First time tegu owner for 4 months now, what am I doing wrong and what am I doing right?

[Arcus]

Hi guys, been lurking for a while but thought it was time to be a member.. and even though I know it's asked all the time, I need help.

Orrin is my argentine b&w tegu I ordered from LLLReptile on 10/7/14, I don't know his exact age or gender as it wasnt provided.. but he's been very "don't touch me!" and bitey since day one.
I tried placing clothing in his enclosure with my scent on it, ive just been doing the usual cleaning and maintenance of his cage without bothering him so he hopefully get's use to me. After tegu-proofing the room ive recently been letting him free roam while i just sit in the room on my computer, and ive fed him on plates and with tongs so he doesn't associate my hands with food..
And still, I can't even get near to touching him without him puffing up, hissing, tail whipping me, and if I keep my hand in one spot he can get to for too long, he'll lung and bite. I try not to react to the bites, but he does draw blood.. so i dont like to make my hands too available for him.

Ive only had to gently grab him to get him back in his enclosure once because I needed to leave and couldnt keep an eye on him, but I fear if I had *any* trust developed at all, I lost it there, so I feel I might be better off keeping him in his enclosure for now.. but I also feel bad in doing so, I want him to be able to roam, explore, and get the exercise.

I'm starting to have thoughts of re-homing him, and perhaps I'm just not cut out as a tegu owner. I would like to keep him.. but I just don't know what to do at this point.

 

[marydd]

I think we have all been stressed with tegu taming at some point. Don't give up yet! Keep up with the clothing in the enclosure. Here is my advise. Hopefully others will chime in also. When you pick him up do not grab him so he feels pinned. Grab him from under not grabbing his whole body. You may need to wear gloves... but when he tries to escape just keep moving your hands in front of him so he is waking from hand to hand. I hope that makes sense. This way he is still able to move and not feeling like prey. But still in your hands. Maybe sit on the bed and do this with him for a couple minutes every day if possible. I know people say give him time. .. but it sounds like ge has had some time. Now start working up your hands-on time. If you have a small bathroom I would sit or lay on the floor while your gu walks around it. He will prob have to walk over you at some point. This will affirm to him that he can walk on you and you see not going to eat him. He is still small. He is still prey size in the wild. Just be patient. Take semi baby steps with the hands on. Remember that he thinks you may be a predator and he needs to learn your not. Please keep us updated! Good luck!

 

[Josh]

Don't give up yet! Try gloves - I think that's a good suggestion. Be patient and be aware of how much handling he will tolerate. When he starts to act up, give him space and let him calm down. Definitely keep us updated on how things progress!

 

[Arcus]

Just a small update, still no luck.. tried the glove thing and he got even more aggressive/defensive when i had them on like they were some monster coming after him, and today he launched from the other side of the cage and bit me when i went to give him some water. Just trying to take care of his enclosure needs is becoming hard to do, he just keeps getting worse.

 

[Jackie & Hellboy]

Do you jerk or jump when he bites at you? I know it's hard to not react but if he learns that lunging at you gets your hand to back off even an inch or even a twitch he picks up on that and will keep using that as a tactic to get space or as a warning to not move any closer.

My red tegu is nervous to this day of me, and he's 4-5 years old, he doesn't bite anymore but still might get startled and posture up and huff a bit but he has come a long way, so be aware that he might not be as calm and confident as you want him to be in the long run, also I have heard that female tegu's can be more defensive so you may have a girl but that is by no means scientific lol.

Keep trying, I suggest trying to tong feed while he roams around an open room, when he comes near have a meal item in the tongs and try not to scare him away by moving too much. Food is going to be the best chance at making him use him brain to explore and be curious in stead of using instinct to be fearful.

 

[Arcus]

I've reached my breaking point, I swear ive tried everything and he's only getting worse, and today when i opened his enclosure to give him a plate of food he jumped and latched onto my fingers ripping them apart, including penetrating the fingernails. and then completely ignored the food that i had dropped inside at that point. I have to rehome him, hopefully someone has better luck with him or atleast has a better way of managing a very aggressive tegu, if anyone knows anyone in the DC area thats interested, please contact me.

Edit: Yes, ive used gloves when trying to tame him, no I havnt been grabbing him, I only had to once the entire time ive had him because I had no choice. I didnt think to wear gloves today when he attacked me because he usually hasnt been this aggresive when I'm just trying to give him a plate of food. I feed him either by plate or tongs, never by hand. I don't think this bite was because he thought I was food. I feed him daily, as much as he can eat, and as I said he completely ignored the food after he let go. He was latched onto my fingers for a good 20 seconds. I did nothing to injure him during this, I just gently shook him to try to get him to let go.

