Meet the Breeder
Cindy is the owner, operator, and breeder, at Tegu Topia.
Cindy’s love for reptiles started when she was 9. On her way home from school in Toronto, she would find snakes that had been hit by cars and would pick them up and bring them home to clean and bandage their wounds.
Cindy’s mom was terrified of snakes and would make her put them back outside "where they belonged".
When she was 12, the family moved to Florida, where Cindy found more reptiles to “play” with. Their property was home to several Alligator Snapping Turtles and Water Moccasins, hundreds of Anoles, and even Wood Spiders (we don’t do spiders!). Cindy wanted a snake, but her mother said no.
When Cindy turned 20, she returned to Canada. In 1991 she bought her first reptile - a baby Red Tailed Boa - from a shop in Montreal. She was told it would grow
6” per year.
Talk about a need to do your research BEFORE purchasing!!!
We’re not sure if inches vs feet got lost in the
translation, but that boa was over 6 feet long and very heavy within a year. Eventually she had to sell the Sultan of Slither.
Cindy really wanted another reptile. One day she came across some information on Argentine Tegus. She was in love! She had her heart set on a Red Tegu, but they weren’t available in Canada.
Cindy came to know Chris (The Reptile Wrangler & Chris Naylor Reptiles), when she purchased some other reptiles.
One day Chris said that Argentine Red Tegus were now available in Canada. The frenzy started. Cindy began reading every article Bert Langerwerf wrote on Argentine Tegus and researched everything she could find to prepare for her first Tegu.
After a year-and-a-half of research, Cindy was ready to go meet Bert and purchase her first Tegu, but Bert had just passed away a few weeks earlier. Cindy missed her opportunity to meet with the world’s foremost Tegu breeder.
A couple of months later she spoke with Timo (Bert’s son) about purchasing a Red hatchling, but Timo said they were sold out. He « Continue the story here »
