Tegu stole my lunch

[Scriffignano]

So yesterday I was sitting in the living room letting my girl, Saphee free roam for a little. While she was free roaming I was eating a bologna sandwich and out of no where she launched herself at me and grabbed the meat out of my sandwich. It was unexpected since she had just eaten earlier in the day and usually shows no interest in food after her breakfast. Thankfully there was no condiments on the sandwich (I like it plain), but should I be overly concerned with her getting ahold of a piece of processed meat?

 

[Josh]

No but it's not something I'd let happen very often.
That's pretty wild. Glad no one got hurt!

 

[Scriffignano]

No but it's not something I'd let happen very often.
That's pretty wild. Glad no one got hurt!

I am glad no one got hurt either. She's packing a serious bite these days.

 

[Debita]

I had to respond to the funniest title "my tegu stole my lunch" since I've been on this forum for the last 3 years. Lol... Here's my two cents on your experience... We're caring for wild animals when we take in a Tegu. They have instincts that are wild, and have not been domesticated as of yet. I don't personally know how long that takes (decades, or generations of breeding) but it's a long time. My Skully lunged at a mouse I had in my hand for him one day - surprising the daylights out of me because he hadn't ever done that before - but he took my thumb with the mouse in the process. It was a bad bite, but I escaped it by prying his jaw open with my left hand. It was painful for a good two weeks, but I got it under control. It wasn't his fault at all - he was doing what Tegus do. He made the most beautiful lunge, and was pretty accurate, although he over-shot the mark clear up to my knuckle. It really hurts to get bitten by a full grown adult. I didn't see it coming AT ALL.

I think we just always have to kind of expect the unexpected with them. They do have cycles like post-brumation where they're fairly ravenous, and/or sexually charged after a long sleep. I'm not suggesting you have any worries about the latter, but their hormonal cycles create changes in their otherwise dependable behavior. Owners are on here a lot, talking about their surprising behavior. Def keeps us on our toes.

 

[Debita]

So sorry for your bite!!! Ugh!, brings back memories. I like your theory - makes sense to me. Safety off, jump now, think later! When my Tegu bit me, he actually had a look on his face that I might call confusion. There was no reeling in this catch....so what the heck's going on?

You're the first person I've heard aside from my experience, that had to pry the jaws open. OOOooooooo! Brings back painful memories! Lol

 

[Sean32817]

The stolen lunch is funny and fortunately, harmless for your girl as most animals can survive eating something they're not used to eating.

My boy Rex will usually go over and start tapping his food dish if he sees me eating, which just goes to further prove the claims that tegu are really just scaly dogs.

He's also done the "lunge at my hand rather than what's in the tongs" routine - I suspect that's simply a case of him smelling food and deciding he wants what he thinks is the larger piece, that being your hand.

Rex will also charge his food dish about half the time he sees it being put in with food and when he's fast enough, he will leap for it if I'm too slow giving it to him - our male bearded dragon does the same thing.

As smart, friendly and teachable as tegu can be, you need to remember that they're still reptiles in the end and so that lizard brain with all of its hard wired programing is what's running the show more often than not.

We all know about their infamous "feeding response" so we just need to be careful and make sure that neither us nor our scaly friends are harmed due to those instincts.

Note - I'm not criticizing those who have gotten bit - Rex has nailed me twice since I got him - accidents will happen.