Q: Tegu defensiveness/aggression + taming?

[Lizardon]

Some things to consider. The first being around 1-year-old, sometimes a little sooner, sometimes a little later, tagus go into buberty. This can last 6 months to a year where they're just real jerks. You're going to need to spend far more effort and far more care in interacting with them during this time as they tend to be a bit more illogical. Second is you want to disassociate your self and especially your hands from feeding. Tegus make associations pretty fast so you want to find something to make that association with, pretty much target training your Tegu. You don't want the tegu to associate you with the feeding, you want your tegu to associate something else and you with the feeding. Use a box, a colorful plate, or disassociate yourself entirely and get the food in there when the take you can't see you. This will help a lot with the forward aggression. Finally try and get yourself a lot of small wins and make sure they are all positive. When you see the Tegu first wake up and move to the basking spot, take an opportunity to come in and talk to the take you and get it to see your presence in a non-threatening manner and walk away. Do that frequently, if you can try and get a quick pet in, just a couple strokes and walk away. What you want to establish is that nothing bad happens when you're around, and the interactions are somewhat normal. This is not going to be easy trying to start this during buberty but if you are consistent about these interactions you will have a high likelihood of success. Be careful with creating any negative interactions, one negative interaction can set you back three positive interactions. They are very intelligent animals and have a very good memory.

I ended up pushing them back once since he wanted out of the cage. Would that be a negative?

What are all negative interactions?

All positives?

I have fed him via tongs a few times. Since I got him. Is that bad?

 

[Tromegan]

I was worried about him not eating so I made the mistake of giving him small live mice. He went absolutely crazy about them, and when he sees the tongs he sometimes lunges? Surprised the crap out of me.

I have a blue one approximately your age - got it from a reptile shop where it was living for a while and (surprise, surprise) was fed with tongs. When tegu is fed with tongs continuously - they train themselves to associate tongs with food, if whoever is feeding makes them work for their food - moves the treat around the cage while holding it in tongs - they also teach themselves that they need to grab the moving target. This is pretty much how "target training" works - which is not really a bad thing, as you want your tegu to know when it is being fed - so presence of tongs becomes that indicator for them.

I am in the process of planning for his forever enclosure.... However the questioned just came to my head... "How am I supposed to move this big lizard if he doesn't even like to be touched?"

You can try welding gloves - I've heard from different people that they help. On the other hand as long as you can trick your tegu to come into any movable container - you should be good to move it. Think about vet visits - how are you going to handle the animal for blood work, injections and other medical treatments?

What are some methods for taming him? Any youtube videos recommended? Stuff in great in depth would be nice, especially with a step by step thing.

There are several tricks that are all over the internets:
1) You need to teach tegu to associate your scent with home and safety - so you need to get an item with your scent into its hide. There are several ways you can do it - use a towel after shower, dry it out - and use that as your scented item. Another possibility would be to use a t-shirt after a good workout - that's what I did and it worked pretty well

2) You want to teach your tegu to not be afraid of your touch - the way I approach is - that I interact with it during feeding - this is where I've seen a lot of controversy - so depending on who you talk to it might be a total no-no - "when lizard eats it is aggressive, focuses on food and will eat you alive" to "to teach your lizard the difference between food and hands - you need to use your hands on the lizard while it is consuming food". My opinion is the following - when tegu eats - it is focused on food and it's jaws are busy - so it is more predictable and safer to approach. Having that said - when mine is eating I will be rubbing it on the back, legs, tail - staying away from head - because that's where the busy jaws are. MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS DON'T SMELL LIKE FOOD

3) You want to have frequent interactions with your tegu. When mine is basking - I would come and pat it on the side, and rub it on the back, and tickle it under the bottom jaw, and rub it on the head, and pat it on the fat part of the tail. When doing all this I will not be looking lizard in the eye - not like I have evidence, but this seems to be a common thing with animals that they interpret staring as sign of aggression. It is also important to observe it's behavior - sometimes after touch on the side - mine would stand up and walk away - well I am not welcome at that time - happens, if it starts turning it's head towards my hand I would SLOWLY move my hand out of it's immediate reach - just to be on the safe side - if after a couple of tongue flicks head turns back to it's original position - I would interact more

One thing to remember is that it's not only teeth you should be careful with, but also claws, especially ones on the back legs - those get long and they are sharp - so if tegu is at the risk of falling - it will grab you with all the legs and will try to use claws to stabilize - scratches from that were worse for me than the unintentional bite I got.

