Aggressive After Feeding !! Advice

[Duffster]

Hello everyone and thank you for taking the time to read this. We are new Tegu owners and are unsure if this is normal or if there is a way to eliminate or to avoid the issue.
Max is a 3 yr old B/W 47" - 11lbs. after feeding him he is extremely aggressive for about thirty minutes . After you pick him up and handle him he is fine. Any other time he is a lover and loves attention. The previous owner did say to be careful after feeding. We are just wanting to know what the normal is? Thanks in advance

Duffy & Kim

 

[Diablo]

How long have you had him?

 

[Duffster]

About a week. We feed him in a separate location than his room ( He has his own room.) He is very tame and gets lots of attention.

 

[Chris23039]

Make sure your hands don't smell of the food can help I've heard I'm sure someone with a lot of experience will be along soon

 

[Diablo]

I would give it some time and see if he gets calmer after eating, just keep handling him as much as possible like you are. It could be that he is just excited to eat. Do you hand feed him or put him with his food already there in a bowl for him to eat? It's always better to either tong feed, or have the food already there in his bowl so he doesn't associate your hands with food. It also could be that the previous owner was doing something wrong to make him aggressive after he was finished eating.

 

[Duffster]

He will only eat live Rats (No white Rats!! Wont eat them!), Baby Chicks and some fruit. Doesn't like chicken at all. very picky eater. Luckily we own AzRodentSupply so we always have a large selection of rats. We are learning as we go and hopefully doing the best for him with the research. The previous owners loved him very much and he was well taken care of.

When we feed him we stun the rats . he eats those fast but is aggressive afterwards

 

[JohnMatthew]

Don't offer rats for a few weeks. Tegus have favorite foods just like us, if you let them that's all they'll ever eat. I'd personally avoid anything live(stunned or otherwise) for a while and see if the aggression doesn't subside. Here's a list of some food items you can try, courtesy of PuffDragon:

http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=6452#axzz1zaLBEhM1

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Stop feeding live, that's your issue. Live prey gets them excited, stimulates their prey drive and puts them on alert looking out for more. So just about anything that's small enough and moves is fair game. As long as he's healthy and has good weight on him, missing a few meals to get him interested in frozen thawed or pre killed prey won't do him any harm.

If for what ever reason you choose not to use f/t or pre killed prey items, then leave him alone and give him plenty of time to calm down before handling.

Personally feeding live prey is too much of a risk with animals that can do damage like they can. You never what or when something might stimulate that feeding response. You, someone or something else might end up on the wrong end of those jowls and sharp teeth.

Someone on here or the other site just recently posted pics of a bite they got from their tegu. Not good,... but could have also been worse.

 

[TegusRawsome80]

I think it's an animal that gets excited about feeding. Just don't handle it until it calms down.

 

[m3s4]

Stop feeding live, that's your issue. Live prey gets them excited, stimulates their prey drive and puts them on alert looking out for more. So just about anything that's small enough and moves is fair game. As long as he's healthy and has good weight on him, missing a few meals to get him interested in frozen thawed or pre killed prey won't do him any harm.

If for what ever reason you choose not to use f/t or pre killed prey items, then leave him alone and give him plenty of time to calm down before handling.

Personally feeding live prey is too much of a risk with animals that can do damage like they can. You never what or when something might stimulate that feeding response. You, someone or something else might end up on the wrong end of those jowls and sharp teeth.

Someone on here or the other site just recently posted pics of a bite they got from their tegu. Not good,... but could have also been worse.

+1000. Spot on.

 

[Duffster]

UPDATE: The Tegu has always been fed stunned rats from the previous owner. He is still being fed live stunned as he will not eat anything other that that. We have tried it all. He is no longer aggressive and has adjusted to new household Thank you everyone for the advice and input. Very much appreciated!