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Hello

I've been keeping reptiles for over 20 years but have little experience with tegus. I purchased 3 juvenile caiman lizards a few months ago and so far all three are healthy but they are very aggressive. They lunge at me when I open the cage, whip their tails, hiss and struggle when I try to handle them. They are not particularly difficult to catch but so far they are not warming up to me.

I know from other types of lizards like monitors and iguanas that regular handling over time helps but I was wondering about a few things.

Are they better kept together or alone to tame them down faster?

Sometimes I feel that they feed off each other's aggression.

Also so far they seem to only want apple snails. Luckily I have a ready supply of frozen ones at the asian supermarket but I've tried different catfoods, clams, fish, periwinkles and they just ignore them.

Lastly how bad is their bite? I know they crack snail shells so I assume it is bad, but do they have serrated teeth like iguanas or is it more of a crushing bite.

Thanks in advance. I've always wanted one of these since I saw a picture on the cover of the TFH reptile atlas and am glad they are finally affordable and clean (ie-not wild caught). I want to make sure that I raise them properly and hopefully at least tame one of them...