Test biting...

[Walter1]

I'm reluctant to suggest much else because my tegus only attempted biting briefly when they first arrived.

To this day, Oscar, the male, infrequently will barrel roll if he wants to go away. I immediately clamp down, say NO, and hold til he gives up. 1/2 a minute? Then he sits calmly, I won as I always must win in this type of encounter. I speak quietly to him and pet him for a bit then release him back to the ground.

Definitely hold off on placing Olive near your head and neck for a while. Have the squirt bottle with cold water at the ready. Is she bites, my suggestion for you to consider is yelling NO! and repeatedly squirting her with the cold water in the face/eyes. Once she let's go I would be inclined to reatrain her until she gives up. My take is that I am otherwise gentle, and bad behavior can't win. I repeat that I do not know if this will be a help or make worse her issue, but knowing as much as you've told us, I would do it to clarify the boundary.

 

[Dee-Dee Idrais]

As I said, no experience on my end, but what Walter suggested sound good

 

[Artemisace]

I hope everything is going well since it seems to have been a while since you've posted about this. My only experience with repeated bitters is with some of my giant pythons and with them they grab and don't let go. I keep a bottle of strong whiskey around just incase so that when they bite me they get a dash of nasty burning alcohol to the face. It works, they stop and most don't do it again. I don't know that this would work (or be a good idea) with a tegu, but if she associated biting you with something very unpleasant I would imagine she would quit. Just my two cents I am not a lizard expert by any means. My nile bit me once and got hot water to the face (well "hot" water it came out of the sink) hasn't bit me since. Monitors and tegus seem to be leagues smarter than even retics, so I would imagine something like this would work.

 

[Savemygrave]

I hope everything is going well since it seems to have been a while since you've posted about this. My only experience with repeated bitters is with some of my giant pythons and with them they grab and don't let go. I keep a bottle of strong whiskey around just incase so that when they bite me they get a dash of nasty burning alcohol to the face. It works, they stop and most don't do it again. I don't know that this would work (or be a good idea) with a tegu, but if she associated biting you with something very unpleasant I would imagine she would quit. Just my two cents I am not a lizard expert by any means. My nile bit me once and got hot water to the face (well "hot" water it came out of the sink) hasn't bit me since. Monitors and tegus seem to be leagues smarter than even retics, so I would imagine something like this would work.

Thankfully she is doing much better. I took taming techniques back a little and let her settle. I think alot of it was due to stress after been away from us for two weeks then a vet trip due to severe constipation. She's much happier back home and is even settling on my lap once again and enjoying contact. If she looks like she's going to have a little nibble I tell her no and move her away with my hand. She responds to this well and will walk away to cause mischief elsewhere haha. I felt so sorry for the girl, she must have been so stressed. It wasn't a viscous bite, more of a freaked out panic bite. I'm glad to have my little friend back and it's rewarding to see her happy

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[Lavin45]

It sounds like she's reaching sexual maturity. My coworker is dealing with this right now with her female of just over a year. They're known as one of the smartest monitors so some training is going to be required. A firm loud ouch and then NO and look her in the eyes when you do it. Then put her up immediately ! This way being put back in the cage is associated with wrong doing, and it's worked with my girl so far. I also won't handle her if I even think here's something on my that would smell like food. I work at an exotic animal store so I make sure to was up before I start cuddling lol. Just be safe they can get out of control at the age.

 

[Savemygrave]

It sounds like she's reaching sexual maturity. My coworker is dealing with this right now with her female of just over a year. They're known as one of the smartest monitors so some training is going to be required. A firm loud ouch and then NO and look her in the eyes when you do it. Then put her up immediately ! This way being put back in the cage is associated with wrong doing, and it's worked with my girl so far. I also won't handle her if I even think here's something on my that would smell like food. I work at an exotic animal store so I make sure to was up before I start cuddling lol. Just be safe they can get out of control at the age.

She's been nothing but lovely since she's feeling better. I've tried a few new tactics with her and they seem to be working. She still tries to push boundaries but I am firm.

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[Artemisace]

Glad to hear she's doing better for you I know with my Nile it can be a real struggle to get the little turd to behave, but that's a totally different animal lol. I hope she continues to improve for you and doesn't go back to being a bitey little pain in the you know what.

 

[Savemygrave]

Glad to hear she's doing better for you I know with my Nile it can be a real struggle to get the little turd to behave, but that's a totally different animal lol. I hope she continues to improve for you and doesn't go back to being a bitey little pain in the you know what.

Me too Artemisace!

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[Monica Markel]

Wow. Mine even when we got him from Florida, has never tried to bite me. When he was younger he would slap his tail like a whip.

Always feed first, play later.

I noticed mine would get aggressive with tongs...so I did not use them. I would leave his meat balls out on his dish and he would eat it over a few hours. Then I would remove the bowl.
I would bath him every day if not every other day. We would let him wander the floor supervised and he is always on the go checking corners for mice (his all time favorite).

I can clean the substraite from his mouth and he does not even open his eyes...

Mind you I do not fully trust him. Now that he is bigger I serve his food one by one on a medium size plastic cutting board. He has to eat his berries and reptilink sausage before he gets his mousie. I tell him this and he rolls his eyes at the berries but will eat a few.

