Is My Tegu Like Yours?

[ColdThirst]

I have an adolescent Arg. B&W and every morning when he gets up, if you try to pet him or pick him up he will literally try to rip my hand in half. Once hes been under his lamp for about 30-45 min he is just fine and you can pick him up and carry him around and anything you want with him. Also if he's asleep and you wake him up, he will try and leap out of the cage and try to go for the throat I kid you not. Untill again he goes over under his light and then hes fine. Do any of your tegus do that or is it just my little sweet pea and if so will he most likely grow out of it? Heres some pics of him for viewing pleasure. Thanks!

 

[AB^]

In my experience many reptiles are much more defensive when they are not at optimal temperature. If they are "fully charged" they can run away faster etc. When they are cooler they wont be able to move as fast thus they'll stand their ground and fight.
Seems like your tegu is exhibiting something similar with the time frame you mentioned.

 

[jose2187]

my red is crazy when under the light , not biting but full of energy but when he comes out and cools off he is very easy to handle, I did get a black and white the other day that strikes anything that moves fast in front of him

 

[PuffDragon]

off track!

Love the yellow on that sucker!!! Hope it sticks!!!

 

[VARNYARD]

I have had some that would do this, but it is related to food, and it is live food that triggers them to go after the movement.

 

[jose2187]

I know before I got him he ate rats in his cage i think, he is eay to handle he is tame in every other way but the movement is nuts, he is big to so it is crazy to see a big lizard like that running at you full speed to bite you when he see's something moving around fast that he can put in his mouth.
check him out

 

[angelrose]

at around 6 a.m. in the morning Lance will run over to me and watch any move I make before I even put the day lights on. he wants to eat right away.

Guin will bask for about 1 or 2 hours first. and ...

Angelrose my little night owl will pop her head up any where from 7 to 8 pm and expects her food bowl to be filled right away. she will stand up, stare in the kitchen and wait for it or come out to the kitchen and eat from her food bowl there.

their all different, they got me 24/7.

 

[ColdThirst]

Haha angelrose thats funny. I guessed that it was just the way he was but just wanted to find out for certain bc I had also heard that tegus goes through an adolescent terror stage(which by no means is he a terror) but I was wondering if he would change.

I got him from Bert and I have never fed him in his cage. I at first was feeding only live but he got way to aggressive after a while trying to kill anything that moved or chasing my roomate over the couch trying to bite him haha it was crazy. Now I am feeding f/t and live ocasionally and he is better.

But I never feed him in the morning and its not aggression, its defensive and if you get too close he will bite the crap out of you and you will bleed. Unless he has been under his light for a while. There may not be a definite answer to it I was just wondering if there was one.

Also PuffDragon, I think his yellow will stick bc he has shed almost five times since I have had him. You can't tell by the lighting but on the top is where its yellow instead of white and on the sides is white, it looks neat and it sets him apart from other tegus I have seen.