 

[AtlasInSd]

Some negative interactions would be pinning your tegu down to restrain it, returning aggression to show you are the scarier animal, or otherwise forcing the animal into doing something it just doesn't want to do.

There are times when the above may seem to be necessary when dealing with an aggressive tegu but consider some alternatives. Rather than pinning the tegu to subdue, try to redirect them away from the area of concern without restraining. Rather than returning aggression, simply stand your ground and again look to redirect, give the tegu an out to stand down, they usually will. Rather than restrain when handling, allow the tegu feel like its making progress like you would a snake, and let it slip back to its enclosure if it gets too out of control. These little things help the tegu to feel like this is a mutual interaction and not just you forcing it to interact.

Keeping your interactions positives relates to creating an overall positive reputation with them. Your going to occasionally have a bad interaction, the idea is to have far more positives than negatives. If every interaction starts and ends in conflict, you are not going to have much success taming in the short term. This is why just making a presence, talking with them, interacting with their enclosure in a non threatening manner and leaving without directly interacting can be a positive even if they display some defensive behavior. With enough of this, the defensive behavior will subside over time.

Target training is a great way to start to build a relationship as you are also introducing a high value reward. For instance, affix a tennis ball to a 3 foot stick. Every time you feed present the tennis ball to your tegu to distract them while you place the food bowl in the enclosure. Then lead the tegu to the bowl with the tennis ball. It wont take long for your tegu to associate the tennis ball with feeding time. As a side benefit, they will also associate you with being present when the tennis ball becomes present which will boost their curiosity with you, opening the door for other interactions.

Feeding by hand or tongs is generally a bad idea unless your Tegu already trusts you and is super chill and lazy. Juvenile tegus can resource guard their enclosure and especially high value items like food. If you are viewed as a scary competitor for that food then you may be come the target of their aggression.

Be patient, and go slow. Many of the positive reinforcement tricks you use with dogs works really well with tegus. While you can also train using negative reinforcement, it takes much longer and the animal will often comply out of fear rather than desire. You will have a far more rewarding relationship if your Tegu respects and wants to be around you.

 

[Lizardon]

I have a blue one approximately your age - got it from a reptile shop where it was living for a while and (surprise, surprise) was fed with tongs. When tegu is fed with tongs continuously - they train themselves to associate tongs with food, if whoever is feeding makes them work for their food - moves the treat around the cage while holding it in tongs - they also teach themselves that they need to grab the moving target. This is pretty much how "target training" works - which is not really a bad thing, as you want your tegu to know when it is being fed - so presence of tongs becomes that indicator for them.



You can try welding gloves - I've heard from different people that they help. On the other hand as long as you can trick your tegu to come into any movable container - you should be good to move it. Think about vet visits - how are you going to handle the animal for blood work, injections and other medical treatments?



There are several tricks that are all over the internets:
1) You need to teach tegu to associate your scent with home and safety - so you need to get an item with your scent into its hide. There are several ways you can do it - use a towel after shower, dry it out - and use that as your scented item. Another possibility would be to use a t-shirt after a good workout - that's what I did and it worked pretty well

2) You want to teach your tegu to not be afraid of your touch - the way I approach is - that I interact with it during feeding - this is where I've seen a lot of controversy - so depending on who you talk to it might be a total no-no - "when lizard eats it is aggressive, focuses on food and will eat you alive" to "to teach your lizard the difference between food and hands - you need to use your hands on the lizard while it is consuming food". My opinion is the following - when tegu eats - it is focused on food and it's jaws are busy - so it is more predictable and safer to approach. Having that said - when mine is eating I will be rubbing it on the back, legs, tail - staying away from head - because that's where the busy jaws are. MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS DON'T SMELL LIKE FOOD

