# Cage Aggression & More...



## OscarColoTegu (Nov 18, 2012)

I'd first like to say that I really appreciate these forums and they have helped me out a lot. This is my first post but I've been reading and taking notes for a few months now. 

***Background info***
I purchased a golden tegu about 2-3months ago that had been returned by previous owner...I believe he is about a year old, he was a foot long from head to tail when purchased. I bought him because his behavior was so good outside of his cage when they brought him out (I had heard how aggressive they were) and had been interested in finding a B&W Argentine.

***Routine***
I take him out once a day 30min to 2hrs at a time, give him a warm bath which gets him to relieve himself then I just hang out with him closed off in the bathroom. I feed him in the bathroom with me using tongs & a food dish depending on the food i'm serving up that day. He is fine around me when he is "free roaming" he will climb all over me etc. He does not like to be directly pet and will often try to get away or raise up & hiss etc. but not tail whip or attempt to bite when free roaming. He calms down though and has now gotten to the point where he will let me pet him (occasionally) while free roaming. 

***Questions***
1. Cage Aggression - Even though I feed him outside of his enclosure, when I get him out it starts. He hisses, whips & bites. I only get him out when he is out and about, never when he is hiding under his substrate. I have tried every method, I go in very slow and calm and just put my hand in the cage...he does calm down if I keep my hand in there and will stop hissing etc. but he'll never just come to my hand, he just freezes up and everytime I get my hand a bit closer he gets alerted again. The second my hand touches him it's all over, he is flighting all over the cage and or biting. I still have to get him out tho to handle him and feed him, so inevitably I end up going in eagle style and have to come in from the top to get him out (Which i've read is not very good practice for trying to tame). Once I have him in my hands he is still pretty upset, will keep is mouth opened & try to bite me etc. I just keep petting him on the head and talking to him and he subdues shortly after & starts licking and allowing me to pet him anywhere on the face without aggression. He will still try to get out of my hands at times, and doesn't like being restricted...but he never goes back to wanting to bite at me. Right now he is in a 55 gallon wide tank that I use to house snakes in that only opens from the top, which is not ideal...I think if I had a cage that opened from the side that allowed him to naturally walk out a bit and I wasn't always coming for him from the top of the enclosure it would be better. Knowing this though I still cannot justify it, I do plan to make him a custom enclosure for when he is larger but until then the 55gal wide tank is more than sufficient for his size.

I just don't know what to do about this, he is great outside of his tank for the most part and i've made huge progress in that respect but the cage aggression is not getting any better. Even after spending 2hrs bonding with him that day, when putting him back in his enclosure it's like it never happened. He goes right back to hissing & tail whipping as soon as he gets in the enclosure. I have resorted to wearing a glove initially when taking him out, yeah the bite isn't that bad and I tried that also just letting him bite my hand and showing no fear to let him know that biting is not going to help. I just end up with lots of bites and less encouragement to keep it up...so I use a glove. 

2. Changing Day/Night cycles - Right now my lights on schedule is from 7am-7pm, within an hour of light being on he is usually awake and out basking and roaming around so by about 8am. He only stays out for maybe 3-4hrs...usually by around 11am he is already back to hiding and won't come out again for the day. I don't know if this is typical or if it's because we're into the colder months, but I have a fairly short window to get him out and handle/feed him without disturbing him while hiding. Anyways I guess the real question is, i'm going to be changing my work schedule soon and have to change the day/night cycle around on him in order to still have time to handle him...the Tegu and I are going to an overnight schedule so instead of his lights coming on at 7am...it's going to be more like 7pm..to 7am. Does anyone have experience in best way to do this? I'm probably putting too much thought into it, just change his light schedule and he'll come out whenever the lights are on but any advice would be appreciated.


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Nov 18, 2012)

_Welcome to the site and congrats on the new gu. 

The whole process takes time, you just have to keep at it. Some longer than others and there will be good days or weeks and bad, some times more bad then good. From your description he's still young, small and you've only had it about three months, they also get calmer with size.

With the tank you can try coming in from one side and approach at his level, so you're not always approaching or grabbing him from above. How much time you spend working with them doesn't matter to them. It's more the process and how things play out that they learn from. If he's use to you coming into his territory and chasing him down, then that's what he'll expect, be and get ready for when ever you come in.

Once out it's a different process with more to take into consideration. Usually both of you are a little calmer and he just spent what ever amount of energy trying to keep away from you. As for him being calmer at the shop, it can go either way but it's not always a good thing. Once you get them home and they settle in you see the other side.

Changing the cycles can be done but also takes time. 

It's only been about three months, still in the early stages of the process. Even if or when you have one good day, week or even a couple of weeks it could all change the next day for a while then go back to normal. 

There are no quick fixes, it just takes time. When people see calm, reptiles hanging out with their owner, in shops, at shows or what ever few people think about the time and work that was put into it for it to be that way. It doesn't happen over night and rarely even a few months._


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## Mark Davidson (Jan 9, 2013)

I disagree with you. It depends on the animal. Animals will be calm/tame is you be calm/tame.


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