Craigslist Pet of the Day: Black and White Tegu
As a new feature on Markasaurus, I will be finding the best pet available for adoption or sale on Craigslist. Today’s pet is a giant lizard that is currently being offered by its owner in San Jose.
Black and White Tegu, available for adoption on Criagslist
The text of the ad reads (I’m sure it will be pulled from the site soon):
Columbian B&W Tegu 3+ feet
This guy is an AMAZING lizard.
Beautiful, unbelievably strong, and has an attitude! I like how his tongue is always flicking out.. and it’s really long! Looking for an experienced home for him. He eats mice/small rats, ground turkey, chicken, and fingers if your not careful….
I was going to tame him.. but I just don’t have the time. His cage has a heat pad, heat light, florescent light, and all the fixins.
$150 for everything.
Okay, lets see here… you are offering a carnivorous lizard that is over 3 feet long, that may eat your fingers, and you didn’t have time to “tame” him? The cage shown above looks larger than some studio apartments.
Reptileallsorts.com recommends very young tegus if you are planning to tame them, and it clearly steers people towards the more docile Argentine Tegu, not the more aggressive Columbian version as they are “jumpy and frequently slam their tails on the glass or into the water.” My favorite line comes from Wikipedia: “Tegus are prone to food aggression; they will quickly learn to associate human presence with food, and may turn their enthusiastic feeding response upon their caretakers if certain precautions are not taken.” This is very reassuring while one is considering the purchase of an untamed lizard that will grow to nearly 5′ in length.
August 15th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
hey it’s your mascot!
August 15th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
it sounds like someone bought themselves a small dinosaur, and now they see that it’s gotten huge and requires lots of training and care. oh dear. i think this guy should donate his reptilian friend to a zoo or someting.
I can just see some schmuck on CL getting the lizard to bring to burning man as a camp mascot or a costume accessory.
me = concerned
August 15th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
My cat needs a friend and I need something without too much fur so I won’t be allergic. He is perfect. Thank Jeebus for CL. I think I will name him Tiga.
August 15th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I bet Tiga will LOVE your cat.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:13 am
Hmmm, I had a 2.5 ft reptile living with me, and it wasn’t a comfortable experience. The rattlesnake also was a factor. Oh, and hearing the ferrets chew on the cage, while hearing turtles and a tortoise scraping their fat feet across the concrete.
But, reptiles/amphibians are decent pets at least. No barking anyway. Oh, and the shedding is easier to pick up.
September 19th, 2007 at 2:31 am
[...] Craigslist Pet of the Day: Black and White Tegu [...]
May 6th, 2008 at 11:06 am
[...] I should mention that the most popular post I’ve ever written was about the Black and White Tegu, a large semi-aggressive lizard that some of you might remember from last August. It makes up over 3% of the pageviews for the entire site, and is the top landing page behind the index. If anyone knows anything about why these animals are so popular I would love to hear an explanation. [...]