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Off Feeding Day Aggression

Jay_mangum112

New Member
Messages
3
Hello, everyone this is my first time posting here so sorry if I put this question in the wrong area, but I would like some feedback or input. So, I got my Tegu in November last year, from about a week after I got him I stopped feeding him in his inclosure and feed him on my lap, then moving him to the floor right out side his inclosure, and I kept doing that until he got to a pretty decent size, about a foot and a half or bigger. Then I started bring him into our kitchen and feeding him there, then I let him roam around with my supervision. So, he's about 2.5 maybe 3 feet including tail and a pretty big boy now as seen in the picture
20200514_161057.jpg
, but heres the problem so I know when lizard gets to about 6-8 months old and depending on their size you usually want to start cutting back on how many times they eat each week. So, I've been trying to increase his meals size and decrease the amount of days he's fed but, I've got him on a pretty routine schedule for when I let him out. I take him to the bathroom, In our bathroom, then up the hall to eat, then I let him free roam but, on his off food days when I let him free roam right after letting him out the bath room he goes straight to the kitchen and starts looking for me to feed him. He will literally follow me like a dog around the kitchen looking up at me like "where's the food?" And If I make any motion like I'm bending down to put his food bowl on the ground he comes running. He never bites at me though he's gotten to the point where if he doesn't see anything in my hand he usually will turn away and start searching again but If he finds my niece's stuffed animals he goes ballistic shaking them around and pressing them into the ground like he's killing them and he won't let go, the only way I can get them from him is placing my jacket over him then it he usually let's go, but I'm not sure if this is hunger related or he's just him playing becuase he also loves to drag our rugs around and sometimes rolled up socks. He's super sweet to me and when he's not in the kitchen he usually doesn't for the most part show this behavior, but my house is pretty small and I don't want to keep him from being able to walk around but in the hallway and bathroom. So, if anyone has some suggestion please let me know, and also do you think he's at the size I should start cutting his feedings back, he's at least 10 months old now so I thought it was about time for me to cut him back to being feed every other day and he's a pretty hefty size as well, so if you have any suggestions please let me know and thank your for any help.
 

rantology

Active Member
Messages
263
Tegus don't reach their "final" size until about 2 years old or so- How often are you feeding? What is your target feeding schedule? That's hilarious about the stuffed animals :D hope those are OK. Good lookin' fella too!
 

Walter1

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4,384
Hello, everyone this is my first time posting here so sorry if I put this question in the wrong area, but I would like some feedback or input. So, I got my Tegu in November last year, from about a week after I got him I stopped feeding him in his inclosure and feed him on my lap, then moving him to the floor right out side his inclosure, and I kept doing that until he got to a pretty decent size, about a foot and a half or bigger. Then I started bring him into our kitchen and feeding him there, then I let him roam around with my supervision. So, he's about 2.5 maybe 3 feet including tail and a pretty big boy now as seen in the pictureView attachment 14772, but heres the problem so I know when lizard gets to about 6-8 months old and depending on their size you usually want to start cutting back on how many times they eat each week. So, I've been trying to increase his meals size and decrease the amount of days he's fed but, I've got him on a pretty routine schedule for when I let him out. I take him to the bathroom, In our bathroom, then up the hall to eat, then I let him free roam but, on his off food days when I let him free roam right after letting him out the bath room he goes straight to the kitchen and starts looking for me to feed him. He will literally follow me like a dog around the kitchen looking up at me like "where's the food?" And If I make any motion like I'm bending down to put his food bowl on the ground he comes running. He never bites at me though he's gotten to the point where if he doesn't see anything in my hand he usually will turn away and start searching again but If he finds my niece's stuffed animals he goes ballistic shaking them around and pressing them into the ground like he's killing them and he won't let go, the only way I can get them from him is placing my jacket over him then it he usually let's go, but I'm not sure if this is hunger related or he's just him playing becuase he also loves to drag our rugs around and sometimes rolled up socks. He's super sweet to me and when he's not in the kitchen he usually doesn't for the most part show this behavior, but my house is pretty small and I don't want to keep him from being able to walk around but in the hallway and bathroom. So, if anyone has some suggestion please let me know, and also do you think he's at the size I should start cutting his feedings back, he's at least 10 months old now so I thought it was about time for me to cut him back to being feed every other day and he's a pretty hefty size as well, so if you have any suggestions please let me know and thank your for any help.
Hi, He's still growing. It'a very important first year of life. Seems to me you have two options. One is to use the next 2-3 mo. to form a new time and place routine all ready for when feeding cuts back. The other option is to stick with the routine and give him only a treat between feeding days, maybe letting him search for it
 

Jay_mangum112

New Member
Messages
3
Tegus don't reach their "final" size until about 2 years old or so- How often are you feeding? What is your target feeding schedule? That's hilarious about the stuffed animals :D hope those are OK. Good lookin' fella too!
Thanks for replying, I was feeding him everyday but now I am feeding him every other day, as for his feeding schedule it veries but its about the same time on his food days, becuase my schedule changes so much but I usually feed him between 12pm-3pm just depends when my lunch break is or when I i go into work since he usually goes to sleep about 6'ish so I try to feed him no later then 3 so he has plenty of basking time. Because when he's ready to go to bed he goes lol, even when I let him roam if I don't get him back in his inclosuer. He goes under my bed barricades himself behind my shoes then crawls under my duffelbag and tries goes to sleep. Also thanks for the info about their growth I didn't realize it took them at least 2 years to get to about their full size so maybe I'll go back to his daily feedings for bite longer then and maybe once his get slightly larger cut back i just don't want him to become over weight since thats a huge no no for lizards but thanks again for feedback greatly appreciated.
 

Jay_mangum112

New Member
Messages
3
Hi, He's still growing. It'a very important first year of life. Seems to me you have two options. One is to use the next 2-3 mo. to form a new time and place routine all ready for when feeding cuts back. The other option is to stick with the routine and give him only a treat between feeding days, maybe letting him search for it
Thanks for replying so, do you think I might be cutting him back to soon? I just didn't want to run the chance of over feeding him and I couldn't really find a clear answer to how much they should weigh at certain ages or whats the ideal weight over all. That's like my biggest fear is getting him over wieght but I was already treating him to little snacks on his off days like a small part of a banana, a couple blueberries and or like 4 gizzards or chicken hearts but nothing to the size of his normal meal portion something to kind of calm him down. Becuase I also am slowly letting him roam the bigger rooms of my house alone so I usually keep all the areas closed that he can still crawl under things that would be hard for me to get him out of. So, maybe ill just stick with the treat thing and see how that turns out but are the things I mentioned early that I feed him on off days pretty good things to coat the hunger or do you have any suggestions for other things that I could possibly use as a "healthy" off day treat. Thanks again for the reply greatly appreciated
 

Walter1

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I'd let him eat his fill every other day or so. If obesity seems to be happening, thentry 1/4 less than what had been his fill and see how that goes. A treat could be gizzard or small frozen/thawed mouse.
 

Debita

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1,218
Location
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I think I was feeding my female every day from when she was 3 months old to about 10 months. At that time though, she stopped coming out for the food, and seemed to naturally transition into the every other day mode. I did let her have her fill though, so there's a psychological factor in that she wasn't worried she would miss out on something.
 

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