feeding inside cage

[wford84]

Hi, I am having problems getting my tegu to eat crickets inside his feeding bin. I have tried dusted and undusted and he isn't interested, but when put into his cage they are eaten immediately. He has no problem eating frozen mice or fruit in his bin. Any advice on what I should do?

 

[turtlepunk]

I had the same problem when my tegu was a lot younger. I just fed him inside his enclosure, (which is something a lot of members will disagree with) but I have NEVER experienced cage aggression with him because I made sure to interact with him aside from just opening his enclosure just to feed him. When you take your lil' guy out of his enclosure into a new place to eat, he doesn't recognize the surroundings, which in turn may freak him out, which might explain why he won't eat outside of his enclosure.
If you feel more comfortable feeding him outside of his enclosure, maybe try introducing him to his "feeding bin" every day until he gets used to it.
I never bothered with any of that with my tegu and he turned out just fine. I feed all of my snakes inside their enclosures as well and they don't display any cage aggression at all due to the fact i'm always interacting with them.

 

[laurarfl]

I feed babies inside their enclosure, but move them to feeding outside of the enclosure as they get older. Basically, for all the reasons that turtlepunk stated.

 

[james.w]

I fed all my reptiles (snakes and lizards) inside their enclosures. Like turtlepunk said as long as you interact with them other than just for feeding you shouldn't have any aggression.

 

[wford84]

Thanks for the responses. I will start feeding him in his cage for now then.