DinoDawg
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I've had my Argentine Red Tegu for about 8 months now. He's about a foot and a half long. He (I'm not sure of the gender at the moment) is my first Tegu, so I'm not very experienced with him yet.
I'm very nervous about him being aggressive when he is fully-grown, due to his constant skittishness at the moment. I've been bitten by him twice so far. The first time he had bitten me was while I was cleaning his tank, the second time was around feeding time, which I believe was accidental for he didn't seem aggressive toward me (just hungry).
He (at times) will climb on my hand when I put it in the tank, and sit on it for a good 20 minutes or so. I try to put my hand in his tank often as long as he's out of his hide (I've heard it's not good to disturb them while they're in their hide?). For a while, he had a habit of running up my arm and attempting to jump out of his tank when I'd put my hand in there. Now, he seems a little aggressive around feeding time, but he never attempts to bite me unless he happens to see me putting a pinkie mouse into his bowl. Other than that, he allows me to (at times) stroke down his back, and handle him. The most he typically does is thrash his tail or appear to hyperventilate/hiss if I startle him. I have an old piece of a blanket in his tank (I used to often sleep with it), to get him used to my sent.
Do Red Tegus tame easily/become more docile as they age? Are Tegus usually a little frisky/more prone to bite you when they know it's feeding time? Or is this an early sign of tank aggression? Any help is appreciated.
I'm very nervous about him being aggressive when he is fully-grown, due to his constant skittishness at the moment. I've been bitten by him twice so far. The first time he had bitten me was while I was cleaning his tank, the second time was around feeding time, which I believe was accidental for he didn't seem aggressive toward me (just hungry).
He (at times) will climb on my hand when I put it in the tank, and sit on it for a good 20 minutes or so. I try to put my hand in his tank often as long as he's out of his hide (I've heard it's not good to disturb them while they're in their hide?). For a while, he had a habit of running up my arm and attempting to jump out of his tank when I'd put my hand in there. Now, he seems a little aggressive around feeding time, but he never attempts to bite me unless he happens to see me putting a pinkie mouse into his bowl. Other than that, he allows me to (at times) stroke down his back, and handle him. The most he typically does is thrash his tail or appear to hyperventilate/hiss if I startle him. I have an old piece of a blanket in his tank (I used to often sleep with it), to get him used to my sent.
Do Red Tegus tame easily/become more docile as they age? Are Tegus usually a little frisky/more prone to bite you when they know it's feeding time? Or is this an early sign of tank aggression? Any help is appreciated.