So he partially brumated this winter and ate very little...so when he was done and decided its time to eat again...he charged me. Mouth open wide like an alligator. I flipped the cutting board like a sheild and that stopped him in his tracks.

If he was to sniff me a few times I know he might be smelling rat or mouse on me, so I would push him away. This help assert I am dominant.

When I let him roam the yard, I have been watching him watch me. We have free range dog, cat, chicken, and tortoise. All are out at the same time. He will watch me pet the cats and dog. I think he is learning. He has crawled next to me and he gets pets with the cats. He has never tried to bite any of these animals either.

M

 

[Savemygrave]

Wow. Mine even when we got him from Florida, has never tried to bite me. When he was younger he would slap his tail like a whip.

Always feed first, play later.

I noticed mine would get aggressive with tongs...so I did not use them. I would leave his meat balls out on his dish and he would eat it over a few hours. Then I would remove the bowl.
I would bath him every day if not every other day. We would let him wander the floor supervised and he is always on the go checking corners for mice (his all time favorite).

I can clean the substraite from his mouth and he does not even open his eyes...

Mind you I do not fully trust him. Now that he is bigger I serve his food one by one on a medium size plastic cutting board. He has to eat his berries and reptilink sausage before he gets his mousie. I tell him this and he rolls his eyes at the berries but will eat a few.

So he partially brumated this winter and ate very little...so when he was done and decided its time to eat again...he charged me. Mouth open wide like an alligator. I flipped the cutting board like a sheild and that stopped him in his tracks.

If he was to sniff me a few times I know he might be smelling rat or mouse on me, so I would push him away. This help assert I am dominant.

When I let him roam the yard, I have been watching him watch me. We have free range dog, cat, chicken, and tortoise. All are out at the same time. He will watch me pet the cats and dog. I think he is learning. He has crawled next to me and he gets pets with the cats. He has never tried to bite any of these animals either.

M

Yeah she has been very feisty from the word go so extra care was always taken. It was a lapse in my concentration and I misjudged her stress from the vets visit. She's been really good since and I definitely recommend the moving away when she gets that look in her eye like she's going to bit. I push her away and she walks off. Food is always her biggest vice so I always feed her first now and then let her free roam. She's coming on in leaps and bounds again.

She's never really tail whipped me, the odd snake tail movement to warn me bit she would just go straight in for the bite (and the kill!) I hope she mellows with continuous work and age haha.

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[Justsomedude]

Is she still biting?

 

[Savemygrave]

Is she still biting?

No thankfully! She's grumpy at the moment but she's just started to shed so that's normal for her. She's been a very well behaved affectionate little dragon

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[Justsomedude]

Good! Glad to hear it

 

[BuffaloBill420herp]

After today I'm feeling a little disheartened with Olive and our progress. She crawled onto my back and began licking and smelling me. I could hear her breathing getting heavier and then she bit me. Fully latched on to my ear and didn't want to let go. After eventually letting go it wasn't long before she latched onto my foot.

She's well over 2ft now and coming up to a year old. It's becoming a serious problem as she's causing me some serious harm. I'm refusing to give up on her but as you can imagine, hobbling around the house due to a shredded foot isn't fun and my ear has puncture marks and is split. its as if she has a split personality at the moment. Any advice is welcome, especially any comments of encouragement

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I take mine out and feed him on the floor he g

Yeah she's never been this bad. I'm putting it down to stress due to being away from me for two weeks whilst we were on holiday and also her bowel issues. I'm going back to square one with her and taking it slow. I don't think I could deal with another vicious bite from her. I broke down in tears after she bit my ear, she ran away and hid down the side of her vivarium and wouldn't come back out. It broke my heart that she seems to have lost some trust in me.

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I would try feeding in a different enclosurer so she only associates that enclosure with food

 

[Savemygrave]

I take mine out and feed him on the floor he g

I would try feeding in a different enclosurer so she only associates that enclosure with food

Food aggression is not the issue. She is fed out of her enclosure using the same bowl.

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[wingsman2]

Would you guys consider this to be the test bitting? My tegu Gir, just started to do this and tries running up to my feet and doing it randomly. He is about a year and half to two. He doesn't do it all the time. And he especially doesn't do it after he eats. Today was skip day for food.

 

[Justsomedude]

Lol he's checking you out if u want spray em with cold water when he does it

 

[Walter1]

Looks like food association to me. Yell no, squirt with cold water, and don't hand feed him. Good-looking lizard.

 

[Savemygrave]

I thought I'd give an update on Olive. Over the moon to say she hasn't bitten me in a long time, since we had the issues with her behaviour and slight impaction.
She's little over a year old now and I can tell she's settled again and is much happier. She comes to sit on my lap and will happily let me give her fuss and strokes (we still need to revisit picking her up as I left it alone whilst she settled)
Here's a video of her up to no good.

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[dpjm]

Nice video. Reminds me of what Ripper did one time, back in 2007. He tried crawling through a jacket and got stuck in the sleeve. No video, but I got a couple pictures. It was quite hilarious, but I had to help him get out.