3) You want to have frequent interactions with your tegu. When mine is basking - I would come and pat it on the side, and rub it on the back, and tickle it under the bottom jaw, and rub it on the head, and pat it on the fat part of the tail. When doing all this I will not be looking lizard in the eye - not like I have evidence, but this seems to be a common thing with animals that they interpret staring as sign of aggression. It is also important to observe it's behavior - sometimes after touch on the side - mine would stand up and walk away - well I am not welcome at that time - happens, if it starts turning it's head towards my hand I would SLOWLY move my hand out of it's immediate reach - just to be on the safe side - if after a couple of tongue flicks head turns back to it's original position - I would interact more

One thing to remember is that it's not only teeth you should be careful with, but also claws, especially ones on the back legs - those get long and they are sharp - so if tegu is at the risk of falling - it will grab you with all the legs and will try to use claws to stabilize - scratches from that were worse for me than the unintentional bite I got.

So what about times it makes threats? He always arches his back, opens mouth wide, curls tail pointing towards me and he bends his body towards me in the shape of a banana if that makes sense?

He doesn't seem to eat on his own until I dangle food infront of him, or if I am laying on my bed which is 2 feet away from the enclosure.

How many times do I attempt to interact daily?

I am going to buy a bunch of hand towels and sleep ontop of them daily. lol would that work?

When I touched mine on the sides or tail, he would move his tail away. sometimes he would turn his head towards me.


Some people suggest to force handle them and that supposedly it eventually works. Dont think its a good idea to do that with a large yearling.

 

[Lizardon]

Some negative interactions would be pinning your tegu down to restrain it, returning aggression to show you are the scarier animal, or otherwise forcing the animal into doing something it just doesn't want to do.

There are times when the above may seem to be necessary when dealing with an aggressive tegu but consider some alternatives. Rather than pinning the tegu to subdue, try to redirect them away from the area of concern without restraining. Rather than returning aggression, simply stand your ground and again look to redirect, give the tegu an out to stand down, they usually will. Rather than restrain when handling, allow the tegu feel like its making progress like you would a snake, and let it slip back to its enclosure if it gets too out of control. These little things help the tegu to feel like this is a mutual interaction and not just you forcing it to interact.

Keeping your interactions positives relates to creating an overall positive reputation with them. Your going to occasionally have a bad interaction, the idea is to have far more positives than negatives. If every interaction starts and ends in conflict, you are not going to have much success taming in the short term. This is why just making a presence, talking with them, interacting with their enclosure in a non threatening manner and leaving without directly interacting can be a positive even if they display some defensive behavior. With enough of this, the defensive behavior will subside over time.

Target training is a great way to start to build a relationship as you are also introducing a high value reward. For instance, affix a tennis ball to a 3 foot stick. Every time you feed present the tennis ball to your tegu to distract them while you place the food bowl in the enclosure. Then lead the tegu to the bowl with the tennis ball. It wont take long for your tegu to associate the tennis ball with feeding time. As a side benefit, they will also associate you with being present when the tennis ball becomes present which will boost their curiosity with you, opening the door for other interactions.

Feeding by hand or tongs is generally a bad idea unless your Tegu already trusts you and is super chill and lazy. Juvenile tegus can resource guard their enclosure and especially high value items like food. If you are viewed as a scary competitor for that food then you may be come the target of their aggression.

Be patient, and go slow. Many of the positive reinforcement tricks you use with dogs works really well with tegus. While you can also train using negative reinforcement, it takes much longer and the animal will often comply out of fear rather than desire. You will have a far more rewarding relationship if your Tegu respects and wants to be around you.

is the target training on youtube? im a bit of a visual learner

 

[AtlasInSd]

Yes, you can find many examples of reptile target training on youtube (Clints Reptiles). I run a rescue where we get all kinds of aggressive reptiles quite frequently. Target training is a great way to interact safely and break the ice. I use it with Monitors, Tegus, Boas, Iguanas, and all kinds of other smaller reptiles.

 

[Lizardon]

Yes, you can find many examples of reptile target training on youtube. I run a rescue where we get all kinds of aggressive reptiles quite frequently. Target training is a great way to interact safely and break the ice. I use it with Monitors, Tegus, Boas, Iguanas, and all kinds of other smaller reptiles.

any other tips?

