biting like bloody hell...

[White_Lotus]

I got a new tegu from bobby last week and i love her she's great...real good eater, very active, gorgeous...just simply great except for one thing...SHE LOVES TO BITE ME!!! just now she bit me so hard i started bleed like crazy literally dripping blood on my way downstairs...i fed her in her enclosure twice with her seeing me...i started feeding her in her enclosure because she would nevr let me pick her up so a few daysago i started puttin gfood in there when she was asleep and that really hasnt helped at all...i tried to wash my hands so they wouldnt smell like food and that doesnt work, everytimei go to do something in her cage she bites me whether i'm picking up poop, changing her water, rewetting her sphagnum moss EVERYTHING she's 1/8 the size of my other tegu but i have more scars from her than my eldest Tegu Akira =( what do i do? i'm gonna try gloves tomorrow and i know this should take me a while but idk what i can do...i hear everyone else's tegus are tame right out the box but not mine =( she's been biting me since the first time i put my hand in there(pre-feeding in the enclosure) :hifit HELP ME PLEASE!!

 

[AWD247]

Sounds like your tegu has no trust for you built up yet, Thats probably your biggest problem.

Try running down these steps that worked for me.

Make sure you have 1-2 hides for your GU
Put a T-shirt or something you just had on in the enclosure (near the hide worked for me) have something in there everyday so it remembers your scent.
Out of the 4 walls of your enclosure make sure the 2 sides and back are covered.
(Hopefully your enclsoure opens from the front, if not its going to take longer to gain trust from your GU when your reaching in from above like a predator)
Make sure all of your movements are EXTREMELY slow, make sure its always looking at you so it understands your not a threat.
Another thing I did was I got in my bath tub with my GU, theres basically no way for it to get out and if it wants to walk around and investigate it basically has to walk and climb all over me, (which gains trust) just let it walk all over you, try to pet it very slightly for just a few seconds then stop, let it be then try again a few minutes later, learn its tolerance, learn when its calm and when something is kinda bothering it, (like too much petting)

Another thing is feeding in a seperate bin is well worth the hassle, if your getting this much problem while hes a lil guy, imagine when he's double/ triple the size, which he will be FAST.

Check out the Taming section, do a quick search also to see if you find any other routines that work for other members, cause remember what works for me and my GU, might not work for yours.

 

[wyattroa]

i feel your pain..lol..I have been having issues with my gu as well. It is frustrating reading about these gu's that are tame right from the get go.. but tough love makes a better bond..lol.. well thats what i tell myself..lol...

Mine has never tried to bite me. I have never been tail whipped either.

When i enter to room she takes off to her hide.. she did this when i first got her.. then she stopped doing this and started it up again. I have sat in the tub with her for hours.. ate time she will lay on me. But most of the time she will go in back of my butt and lay down. I used the shirt in the tank as well. I have sat next to the tank reading a book for a couple hours a day.. Only feed her in a feeding bin. We have made progress. She used to never let me pick her up or come near her in her cage.. but now i can pet her in the cage. She will wiggle her tail at first, but then calms down.

If i let her run around the bathroom with me she will come by me and i can pick her up. If i let her run around the room her tank is in she acts as if i want to kill her when i try to pick her up to put her back in..She will come by me.. but freaks out when i try to get her back in the cage. She will walk around on my shoulders. She has never fallen sleep on me. She has laid on me and let me pet her. But i think i should have named her cybil instead of fluffy.. she seems to have multiple personalities.

I am starting all over again with the bonding again with the tub and that. Hope it goes well..I really dont want a 4 foot tegu hating me..i also think that my gu was happy with her tank since i put her in the large one..and just was content with staying in there
robert

 

[teguboy77]

Ya my aregentine blk/white tegu i got from bobby bite me today to,but you have to remember it takes time for them to get use to there home and they proably look at you as if your going to eat them.And i think all tegu's have different personalities.Mine was frightend by the kids running around and i tried to pick him up and he nipped me,not the first time that happened out of all the tegus i've had over 9 years of keeping them lol.It takes time and some patience and your tegu will trust you just keep working at it.

 

[White_Lotus]

i have a large 30+in tegu(idk how big she is now) and she has nevr bit me and i've pissed her off a few times >.< but this little one is somethin else...i tried to pick her up bare hand she bite me, i tried a 2nd time with those cheap cotton black gloves she let me pick her up NO PROBLEM AT ALL!!! i put her in her bin so she could eat, she picked up a pinky came back to my hand and ate it. then she picked up the other pinky came back to my hand and ate it -.- but thank you guys for all your help i will be putting a t-shirt in there today and hope for the best...i am also gonna try the bath tub thing =D

 

[mikecrowder23]

The second tegu i had was a wiry little fellow. He bit me a handfull of times, mostly when getting him out of his cage, which him being so young was probably exacerbated by the fact that it was an open top cage so he thought that i was raptor of sorts. but i just sat there with my hand in the cage reading for a good while and he came to see that i wasn't a threat. especially when i would go to get him out of his cage i sat my hand in there for a minute or so to let him know i wasn't a threat then just scooped him up. The one i got from bobby a few weeks ago i was lucky he has a great temperment 'cause out of the box he was 22" and now 24" so i'm pretty sure it would draw a bit of blood. He does like to attack innanimate objects though, there's a yellow button on my dvr controller that he'll go round after round with but he doesn't hurt it so i let him play.

Yeah he's the only other man that cop a feel. :yik

 

[White_Lotus]

yea...i guess thats one issue if i leave my hand in there she goes up to it..bites it..then runs away

 

[mikecrowder23]

well that makes it a bit more interesting then doesn't it. i guess put a glove on and try it that way until she gets used to the intrusion.

 

[White_Lotus]

i'm afraid sh's gonna get to use to a glove and not use to an actual hand..i dont want her to to be 2ft long and biting at my hand