 

[marydd]

I am sorry to hear that. Hope he finds a good home!

 

[Rebecca Stout]

Awe, I'm so sorry it didn't work out for you. I can't imagine how difficult it was dealing with what you did.

 

[Arcus]

I'm still looking to rehome him/her and trying to get in contact with some local reptile shelters, but I wanted to run something by you guys for continued care until I can.

Since it's becoming incredibly difficult to clean their enclosure and other basic maintenance without Orrin trying to bite me, I was thinking of moving them to a extra bedroom and just let them free roam so he has space to get away from me if he wants, and so he can't so quickly and easily bite at my arms and hands when I'm cleaning or feeding. I have a pretty good humidifier that can keep a small room at 70%, and I'd provide the old enclosure to keep the humidity even higher inside.
Would this be a good or bad thing to do?

Side note: I'm not 100% certain yet, but I'm starting to think I have a female going through puberty.

 

[Arcus]

Good lord, this is getting so difficult, I'm having no luck rehoming him so I'm doing my best to continue to care for him. I went ahead and moved him into his own room since it was becoming impossible to care for him in the enclosure.
The first 3 days he was very skittish, hiding or staying away from me as I came into the room to give food or clean, and now, he's walking right up to me and biting at my feet. If I wear my boots I'm fine, but is there anything I can do to discourage this behavior? This is just getting ridiculous.

 

[Walter1]

Sounds like maybe he's associating you with food. Is he just coming over to you from a distance and biting? He wants food. At his age/size, they eat a lot and grow a lot.

I'm not sure that a highly defensive lizard should be loose in a room. I think that if possible, he should be in an enclosure that is closer to eye level, less for him to be scared of. Regardless, feed overnight when he's sleeping. Either do all maintenance when he is in his hide or have a spray bottle with cold water in it on fine stream at the ready. I can only say that green iguanas get the message quickly.

Biting costs, and you're not food.

 

[marydd]

I have to say I am not a fan of free roam. You can not keep humidity and temps accurately. Keeping a room at 70 percent humidity is asking for mold. Free roam in my opinion will cause more stress. The tegu will not be able to dig in substrate and burrow. I hope I am not coming off harsh. I am just trying to help. Please don't take offense. Do you have a local herp society or group in or around your area? This may be a great way to rehome your little fella.

 

[Arcus]

I have to say I am not a fan of free roam. You can not keep humidity and temps accurately. Keeping a room at 70 percent humidity is asking for mold. Free roam in my opinion will cause more stress. The tegu will not be able to dig in substrate and burrow. I hope I am not coming off harsh. I am just trying to help. Please don't take offense. Do you have a local herp society or group in or around your area? This may be a great way to rehome your little fella.

No offense taken, but I really don't know what else to do. I was to a point where I couldn't even open the door to his enclosure without him trying to get out and biting at my fingers, so what, I'm suppose to just let him sit in a cage full of his own feces forever? He proved just how bad of a bite he has and that he will not hesitate to do so, he does not give light little nips, he doesnt even hiss or tail whip, he just bites, and I swear he is not starving, I give him all the food he will eat, good food.

Ive heard so many good things about tegus, and even some of the bad things ive heard never seemed this bad, I don't know what ive done wrong. Ive had some people criticize me for his enclosure, but its not that small(4x3 LxW), and if things had gone well, I was preparing to build a custom much larger enclosure as he outgrew it, but now I just don't know if I can sink the time and money into that when I'm trying to rehome him.
His enclosure with his substrate is in the room with him, it has a little ramp that lets him go in and out and he still burrows in it to sleep at night.

Ive never heard of herp society, but I will look them up. When I was looking for a local reptile rescue, the only one I found that still had an active site and a way of contacting them mentioned using euthanasia on aggressive reptiles. He doesn't deserve to be killed because if this, especially if someone else might have much better luck with him..

 

[marydd]

Keep us updated!

 

[Rebecca Stout]

I like the feeding only while he's asleep. Its not something you'd see an immediate effect from. Mine has a memory like an elephant. Once she got into a room she wasn't allowed in. Hid. I found her. That was months ago, and she did not stop banging and digging on that door to get back in every time she was out until last month. Determined. What will help, I think, in also disassociating you with food, is by putting the food on/in the same plate/bowl with a loud color each time. Mine is a white dinner plate. I'm not saying this simple thing caused all of this. But I am saying it certainly doesnt help, ya know?