HeatherN
Member
- Messages
- 429
- Location
- San Luis Obispo, CA
My extreme giant, Tarot, is definitely not a baby anymore. he's around 3 feet long and has very powerful jaws. since i first let him on the ground when he was a hatchling, ive been working with him to not be afraid of feet and standing people. only recently has he been making strides. now he will only avoid a standing person when he thinks theyre trying to grab him. often he will come up and lick our toes and watch us to see what were doing.
i only recently started worrying when he would try and chase when we would wiggle our fingers to get my dog to do one of his tricks. ive never encouraged a prey drive in him, but hes a 'gu! others were always worried when he walked past him that he was going to bite their toes, but i was always able to assure them that he's just smelling them like everything else. he has never made me look like a liar.
The incident: today i got home from class, and the last person in the apartment had let him out to roam, so he acknowledged me as he walked across the floor, like normal. i sat on the ground feeding my quail worms from my fingers for maybe 20 mins. then i got up to get something out of the freezer (it happened to be a mouse to thaw for him, but he didnt know that). as i was opening the fridge, he snuck up on my toes and bit them really hard! way harder than he usually goes at food. he also had a special bowl that means food that has never changed, and that bowl was nowhere near me.
I had no idea he was next to me, so i instinctively pulled away and looked down to see him looking up at me. i said 'nope!', as he knows that means he cant have something or go somewhere. i started to walk away calmly, but he proceeded to chase my toes and looked like he was gonna have another go at em! so i scooped him up and put him on the dog bed, where he just got interested in something else. he didnt resist when i picked him up at all, which is kind of weird for him.
i have a bit of an idea how to correct this behavior, starting with not making my toes act like prey items! i.e. avoid wiggling and shuffling, dont dip my toes in my nice meat juice foot-bath every night, that kind of thing. i have never been one to pull away or get mad when he bites (it's happened twice when he was a hatchling on my hand) and i plan to continue that.
But now my toe is bleeding and stinging, so i dont believe it was a test bite or a warning bite. my feet havent been in anything but my clean shoes and socks today. nor have i ever teased him with my toes. it may just be that teenage tegu coming out to terrorize me or simple over-enthusiastic curiosity, but im struck with the suddenness of the manifestation of this toe interest. and it escalated rather quickly!
my question is, has anyone else dealt with a tegu randomly developing an interest in biting toes and fingers not related to hand feeding, toe wiggling, or anything else to openly invite the behavior? Any other ideas/suggestions on how i should go about dealing with this. and i definitely wont simply lock him up for the rest of his life, he loves roaming too much.
Thanks!
i only recently started worrying when he would try and chase when we would wiggle our fingers to get my dog to do one of his tricks. ive never encouraged a prey drive in him, but hes a 'gu! others were always worried when he walked past him that he was going to bite their toes, but i was always able to assure them that he's just smelling them like everything else. he has never made me look like a liar.
The incident: today i got home from class, and the last person in the apartment had let him out to roam, so he acknowledged me as he walked across the floor, like normal. i sat on the ground feeding my quail worms from my fingers for maybe 20 mins. then i got up to get something out of the freezer (it happened to be a mouse to thaw for him, but he didnt know that). as i was opening the fridge, he snuck up on my toes and bit them really hard! way harder than he usually goes at food. he also had a special bowl that means food that has never changed, and that bowl was nowhere near me.
I had no idea he was next to me, so i instinctively pulled away and looked down to see him looking up at me. i said 'nope!', as he knows that means he cant have something or go somewhere. i started to walk away calmly, but he proceeded to chase my toes and looked like he was gonna have another go at em! so i scooped him up and put him on the dog bed, where he just got interested in something else. he didnt resist when i picked him up at all, which is kind of weird for him.
i have a bit of an idea how to correct this behavior, starting with not making my toes act like prey items! i.e. avoid wiggling and shuffling, dont dip my toes in my nice meat juice foot-bath every night, that kind of thing. i have never been one to pull away or get mad when he bites (it's happened twice when he was a hatchling on my hand) and i plan to continue that.
But now my toe is bleeding and stinging, so i dont believe it was a test bite or a warning bite. my feet havent been in anything but my clean shoes and socks today. nor have i ever teased him with my toes. it may just be that teenage tegu coming out to terrorize me or simple over-enthusiastic curiosity, but im struck with the suddenness of the manifestation of this toe interest. and it escalated rather quickly!
my question is, has anyone else dealt with a tegu randomly developing an interest in biting toes and fingers not related to hand feeding, toe wiggling, or anything else to openly invite the behavior? Any other ideas/suggestions on how i should go about dealing with this. and i definitely wont simply lock him up for the rest of his life, he loves roaming too much.
Thanks!