 

[AtlasInSd]

As mentioned by Tromegan, I also have a set of leather gloves, Harbor Freight has cheap ones that work. It will help to prevent lacerations but not so much the bite force of a tegu so care still needs to be taken. I also incorporate thermostatically regulated heat tape under slate tile as a heat source for all my big clawed reptiles. They frequently bask on it and the slate helps to file the sharp tips of their nails off which makes handling so much easier and more enjoyable. Big lizards don't look kindly to having their nails trimmed so this is just one less negative interaction.

 

[Lizardon]

As mentioned by Tromegan, I also have a set of leather gloves, Harbor Freight has cheap ones that work. It will help to prevent lacerations but not so much the bite force of a tegu so care still needs to be taken. I also incorporate thermostatically regulated heat tape under slate tile as a heat source for all my big clawed reptiles. They frequently bask on it and the slate helps to file the sharp tips of their nails off which makes handling so much easier and more enjoyable. Big lizards don't look kindly to having their nails trimmed so this is just one less negative interaction.

So welding gloves

 

[AtlasInSd]

Do you have a front opening or top opening enclosure? Coming in from the top can be a bit threatening, where coming in from the front is less threatening but can be more difficult to interact depending on headroom. Raising the enclosure to waist height can make you look smaller and thus less threatening. Work on repetition, do that same things the same way over and over. Tegus are quite smart and will pick up on this fast. As the aggressive posturing relaxes, push forward a little more. Start small, look for little wins, a small touch of the back while distracting your tegu, try and end the interaction when your tegu has stopped being defensive.

 

[Lizardon]

Do you have a front opening or top opening enclosure? Coming in from the top can be a bit threatening, where coming in from the front is less threatening but can be more difficult to interact depending on headroom. Raising the enclosure to waist height can make you look smaller and thus less threatening. Work on repetition, do that same things the same way over and over. Tegus are quite smart and will pick up on this fast. As the aggressive posturing relaxes, push forward a little more. Start small, look for little wins, a small touch of the back while distracting your tegu, try and end the interaction when your tegu has stopped being defensive.

a zen habitat so front opening. its on the floor for now sadly. Do the interactions need to be long?

 

[AtlasInSd]

a zen habitat so front opening. its on the floor for now sadly. Do the interactions need to be long?

No the interactions do not need to be long. In fact shorter interactions initially will probably be more beneficial. The hard part is going to be trying to end it on a good note. You don't have to but you're going to have the best success if you do. What you don't want to encourage is a negative behavior by the Tegu got you to go away. Otherwise that reinforces that negative behavior.

 

[Tromegan]

So what about times it makes threats? He always arches his back, opens mouth wide, curls tail pointing towards me and he bends his body towards me in the shape of a banana if that makes sense?

Being honest - I am not getting much of threatening behaviour - only had it a couple times - the worst case was when it ran away - it was in my hands, then climbed to the shoulder, stayed on my back and jumped to the floor - then off it went under the enclosure - doors were open there as I was in the middle of cleaning session. My plan was to give it a mop to climb on and then pull it out - we played like that in the enclosure before. This didn't quiet work - as mop was approaching it (sitting in the corner): tongue flicks became faster and shorter, it curled it's back and started distinctively hissing, so I removed the mop and let it be for a while. So yes pretty close to what you are describing.

He doesn't seem to eat on his own until I dangle food infront of him, or if I am laying on my bed which is 2 feet away from the enclosure.

As far as I can tell tegu's don't always jump on food when it is available - they might not like the food, they might be fed up or they might not be in the mood for food now. This is what I can tell about mine:
1) I offer food every day - during summer it would eat 6-8 links of a well known brand, or a weekly rat plus 2-3 links - I have it target trained to know that it eats off a white serving board - so if board is in the enclosure, there is stuff to eat - I recently enriched that with some feeding bowls that need to opened to get to food, or where food is harder to reach, but that didn't have much of impact on actual feeding habits

2) As brumation period started some time early October - it is not eating as much - so we are down to 3-4 links a day - for example yesterday out of 4 links offered it only ate 3

3) There was a period two-three weeks ago, when it skipped three days of meals - so on fourth day I offered two rats - which were successfully eaten and in two days we were back to 3-4 links and a weekly rat schedule

4) Depending on how hungry the animal gets it's feeding response is different - for example, there can be a day - when I put the serving board in with links - tegu will come down, smell links, get back to basking and then in 30-50 minutes would come down and eat; or it can just dig into it and get back to basking once done; day before yesterday he also ate 3 out of 4 links, but I was around when it was eating so I took the last one with tongs and dangled it a bit in front of lizards mouth, and after a couple of seconds of thinking 4th one was also gone; it also happens that it is really hungry, then before I put the serving board in - it climbs down and comes to the doors - ready for food.

