A Question

[Guest]

Hello all,

I have a tegu that I purchased from Varnyard this past August. He is not even a yearling yet, but he has gotten quite big. His name is Sebastian and I love him to death; but I do not know what to do with him. He is kind of tame and will let me pet him, especially when he is resting on his pillow (I'll post a picture of him). He doesn't have a problem with people being in the room when he is basking or free roaming, for that matter. But, for some reason, he associates movement--my fingers, especially--with food. It is getting irritating because, every now and again, he will try to bite me (or my friends), and he succeeds sometimes; which is very painful, as he is getting big.

I don't know why he does this; I feed him outside of his cage, on a plate.

Any advice on helping him to get over this, and, ipso facto, helping me, would be greatly appreciated.

This is a link to his reptile web page, which has plenty of pictures of him.

http://www.reptilechannel.com/blog/ViewBio.aspx?apid=196054

 

[chelvis]

young tegus have only one thing on their mind... FOOOD!!! You can almost never feed them enough to statify them. How much are you feeding your tegu? I could be a simple thing of increasing the food intake. Also wash your hands before handeling your tegu. Any lingering smell of food or animal can cause a feeding response.

Now if he is huffying and puffying up or tails arching when he bites, his still not comfortable with the situation so its better to just let him approch you. Don't pet him on the head or under the chin rather just let him sleep on you or the pillow and slowly start the petting up again.

 

[Toby_H]

My tegu went through that stage too...

He is and has been the absolute most docile reptile I could imagine. Simply put, he has never once shown me or anyone else more than an ounce of aggression...

BUT... there was a stage... in the "yearling" phase... when my girlfriend could not walk barefoot around him. He free roamed (on the ground) a lot and when he say feet he went after the toes. We didn't have any problem with fingers, but he spent almost all of his time on the ground (where there aren't many fingers).

Currently, a year or two later... I walk barefoot around him nearly every day. I have no qualms about walking up behind him and passing him while barefoot... I have no qualms about using my bare foot to redirect him while roaming... honestly, I have no fear or concern about him biting me in any way...

But... my girlfriend does. Having had the experience of a 3' lizard chasing her feet mouth wide open has scared her a bit. She still really likes our Tegu, will still pet and handle him, but she is constantly aware of the wereabouts of the Tegu while he's out (I often have no clue where he is).

 

[slideaboot]

Txrepgirl has a video on her youtube channel of one of her tegus chasing her around--it's actually pretty funny.

But, I totally understand your concern. The only real remedy for any of this is to maintain your interactions, I think.

 

[Guest]

I feed him as much as he wants to eat in about 15 minutes, every day. And I always wash my hands after preparing his food.

I hope that it is the case that this is just some kind of phase. I know that different tegus have different personalities, and I don't really care if he acts like the tegus that you see in Bobby's videos; but I do care if I can come around him without having one of my fingers removed. Haha.

 

[Guest]

I haven't experienced this phase yet but (as mentioned above) sometimes tegus will go through sort of a "teenage" phase and they can become buttheads. From what I've read they usually grow out of it around 2 years or so. Just keep being persistent with it, you can also get some thick gloves.

 

[chelvis]

Ah tegu puberty, its a bity time in their lives. Dealing with it now but my tegu just likes to tail whip for no reason.

 

[Orion]

Mine does the same thing. She loves to be held. My kids open her cage 2 or 3 times a day to pet her and she is great. But when I walk by the cage she goes after my feet through the glass or if I am spot cleaning her cage and raking with my fingers she tries, aggressively, to eat my fingers. I have started to feed her 2 to 3 times a day and it seems to be helping. I have learned to trust her since I know she is not being mean, but I am cautious of her actions and mine since I know it just a feeding response. She hungry and chasing down a meal.......just put something besides fingers on the menu.