions - which are very different than facts.