How many times do I attempt to interact daily?

I would say you are free to interact as much as you want, question is more how many times the tegu will allow you to. It is good to be present with your lizard - that way they learn that you were around and they didn't get eaten - which by their measurement is a good thing - some would recommend you to sit with your phone, book, whatever so that your lizard can observe you. Interaction is not always about - handling, it is also about observing each other - for example I have a small chair that I would sit on and look at how mine is basking - it feels safe as it is above me and because doors are closed - this is what I was doing when I first got it - because back then the moment I would open doors it would run away and borrow.

I am going to buy a bunch of hand towels and sleep ontop of them daily. lol would that work?

As long as those are not paper towels I think that would be good

When I touched mine on the sides or tail, he would move his tail away. sometimes he would turn his head towards me.

As long as it doesn't run away in panic - I would say you are good, it's persistence that is important - also if tegu doesn't want to interact with you - it backs away - and if it does - well, better luck next time. Like I said - mine sometimes would allow me to pat/rub/tickle all over it's scaly body, and sometimes it will stand up and move to the other side of the basking spot

Some people suggest to force handle them and that supposedly it eventually works. Dont think its a good idea to do that with a large yearling.

Taming is a teaching process - in my view you need to teach options to the animal - for the lizard you are a big scary thing and as much as they are smart and curious they will not jump on you as their first response to seeing you. That being said - I will scoop mine from it's basking spot (visibly against it's will) to let it climb on me a bit - no squeezing, no immobilizing - scooping with open hand - if it decides to turn to me and climb on me a bit - good, if it turns around or start death-rolling - I would release it back. In my view you need to be persistent and firm in what you are doing - that requires force, but you can't force the animal to like you

 

[Lizardon]

No the interactions do not need to be long. In fact shorter interactions initially will probably be more beneficial. The hard part is going to be trying to end it on a good note. You don't have to but you're going to have the best success if you do. What you don't want to encourage is a negative behavior by the Tegu got you to go away. Otherwise that reinforces that negative behavior.

like dogs i guess...

Got this glove. Guy said it should protect me. Got it at homedepot. Is this good for keeping me safe from bites from a tegu? I am on blood thinners so the less damage the better... also i dont like pain lol

 

[Lizardon]

Being honest - I am not getting much of threatening behaviour - only had it a couple times - the worst case was when it ran away - it was in my hands, then climbed to the shoulder, stayed on my back and jumped to the floor - then off it went under the enclosure - doors were open there as I was in the middle of cleaning session. My plan was to give it a mop to climb on and then pull it out - we played like that in the enclosure before. This didn't quiet work - as mop was approaching it (sitting in the corner): tongue flicks became faster and shorter, it curled it's back and started distinctively hissing, so I removed the mop and let it be for a while. So yes pretty close to what you are describing.


As far as I can tell tegu's don't always jump on food when it is available - they might not like the food, they might be fed up or they might not be in the mood for food now. This is what I can tell about mine:
1) I offer food every day - during summer it would eat 6-8 links of a well known brand, or a weekly rat plus 2-3 links - I have it target trained to know that it eats off a white serving board - so if board is in the enclosure, there is stuff to eat - I recently enriched that with some feeding bowls that need to opened to get to food, or where food is harder to reach, but that didn't have much of impact on actual feeding habits

2) As brumation period started some time early October - it is not eating as much - so we are down to 3-4 links a day - for example yesterday out of 4 links offered it only ate 3

3) There was a period two-three weeks ago, when it skipped three days of meals - so on fourth day I offered two rats - which were successfully eaten and in two days we were back to 3-4 links and a weekly rat schedule

4) Depending on how hungry the animal gets it's feeding response is different - for example, there can be a day - when I put the serving board in with links - tegu will come down, smell links, get back to basking and then in 30-50 minutes would come down and eat; or it can just dig into it and get back to basking once done; day before yesterday he also ate 3 out of 4 links, but I was around when it was eating so I took the last one with tongs and dangled it a bit in front of lizards mouth, and after a couple of seconds of thinking 4th one was also gone; it also happens that it is really hungry, then before I put the serving board in - it climbs down and comes to the doors - ready for food.



