feeding outside the cage

[Guest]

need sugestions on feeding my baby black and white argentine. ok so the situation is the baby has an apetite and eats fine, but problem is that he wont accept food outside the cage. i put him in a ten gallon with his food and all he does is just try to escape, and i know he knows its his food because he will look at it really intensely and then just leave it, ive taped up news papers so he cant see through the glass but no use. but as soon as i put the food in the enclosure then him he devours everything. so i was looking for suggestions from people with more experiences. he also seems to accept only things that move. so i dont want him to get cage agressive when he gets older. also the whole eating of the substrate. so should i starve him untill he will eat in a seperate enclosure?

 

[slideaboot]

I had the same problem last summer. I pretty much offered food outside of the cage ONLY. Within 2 or 3 days he was eating regularly in the feeding bin. Hope that helps.

 

[Orion]

Just give it time, be patient and regimented about your routine, when and where and your Tegu will fall in line. Mine was the same way for some time. He is a year old and was pushing my 85 pound dog out of the way to get his cooked chicken breast pieces I threw on threw on the floor.

 

[Guest]

It may sound harsh, but I would offer him his food in a separate bin ONLY. He'll eventually get hungry enough and cave.

I might also suggest that instead of a glass tank (even though you cover up the sides), that you use a dark colored Rubbermade bin. That's what we use, and on the suggestion of another tegu owner, we clamp on a small light to the side so that they can see what it is we're giving them. It works great.

 

[Toby_H]

I've always fed my tegu in the enclosure, still do and I highly doubt I change it...

I put the plate on a large flat rock which makes it very easy to keep substrate out of the food...

My Tegu is extremely docile and is teh opposite of food aggressive. I don't hesitate at all to hold the plate for him while he eats or to take the plate away from him while eating... he's never bitten anyone...

I think using a feeding bin is very important for some species of reptiles, and because of that the theory is applied to to all/most species of reptiles... But in my experience with my Tegu, it's far more work than it's worth...

 

[sclevenger08]

I don't understand the whole feed ONLY outside the enclousure. Because someone told me to take my tegu outside of the enclosure, bath him, give him attention and what not. While im doing that place his food inside the enclosure, then when Im done messin with him. Place him back in his enclosure. I was told that this would make him eager to want to spend time with me because he learns when I take him out when he comes back there will be food. And its actually worked. My tegu has calmed down significanltly and he is not cage agressive in the least.

 

[Guest]

thanks for all the suggestions =) appreciate it

 

[Guest]

I think there are general guidelines, but ultimately, you do what works for you and your tegu. We had always wanted to use a separate feeding bin, and so right from day one when we got them, that's the only option we gave them. It turned out to be a great decision, as they're horribly messy eaters, and trying to find and clean all of the chunks that were sent flying would be a HELLUVA lot harder had we fed them in their enclosure; at least with a Rubbermade bin we can simply hose it out.