How can I discourage Tegu biting?

[ReCursiveDescent]

My new tegu was fed inside the enclosure, hand fed, and fed live prey sometimes. He has never tried to bite out of aggression or defense, and has never seemed scared of me. However, I discovered that he will try and bite hands and fingers (especially if they are in his enclosure). After being bitten once I bought a pair of gloves. He shows no interest in biting the gloves, and will climb all over and around me in the bathroom, so after a couple days I thought I would try my hands again.

I made a fist and stuck it in the enclosure he came up to it tongue flicking, but he did not bite. In order to pick him up I needed to use my other hand so I did the same thing with it and he bit me right on the nuckle/finger (my hands probably smelled like hand-sanitizer which I can't imagine smells appetizing). I did not jerk back I remained calm and slowly took my arm out before I was bitten again. I went to clean the wound and tried again with the other hand. He bit it - same routine - came back, put on gloves, and everything was fine.

My lizard is just over 30 inches so being bitten only causes a shallow flesh wound, but it still is not very pleasant (more shocking than anything else). I have been strictly feeding him in a feeding tub and spending time with him everyday. He's made great improvements in many areas, but I would really like to break this habit as soon as I can. Is there anything I can do besides what I am already doing to eliminate this behavior?

Thanks again!

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Time,... just keep doing what you're doing unfortunately since he already knows not to bite the glove, he also has to learn and disassociate hands with food and or feeding time, which only happens with time. Just the same as it takes time for them to make that association with anything else. Even if it means putting your hand in his cage numerous times a day just to touch or move something around with out bothering him. For now to keep from getting bit use the gloves when you have to reach for him.
Also I don't know how old your tegu is, how much or how often you feed but try feeding him more and see if that helps. He may be still hungry, looking for and expecting more food. He just needs more time to get use to hands inside his enclosure or out, without food being involved.

 

[Skeetzy]

Are you sure your hands don't smell like his food? I don't believe hand sanitizer kills smells as well as washing your hands... A few times.

I made the mistake of not washing my hands the other day. My tegu always leaves a few bites left over when he's done eating, that I put in his cage in case he decides to eat them a little later, which he almost always does. Well I goto check the other morning, and the meat was still there, and smelling horrible. I took the plate out, washed it, but not my hands, and went back to him. My hands must've reaked, because he tried biting me. Barely grazed two of my fingers, leaving minor cuts. I immediately used hand sanitizer, and tried continuing playing with him. He was chasing my hands, with such motive. Then I went and actually washed my hands, and he was stopped chasing my hands like they were a mouse. I think hand sanitizer masks the smell to a human nose, but not to tegus. Merely assumptions but something worth thinking about.

 

[Midwestmonster]

In my short time of owning a tegu, what seems to work for me is me putting the plate on the floor in the middle of the room and she walks out to it herself. I don't want her to associate me with food.

I never grab at her in the enclosure. I pet her inside there and move her around a bit, but I feel that is her space and I try to respect that.

I also wash my hands throughly with soap and water to get rid of any smells. Seemed to work so far.....

 

[parapara]

We recently had our Tegu bite one of us for no reason I can tell. Seriously, my partner was asleep in bed (the tegu is generally free roaming when we're home) and he just woke up, licked her a few times, and bit the side of her face. He's never displayed aggression before (he's 2, so that's a lot of interaction with people, from family to friends to neighborhood folks). We have no idea what happened...

Just saying, even the most handled, socialized tegu can decide to test his boundaries.

 

[Josh]

Just saying, even the most handled, socialized tegu can decide to test his boundaries.

A good reminder. Sorry your partner had to go through that though.