• Hello guest! Are you a Tegu enthusiast? If so, we invite you to join our community! Our site is specifically designed for you and it's a great place for Tegu enthusiasts to meet online. Once you join you'll be able to post messages, upload pictures of your Tegu and enclosure and have a great time with other Tegu fans. Sign up today! If you have any questions, problems, or other concerns email [email protected]!

Exciteable Tegu who lunges at anything moving quickly

Zaelis

New Member
Messages
10
Knock on wood, so far my 'gu has shown no aggression toward me, or family. However he seems to have one habit which, I'm seeking advice on. He doesn't seem to lunge out of aggression, as he only seems to show this behavior before he has been fed/when hungry. Is there any way for me to curb this behaviour? From what I've observed, it seems when he is hungry, he feels the need to chase after and "attack" anything that moves quickly, that he thinks may be food. This can range from my hand while I was digging in his cage, to the dirt balls rolling from when I was digging. He initially was simply chasing dirt, which I found amusing, but changed his attention to my hand when he saw it moving through the dirt, which I was not amused about. Luckily he's still relatively small, and barely scraped me. When he did this, I didn't jerk my hand away, and he simply started licking/sniffing my hand, as if realizing "Oh, that's not food." before walking away. I noticed while sweeping the other day, that he was trying to chase the broom handle, and came out of his cage to run at the bristles. (He has free roam of my room while I'm in it.) He didn't bite the bristles, but showed the same behaviour as he does when he's lunged at my hands. The best way I can describe it is he gets way to excitable at the prospect of food. Is there anything I can do to discourage this sort of behavior? Or is it something most young 'gu's show? If any more details are needed, ask away! I'll answer them asap.
 

Walter1

Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
5 Year Member
Messages
4,384
Well, he's young and hungry. This is normal. there are different approaches to feeding that work among the members here. Mine will follow me around if they're hungry, but because I only feed in their one and only food bowl, they don't lunge at me.. If the male is poking at my crocs too much, I'll sternly yell NO!. He gets the message.
 

Zaelis

New Member
Messages
10
Well, he's young and hungry. This is normal. there are different approaches to feeding that work among the members here. Mine will follow me around if they're hungry, but because I only feed in their one and only food bowl, they don't lunge at me.. If the male is poking at my crocs too much, I'll sternly yell NO!. He gets the message.

I figured as much, thanks for the reply! Is this something they'll grow out of, once they realize they'll always be fed, and don't need to chase every moving thing? I guess I'm just concerned of him keeping this habit, and having a bit more of a bite when fully grown. Though I suppose only time will tell.
 

Walter1

Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
5 Year Member
Messages
4,384
Keeping food to bowl and sternly saying no and not pulling away if he bites and he'll figure it out quickly. Also, when petting or holding, move your hands over his mouth and head and chin making sure that you don't smell like food. This way, he'll see and smell you as you and not food. Helps too if you throw a used shirt in his hide to reinforce it.
 

Zaelis

New Member
Messages
10
Alright, I'll keep that in mind if he bites again. As for petting/holding, I already do that. I make sure to pet his chin, nose, cheeks etc. The only time I've been bitten was when I was feeding him from tongs and he jumped at my hand (I've since switched to feeding him from a bowl, so he no longer has to wait for me to grab the next piece, and get excited/jump.) and the digging in his cage incident. He also nipped my fathers finger, but that was after my dad had just finished having a hamburger, without washing, so I think that's fairly self explanatory. I'll keep working with him, because aside from these three little nips, I've had no issues with him.Thanks for the tips!
 

Members online

No members online now.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
20,091
Messages
177,789
Members
10,316
Latest member
Juiced
Top