Argentine Tegu’s (Salvator merianae) are a large, impressive species of lizard native to South America stretching from lower regions of Brazil down to through Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay to the Northern half of Argentina. There are also notable invasive populations in the southern USA, particularly in Florida and Georgia where the invasive populations are thought to have originated from escaped pets in the late 1990’s/2000’s. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats including tropical rainforest, scrubland, savannah and even arid semi desert areas. They are very adaptable to different habitats so long as they have the capability to dig themselves a burrow. They grow to an impressive size with males reaching up to 4ft+ (120cm+) including tail although most will stay a little smaller than this. Females are notably smaller than males reaching around 3ft (90cm) including tail when adult. Tegus are the largest members in a family of lizards called Teiids which are restricted to the Americas and although superficially similar in appearance to the monitor lizards of Africa, Asia and Australia they are only very distantly related. They are an example of convergent evolution where tegus and monitors look similar in appearance because the occupy the same habitat niche rather than because of genetic similarities. Argentine Tegus are the largest of all tegu species and subsequently the largest Teiid lizard. Unlike most monitor lizards which are almost all exclusively carnivorous or insectivorous, Tegu’s are omnivores and will eat everything from insects and smaller vertebrates to, shellfish, eggs, fruits, seeds and even flowers. It is generally accepted that younger individuals are more insectivorous in dietary preference, but more mature animals prefer a varied diet with large amounts of fruits and plant matter. Adults’ teeth become notably blunted with age which allows them to become more generalist feeders, and their enlarged pterygoid muscles (lower jaw muscles) give them a powerful bite but also somewhat exaggerated jowls. Argentine Tegu’s will often go through a period of semi dormancy in wintertime (Brumation) where they become less active and eat less. For breeding them in captivity they need to be put through a significant seasonal cycle with very low temperatures over winter to encourage successful breeding the following spring.

Argentine Tegus are by far the most popular pet species of Tegu as they show a high level of intelligence and can respond well to reward based training to the point that they can be house trained. They are full of personality and with regular handling/interaction when young they are very tame as adults. They have been compared to being scaley dogs on many occasions.

Argentine Tegu look very similar in appearance to the Columbian/Golden Tegu especially when young. They can be identified by the presence of 2 loreal scales (scales between the eye and nose) in Argentine Tegu and only 1 loreal scale in Columbian Tegu. From our experience, the Columbian Tegu is not as tame or easily trainable as Argentine and we would always recommend the Argentine over the Columbian when considering which species to get as a pet.

Due to their adult size Argentine Tegu are an advanced level species to keep, their care requirements are relatively straight forward but the size enclosure they will need as an adult is a minimum of 10ft x 4ft x 4ft which will require a lot of space within the home and considerable financial outlay to set up correctly. They make an absolutely brilliant pet species for those with the space to adequately cater for their needs when adult.