Tegu bites

[iiLOVExTEGUS]

Ok so I was wondering because I have never been bitten(knock on wood) but I know it's just a matter of time so for those of you who have been tagged what was it like and if you have pics please share because every time I go to pick up my tegu he try's to bite me

 

[chitodadon]

Same here I inly got nipped when he was little im trying to avoid that

from Samsung Galaxy S3

 

[james.w]

I got bit once, but I had my hand in a fist so he didn't get a good bite. It did draw a little blood though. An adult tegu could cause quite a bit of damage if it wanted to.

 

[TeguBuzz]

I've been bit by my old female who was guarding her nest. That was the only time and it drew blood. Didn't need stitches, but it did hurt quite a bit, cleaned it up and it was all good from there.

 

[jondancer]

When mine was a feisty hatchling I would let it bite me as part of the Taming process. It didn't hurt then. Now it's tame as can be.

 

[iiLOVExTEGUS]

Ok well the story behind this tegu is I met a gentalman in the army leaving for 12 months and he couldn't take it obviously so he sold him to me for 60 he told me that he was a6month old argintenian black and white but honestly he has the agressian of a columbian to me so should I let him tag me

 

[Renske]

I have bin bitten by my first tegu wen she was a baby. She had rat bite fever... Becouse i had some blood becose of the bit she gave me the rat bite fever. I got realy ill and almost died... The tegu died of it...
After that I never got bitten again.

 

[Deac77]

I don't feel letting the tegu bite you is helpful in taming its simply teaching bad habits

That being said my Kirby tagged me when he was about 4.5 months old he got me twice both were clean bites and sliced me up pretty good also both were my fault so even at that size I bled pretty good lol

 

[iiLOVExTEGUS]

Rat bite fever?

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I don't feel letting the tegu bite you is helpful in taming its simply teaching bad habits

That being said my Kirby tagged me when he was about 4.5 months old he got me twice both were clean bites and sliced me up pretty good also both were my fault so even at that size I bled pretty good lol

How was it your fault

 

[Deac77]

I basically live in 2 towns and Kirby is fine with moving from one house to the other never gets stressed or bothered buuuut he HATES the bathroom of one of the houses no idea why but it puts him on edge and I know this but he was in shed and needed a bath so I was giving him one and he soaked and all but when it was over I moved to fast and he spun around and tagged me!

The second time I was feeding and he got over zealous and three his mouse well I wasn't thinking and picked it up to put it back on the plate he jumped about six inches and latched onto my finger easy to say lesson learned!

 

[iiLOVExTEGUS]

How bad was is because I must be skating through my reptiles lives with a shooting star because I have two Juvi savs a Nile monitor an I've had retics and blood pythons and a tegu I have never been bitten or even close to it until now and not going to lie I'm scared

 

[chitodadon]

I almost was tagged by Godzilla a few times moving is food he saw me grab it and charged at my hand lucky he missed

from Samsung Galaxy S3

 

[Deac77]

It's wasnt awful but it did hurt and I did bleed

 

[chitodadon]

Re: RE: Tegu bites

How bad was is because I must be skating through my reptiles lives with a shooting star because I have two Juvi savs a Nile monitor an I've had retics and blood pythons and a tegu I have never been bitten or even close to it until now and not going to lie I'm scared

Man im scared vtoo

from Samsung Galaxy S3

 

[iiLOVExTEGUS]

At 6 months old do you think he could take off a finger or my pinky toe

 

[Deac77]

Lol well Kirby is 6 months old and right at 3 foot long with quite a but of girth but I think it'd still be a stretch

 

[jondancer]

I don't feel letting the tegu bite you is helpful in taming its simply teaching bad habits

That being said my Kirby tagged me when he was about 4.5 months old he got me twice both were clean bites and sliced me up pretty good also both were my fault so even at that size I bled pretty good lol

I would rather let the animal bite me and show it that it can do no harm, then to run from it and pull my hand away. By pulling away that show the tegu you are scared of it.

 

[TeguBlake]

I have never been tagged by my tegus but my 4 month baby when it was younger had charged me 3 or 4 times and did the leap of faith about 2 foot in the air and snapped at me lol this is all during feeding time so I don't really call it aggression.

 

[Deac77]

I don't feel letting the tegu bite you is helpful in taming its simply teaching bad habits

That being said my Kirby tagged me when he was about 4.5 months old he got me twice both were clean bites and sliced me up pretty good also both were my fault so even at that size I bled pretty good lol

I would rather let the animal bite me and show it that it can do no harm, then to run from it and pull my hand away. By pulling away that show the tegu you are scared of it.

So you'd rather show it it can bite you when when you aggravate it? That makes no sense these are very intelligent animals and what happens when your baby grows up and decides it wants you to leave it alone? That a big set of jaws To let bite you...

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I don't feel letting the tegu bite you is helpful in taming its simply teaching bad habits

That being said my Kirby tagged me when he was about 4.5 months old he got me twice both were clean bites and sliced me up pretty good also both were my fault so even at that size I bled pretty good lol

I would rather let the animal bite me and show it that it can do no harm, then to run from it and pull my hand away. By pulling away that show the tegu you are scared of it.

So you'd rather show it it can bite you when when you aggravate it? That makes no sense these are very intelligent animals and what happens when your baby grows up and decides it wants you to leave it alone? That a big set of jaws To let bite you...

 

[Murkve]

I don't feel letting the tegu bite you is helpful in taming its simply teaching bad habits

That being said my Kirby tagged me when he was about 4.5 months old he got me twice both were clean bites and sliced me up pretty good also both were my fault so even at that size I bled pretty good lol

I would rather let the animal bite me and show it that it can do no harm, then to run from it and pull my hand away. By pulling away that show the tegu you are scared of it.

So you'd rather show it it can bite you when when you aggravate it? That makes no sense these are very intelligent animals and what happens when your baby grows up and decides it wants you to leave it alone? That a big set of jaws To let bite you...

Tegus always know that they can bite if they are aggravated. Almost every animal knows that. By pulling your hand away, you're not communicating to the Tegu that biting won't work - just the opposite. The animal wants to be left alone, and its display accomplished that aim. You are unwittingly giving the animal positive reinforcement for their behavior.

By no means should you harass a Tegu into biting for the purposes of "taming", but bites should be dealt with in a calm and stoic manner. Tegus - just like any other trainable animal - need to be shown that behaving poorly will not get them what they want. More than that, they need to be shown that behaving amicably will get them what they want.

The correct response to a bite to the hand is to finish doing whatever you're doing, and withdraw on your terms.

EDIT: Of course I should say that Adult Tegus are at the upper end of what I would consider this to be a competent procedure. Anything much larger, an adult Nile Monitor for example, should probably have their terms considered equally to yours.