# Chacoan behaviour



## GraphiK (Jul 29, 2009)

Got my beautiful little girl yesterday (girlfriend and I decided to name her Amaiya) and placed her in her enclosure, a 40gal breeder. The lighting is a 100w MVB and a 75w Heat lamp, basking temps are hitting about 100 degrees and 85 degrees on the cool side. The entire day she was extremely active, I had given her two pinkies after getting off the phone with bobby (Both were fed outside of the enclosure) and gave her the rest of the day to get used to her new enclosure for the next few months. What was odd to me was not once did she go into her hide or burrow, instead she spent most of the day jumping up the side of the tank over and over again. She only comes about half way up the glass when she tries but when she starts growing more I think she may be able to pull off reaching the top and possibly escaping or worse, getting burnt. Is this a normal behaviour? Should I be worried or just see it as a little extra exercise?
I've also noticed while feeding Amaiya yesterday that with each thing given to her (3 pinkies and a few superworms) she would bite the food and then violently shake the food about. I assumed this was the norm for all tegu but after watching plenty of videos on youtube I'm noticing that most of the tegus aren't doing this while eating. My question is, is this a juvenile feeding behaviour, a personality based feeding behaviour or possibly that of all Chacoans? 

Looking forward to your responses! 

-Josh Fabian


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## JohnMatthew (Jul 29, 2009)

85 is a little warm for the cool side, I'd try to get that down a few degrees.. That could explain her trying to get out of the enclosure all the time. As for the shaking, it's completely normal, gotta kill it before you swallow :-D


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## GraphiK (Jul 29, 2009)

Thanks for the advice!


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## Richard21 (Jul 29, 2009)

Graphik how tame is your Giant? I can't even go near mine with out him going completly NUTS. How can I get him in my feeding bin if he is going crazy?


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## GraphiK (Jul 29, 2009)

She was a little skittish at first but my girlfriend and I have taken things slowly and she is amazing right now and it's only been a day! She is at the point now that she will walk and climb up on our hand to get out when she is in her enclosure. 

I'll send you a private message with my contact info so you can im me. I'd be glad to tell you what we're doing and see if it helps you out at all.


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## olympus (Jul 29, 2009)

Mine is a maniac. He has broken two power sun bulbs already.


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## GraphiK (Jul 29, 2009)

Wow, how did it break the bulbs? :shock:


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## olympus (Jul 30, 2009)

jumping up and hitting it..


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## hailo (Jul 30, 2009)

Richard21 said:


> Graphik how tame is your Giant? I can't even go near mine with out him going completly NUTS. How can I get him in my feeding bin if he is going crazy?



richard i was told with these babies you done need to take him out of the cage quite yet for eating, unless your doing it for your own reasons you can probably just leave him in there


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## GraphiK (Aug 3, 2009)

It's always a good idea to take them out of the cage to avoid ingestion of substrate, if nothing else. Nobody likes impaction!


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## koikaren (Aug 3, 2009)

GraphiK said:


> It's always a good idea to take them out of the cage to avoid ingestion of substrate, if nothing else. Nobody likes impaction!




I would have to agree with this and add that its better to start early then try to change there eating habits later and it helps with bonding since you will have to pick it up at least twice a day for feeding....but thats just my opinion


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## Richard21 (Aug 3, 2009)

He does not like his feeding bin at all he runs back and forth slaming into the plastic and the food is all over him. I keep trying to put him in his feeding bin but he just does not like it.


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