Help: Yearling Feeding Response and Biting

[Murkve]

Hey Guys,

It's been quite a while, and Sigourney has been up from hibernation for a few months now, and growing quite quickly. She's now more than 30" long. However, she's picked up a new habit: biting.

Here's what I've noticed: The biting is not out of malice or defense. She thinks my hands are food when they're not doing "hand" things (like petting, handling, etc.).

Instead of tong feeding, I have switched to bin feeding in an attempt to disassociate my hands with food. It hasn't worked too well. Every time I take her out and she is a hungry (which is almost ALL the freaking time), she will taste my hands if they are just part of her environment. At 30" long, I don't care if it's just a flesh wound - that stuff hurts. She doesn't just bite and release either. She actively tries to tear flesh from my hand. I grin and bear it as best I can. The odd part is that she only does this outside of the enclosure. She's not territorial, not defensive, tolerates handling excellently, scratches to be let out. She knows hands can be good. However when she's on the floor in the room she's in, it's like a switch gets flipped, and she begins her foraging.

Here's what I am doing:

1) I bought bitter apple spray as a negative reinforcement. It seemed to help today. She seemed hesitant to latch on with her bites when the tongue touched my skin.

2) I am trying to feed her, then handle her. This too has helped. She's truly a sweet, inquisitive animal when her hunger for flesh is sated.

3) I am trying to get her to disassociate being taken out with food by, well, taking her out and not feeding her every now and then.

Here's what I might try:

1) Target Training: If I can get her to associate food with a target, maybe it will move the association from my hands? I'd like to hear your guys thoughts on this.

Any thoughts or tips for dealing with this? Is it just a stage she'll get out of once growth slows down? I want to minimize this behavior now so that when she gets to 4.5 feet I don't have to deal with it.

(I realize there's another thread down at the bottom, but I felt this situation was different enough from that one.)

Thank you!

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Sounds to me like she's going through a growth spurt, so she's still hungry and needs to be fed more.

 

[Josh]

Be careful with those bites! I agree it does sound like she's still hungry and is trying to see if you'll feed her more (if you know what I mean!).
Maybe try separating the act of feeding from handling a bit more. Do you feed her in a separate area or container or anything that might indicate to her when it's eating time and when it's not?

 

[laurarfl]

They seem to go through this at about a year of age. I have three doing this. .

What I do is feed them right away when I take them out, and let them eat their fill or a good size meal, depending on age. I also use paper plates as a feeding surface and try to use that all the time.

Then I wait until the feeding response has died down before handling. I make sure they are in an area without food smells and my hands are washed. It helps for my little dinosaurs! I agree that those little taste tests do hurt.

I hope she is doing well for you otherwise. Send me a photo whenever you get a chance!

 

[Midwestmonster]

My recommendation is to lay the food out on a plate and let the tegu wander to it. That is what I do. I open the cage on feeding days and let her wander to the plate, that way she is full. No handling required rigt away, although I haven't experienced any food agression thus far. She never see's me handle food. Hopefully she won't ever get aggressive.