I would say you are free to interact as much as you want, question is more how many times the tegu will allow you to. It is good to be present with your lizard - that way they learn that you were around and they didn't get eaten - which by their measurement is a good thing - some would recommend you to sit with your phone, book, whatever so that your lizard can observe you. Interaction is not always about - handling, it is also about observing each other - for example I have a small chair that I would sit on and look at how mine is basking - it feels safe as it is above me and because doors are closed - this is what I was doing when I first got it - because back then the moment I would open doors it would run away and borrow.



As long as those are not paper towels I think that would be good



As long as it doesn't run away in panic - I would say you are good, it's persistence that is important - also if tegu doesn't want to interact with you - it backs away - and if it does - well, better luck next time. Like I said - mine sometimes would allow me to pat/rub/tickle all over it's scaly body, and sometimes it will stand up and move to the other side of the basking spot



Taming is a teaching process - in my view you need to teach options to the animal - for the lizard you are a big scary thing and as much as they are smart and curious they will not jump on you as their first response to seeing you. That being said - I will scoop mine from it's basking spot (visibly against it's will) to let it climb on me a bit - no squeezing, no immobilizing - scooping with open hand - if it decides to turn to me and climb on me a bit - good, if it turns around or start death-rolling - I would release it back. In my view you need to be persistent and firm in what you are doing - that requires force, but you can't force the animal to like you

Ah i sorta gotcha. Do you think these gloves will protect me from biting? Got em at home depot.

Been wiping my sweat on it a lot. Thankfully I sweat profusely because im fat. One good thing about being chunky.

Actually most of my days are spent on my bed due to ailments. My bed is about a foot or two away from the enclosure. Max 3 ft. The enclosure is sadly on the ground... and I am overlooking it essentially.

He spends a lot of time burried but comes out during later hours in the evening, for 4 hours... then goes back to hide.

As for target training that confuses me so perhaps I will search for a video.

 

[Tromegan]

Ah i sorta gotcha. Do you think these gloves will protect me from biting? Got em at home depot.

These look alright to me, I would though second what @Tiigu pointed out - gloves are a mitigation, not a solution - these could save you in case of an accidental bite, but you should learn your tegu - see HOW it bites - how wide it can open it's mouth, how much it can turn the head versus whole body, when it can bite versus when it needs to move first - you want to predict the bite to avoid it, not get bitten and survive it

He spends a lot of time burried but comes out during later hours in the evening, for 4 hours... then goes back to hide.

Remember - it's brumation period, so it's totally normal for them to spend more time in cooler/darker places. For example - before October mine would come out round 9am (I think it got trained on reptile shop lights, as they opened at 9am), then by 11am it would be basking, and would stay visible until 9pm, when lights would go off, when it would go and borrow. With brumation now it is 3pm, and it hasn't been out, I would expect it to come out around 5pm staying in the darker/cooler side, eat around 7pm and then maybe bask for an hour or so, but definitely burrowed before lights go off.

As for target training that confuses me so perhaps I will search for a video.

This is a good video -

 

[Lizardon]

These look alright to me, I would though second what @Tiigu pointed out - gloves are a mitigation, not a solution - these could save you in case of an accidental bite, but you should learn your tegu - see HOW it bites - how wide it can open it's mouth, how much it can turn the head versus whole body, when it can bite versus when it needs to move first - you want to predict the bite to avoid it, not get bitten and survive it



Remember - it's brumation period, so it's totally normal for them to spend more time in cooler/darker places. For example - before October mine would come out round 9am (I think it got trained on reptile shop lights, as they opened at 9am), then by 11am it would be basking, and would stay visible until 9pm, when lights would go off, when it would go and borrow. With brumation now it is 3pm, and it hasn't been out, I would expect it to come out around 5pm staying in the darker/cooler side, eat around 7pm and then maybe bask for an hour or so, but definitely burrowed before lights go off.



This is a good video -

Well yeah I still plan on training. I just want to make sure if he DOES bite- that I can atleast "survive" it.