Exploratory bites

[Oinari]

Well as in my welcome thread I mentioned my tegu came towards me around the time food was given. I avoided giving him food when he could see me put the plate in the enclosure for a few days. Recently he showed interest when I placed my hand near him.

Rather than the fast quick bite he gives food when he grabs it. He smelled/tasted my finger a few times, then slowly (And I mean slowly) opened his mouth, put it over my finger and bit down enough to be felt, but not to break skin (Not sure if hatchlings can break skin). I slowly slid my finger back out, then he ignored it, looking up at me.

Today he was much less afraid of my hand, but made no attempt to bite, instead allowing me to touch and pet at him, and was less afraid of my general mucking around his enclosure. He noticed his food plate, which was placed there out of his view, and continued to ignore me after he saw it and went for it.

I was just curious about the way he went about biting, which was different than the way he attacked food items. I was quite surprised he didn't bite hard enough to feel like more than the pinch of a closepin.

 

[Concept Dragons]

Interesting my 3 week old Tegu did the same thing today .....

 

[Tyler137]

You should really think about feeding him outside of his enclosure..

 

[Logie_Bear]

my gu did the exact same thing as a hatchling. once to my hand, once to my toe, and once to my bfs hand. all within like a week. after that she never did it again. tegu taste test!

 

[TeguBuzz]

You should really think about feeding him outside of his enclosure..

Why is it important to feed outside the enclosure? I kept tegus for several years and never fed outside the enclosure - and I did not experience any aggression from them.

Continue to feed in the enclosure, it is less stressful and if you raise your gu right - you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Tyler137]

Why is it important to feed outside the enclosure? I kept tegus for several years and never fed outside the enclosure - and I did not experience any aggression from them.

Continue to feed in the enclosure, it is less stressful and if you raise your gu right - you have nothing to worry about.

1. You at least handle your tegu once everyday when you take him/her out to feed.
2. There is less of a chance of cage aggression. You haven't experienced cage aggression, but it is still a possibility that they will associate things coming into their cage as food.. While if they are constantly in the habit of being taken out of their enclosure and never eat in it, it is very unlikely they will bite or be aggressive.
3. You get rid of the risk of impaction depending on your substrate.

 

[TeguBuzz]

At a small size or young age, taking your tegu out every time for feelings will not cause stress. If done properly - feeding within the enclosure will not result in cage aggression or health complications.
My two cents, don't bother with out of cage feeding.

To each his own.

 

[Skeetzy]

My tegu tried the same slow bite. I made the mistake of jerking away and getting a nice slice, but nothing since then.

My gu eats both inside and outside his enclosure. For some reason, he will now only take his whole prey inside the enclosure. Shows no interest in them outside of it, not entirely sure why since he used to. But as far as ground meat, he always starts eating it outside his enclosure. But some days, goes back in and looks at me until I put the plate in his enclosure, where he eats more. Some days he won't touch it when it's inside. I wouldn't call him tame, but he hasn't showed any aggression towards me, and isn't all that food aggressive.

 

[Oinari]

Thanks for all the opinions. I've been reading them as they came. Is there a specific forum for doing like weekly/monthly updates on how your tegu is doing? He's never made another attempt to bite, though when he is hungry and it's near feeding time, he'll approach my hand more readily.

Today and this is the second time, he tasted around my hand a bit, then started trying to dig under and explore around it. I've been avoiding him seeing me set his food plate in his enclosure every time, and making sure that I'm in his enclosure doing some general cleaning/mucking about so that he sees I have no food. He's also calming down some when I touch him and attempt to slide my hand under him. He gets two courses (two types of food items in one sitting) per meal, and doesn't seem picky at all about what he's fed, including fruit.

I'm really grateful this site exists as it's always been a wealth of information, and the number of people each with their own experiences and techniques at raising these guys.

 

[jtrux]

My yearling did the whole taste test thing too, he's 33".

I feed in cage and out depending on what I have going on. The results are the same...he eats the food.

 

[Midwestmonster]

I always feed out. For me simply not worth the risk of ingesting substrate. I just place the food dish in the middle of the room and open the door. She comes right out to eat and walks back to her enclosure to bask. On non feeding days I meet her at the opening, pick her up and carry her to the bathroom to do her number one and two. She does it every time. Only pooped twice in the cage since I've had her 3 months. I consider her potty trained. Goes "home" when I tell her 90% of the time and comes when I call her too about 70-80% . She's very smart. I work with her everyday.

 

[mrecore1]

My baby tegu did the same thing....they seem to explore through biting. Its slow motion and not aggressive. I was bite in a similar way myself.