# Temper Change After Puberty



## cornking4 (Dec 16, 2009)

I've heard of many large reptiles hitting a certain age and suddenly turning on their caretakers, even if they were tamed as juveniles... There are instances of savs, black throats, etc turning aggressive almost mechanically after "puberty". My grandpa even had a caiman back in 1948 when there was no regulation in the pet trade... He got it dog tame, then when it hit 3 feet it almost immediately started attacking him and he had to surrender it to a croc farm. A lot of people say that tegus do almost the opposite, starting out aggressive then turning very tame very fast at around a year old. What do you guys make of this? Do you see this in your tegus?


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## chelvis (Dec 16, 2009)

I know with my tegu, when i got him at three months old he was alittly flighty and nippy. After a month or two he wasn't nippy anymore but was still flighty would come out of his cage without a bit of a fight. All of a sudden just after a year old he would scratch to come out of his cage on his own. Not only that but i could reach in his cage and pull him out without him huffing his back up or getting the tail ready. He just lets me take him out whenever. One exception is if he sees his food dish then he trys to climb into his food dish before i put it down. But ya it seems like at one year old somthing just clicked in his mind that whatever happens happens. I can have him free roam my room with no worries, take him to visit classrooms and petstores all the time. 

I've heard that when they reach a certain size its like the realize that there is not much that can hurt them anymore so they calm down. I've had my tegu now for 4 years now and his demeaner hasnt changed a bit, maybe his been getting lazyer though.


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## reptastic (Dec 16, 2009)

well my tegu i noticed that once she hit around 32" she started to get more aggressive especialy toward her food(she is always fed ft rodents) and she dosnt want to be picked up. now she will let me rub her, but she starts to huff and puff after a while. she has never biten me and only tried once when she didnt eat for four days and was hungry. im not sure if she is going through puberty, but it sure seems like it. she is only 5 1/2 mo but is 39 1/2 " long.


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## txrepgirl (Dec 16, 2009)

Some of my Tegus had some mood swings and tried to bite every now and than during their puperty. It didn't last long and they became very tame again like they were before the puperty.


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