First bite. Yikes.

[beardeddragon111]

Ok so explanation time. I brought the my 40" female tegu outside so that she could get some sunlight. I should have been more careful when picking her back up. Anyway, when I picked her up, she acted crazy, and I was only able to hold her by the base of the tail to keep ahold of her, in fear of her getting loose. Well, she whipped back and got me in the arm. Thank god her jaws didn't lock or this could have been much worse. After 30-45 minutes we managed to trick her into getting into a dog cage with no other injurys. The wound was cleaned out and were currently letting the lizard cool down before I pick her up and move her to her cage. I'm fully aware of how much worse this injury could have been, and don't think I plan on taking her outside anymore, as beneficial as it is. I want to reduce these instances as much as is possible. I would like any advice of safely getting her back to her cage with no more trouble, I don't want to be bit again and dont want to harm the lizard, but she clearly is not back to her normal self.

I did learn, however, how smart these lizards really are. She KNEW that the dog cage was a trap. She knew once she got in there we would close the doors and keep her in. She looked all of us directly in the eyes, something I haven't seen reptiles do before. Anyway, thanks to whoever read through this whole thing, and just a tip, be careful when moving animals with questionable temperaments into full sunlight. My girl was only 8 pounds, a 20 pound animal could take off fingers and do a lot more damage than her.

Just a sidenote, yes I cleaned the wound very well after taking these pictures, there were no teeth left in my arm and I only seem to have little puncture marks rather than any actual tears.

 

[beardeddragon111]

Here she is in the dog cage

 

[beardeddragon111]

btw sorry for the huge photos didnt mean to do that...

 

[Walter1]

Beard- You were lucky she was only miffed. A full-on bite with roll and she'd've taken out a plug for sure.

My suggestion is to place dog cage near her enclosure at chest level and let her temperature cool to mid-upper 70s. A light on but not bright.

When you approach her she'll not feel at a frightened disadvantage on the floor. Talk to her as you approach.

Open the cage door and slowly, deliberately approach her with a closed fist. See if she'll allow you to rub a cheek with a knuckle. Keep talking.

She'll want to leave the cage for sure. When she does, attempt to lift/support under her belly as she leaves and guide her into her enclosure.

If she attempts to violently bolt, yel no and squeeze he close to yourcside for full restraint no matter how long the struggle. When she relaxes, you relax and say good girl. If she tries to bolt, repeat. Might feel like forever but they run out of gas in a minute or two.

 

[beardeddragon111]

I just got her back to her cage. I had placed an open container in the dog crate and she just climbed in, so I closed it and moved her back.I went that route because she started acting defensive and didn't want a tail whip to the face to top everything off. I'm gonna be more careful with handling for the next couple weeks just to make sure she doesn't act like a wild animal anymore.

And yeah I feel like I got really lucky this time. Their jaw power is crazy and she really could have taken a chunk out of me. This happened to be no worse than a chihuahua bite lol.

 

[Justin]

First I've been there granted I didn't get bit second, if you are going to take your tegu outside let me recommend a harness and leash. Tegus get very defensive in new places and as you know they can be a handful the behavior you experienced is not abnormal but she should get over it and calm down if you keep up with the regimen.
Even my tegu with me taking him outside regularly has gone wild a couple of times for some unknown reason thankfully he was wearing a harness and leash so I was able to give him some space and he calmed down enough for me to get him inside. Now he is generally pretty mellow unless dogs or strangers get to close then he puffs up but that is pretty much it.

Now for the harness I was using a ferret harness but he outgrew it so I am now using a cat harness which works great. You will most likely run into the issue of your tegu fighting you on the leash fortunately reptiles tire fairly quickly. What you want to do is guide the animal and provide just enough resistance so that they're front legs stay lightly on the ground. What will most likely happen is she will flop over and roll which is fine or she may try to back out of the harness just let her back up and don't fight her till she turns turns. Only provide resistance from the the sides and behind. Once she calms down just let her move about and try to make it a positive experience. You can guide there movement with the leash to point them in the direction you want them to go but if she is calm try pick her up one hand behind the front legs supporting her chest the other behind the back legs supporting the pelvis if she starts to get squirmy transition her to your chest if she does not calm down put her down gently as possible wait and try again. I don't think most tegus like being held in general but the goal is to get her to tolerate it long enough to get back inside.

Nice bite by the way!