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very concerned

beardeddragon111

Active Member
Messages
371
when i feed my tegu small bits of food, sometimes he gets the tongs too. today, he bit the tongs twice, and very hard. today i noticed it looks like a few of his teeth are missing, which seemes ver, very, bad. I was able to look into his mouth fairly clearly, and there are a few spots where theres an extra gap before the next tooth. I'm doubtful i can get a good picture, because the teeth are hard to see and its hard to calm him down so I can really see in hos mouth. I dont know how to feed him now, when I leave his food in a bowl, he just digs it out and into the substrate.
 

Teguana

New Member
Messages
2
sounds like normal teeth.
 

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Jrock23

Active Member
Messages
194
If your worried about your tegu teeth or mouth don't use the stainless steel tongs. Use the wooden tongs or the smalls plastic tongs.. Or you can use a food plastic and not have to use tongs at all
 

Bug

New Member
Messages
28
I wouldn't use wooden or plastic tongs... You simply cannot clean them well enough, and Tegus eat things that inspire microbial growth. I use Stainless Steel tongs as they can be cleaned and do not harbor bacteria. I actually do not know a single keeper that uses the plastic or wooden tongs(unless Jrock23 does?). All of my animals have bit the tongs without issue. I will not say that there would never be an issue, but I have never had one nor have I heard of anyone else having one.

The small plastic tongs also put your fingers too close to the "danger zone" imo. My animals' feeding responses are such that I wouldn't want to be anywhere near all that with those itty bitty baby tongs. xD

As was suggested, you could also just use a food dish or something. :)

Hope this comment didn't come off as argumentative! Just wanted to throw in my 2c
 

dpjm

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
378
I use a flat bamboo spatula to feed my tegu his vegetables and fruit. Cleans up nicely with hot water and soap, then disinfect with 99% alcohol. I use stainless steel tongs for feeding him the whole animal prey.
 

Jrock23

Active Member
Messages
194
Wow! Well I don`t use plastic or wooden tongs but I do know people who use them FYI... I only suggest it because of what was say in the original post, them tongs can be clean just as well as stainless tongs. I use my hands and or tongs to feed my lizards. depending on what i'm feeding.. I use a food bowl for all my lizard when I give them egg yolk or beef liver.. Let me guess, it something wrong with that as well huh.. LOL... Okay instead of being a critic maybe you could throw in your expert opinion and help out the original post issue.. Don't worry I don't mean to come off rude to you or be a smart ass. All do respect, but just because you don`t use something and people you know don't use them. It doesn't mean that some one doesn't use them.. You get my drift! This person is very concerned about there tegu mouth. So if there is another option then maybe you should be of some help.. I hand feeds my nile and savannah but depending on what i have to feed, them I use tongs. I haven't worked up to that with my tegu yet.
 

snibborsirk

Active Member
Messages
203
Location
Columbia, SC
Wow! Well I don`t use plastic or wooden tongs but I do know people who use them FYI... I only suggest it because of what was say in the original post, them tongs can be clean just as well as stainless tongs. I use my hands and or tongs to feed my lizards. depending on what i'm feeding.. I use a food bowl for all my lizard when I give them egg yolk or beef liver.. Let me guess, it something wrong with that as well huh.. LOL... Okay instead of being a critic maybe you could throw in your expert opinion and help out the original post issue.. Don't worry I don't mean to come off rude to you or be a smart ass. All do respect, but just because you don`t use something and people you know don't use them. It doesn't mean that some one doesn't use them.. You get my drift! This person is very concerned about there tegu mouth. So if there is another option then maybe you should be of some help.. I hand feeds my nile and savannah but depending on what i have to feed, them I use tongs. I haven't worked up to that with my tegu yet.
JRock - pretty rare to hear of someone hand feeding a Nile!!! You must have 1 out of every 1000 that actually tames! I bet I tried 10 or so ornate Nile hatchlings when I was younger and couldn't get any of them to be consistent enough in their behavior to consider tame. How big/old is your Nile? That's one reason why I love the argentines - it's almost the exact opposite where it's rare that one won't tame!
 
Messages
40
Location
USA
That's what I do as well, dude. I simply put a bowl inside the enclosure within their view. They always stare when I'm putting food(ground beef, turkey, veggies) in it and then they come down to investigate. I just use the tongs for whole prey and I make noise with it so they associate the sound with feeding time. I also once held a fuzzy by the tail(with my hands). If I dangle the fuzzy nearby they will see and start to follow me until they can grab it. They are smart enough to grab it without biting my finger. And they dont make a mess with the prey.
 

Jrock23

Active Member
Messages
194
JRock - pretty rare to hear of someone hand feeding a Nile!!! You must have 1 out of every 1000 that actually tames! I bet I tried 10 or so ornate Nile hatchlings when I was younger and couldn't get any of them to be consistent enough in their behavior to consider tame. How big/old is your Nile? That's one reason why I love the argentines - it's almost the exact opposite where it's rare that one won't tame!
Its wasn't easy, my varanus ornatus bite me all the time. My holder brother showed me how to do alot of different thing and I also follow BH VARANUS on youtube and facebook, so we talk a lot and give ideals to each other.. I hand feed pinkies and rat pups when they wer hatchling and juveniles. My older female, a friend his her for breeding.. But they its super hard to do and till this day sometimes I still get bite.. Everything is a work in process. My older female is 5 years old.. But I'm working with other hatchlings at the moment..
 

Jrock23

Active Member
Messages
194
Sinibborsirk, in my honest opinion tame and docile shouldn't be the words that we use but we use them... I strongly believe the correct term is tolerate.. Us are owners and or keeper, our animals tolerate us handling them, bathing them, cleaning there enclosure. Tolerate is the key word.. They tolerate us, why/ because they have a food source, they living good and the get interaction. I could be wrong be its an opinion. My reticulated python are aggressive eaters but i would never try to hand feed them LOL.. I attend many of tinley park reptile events and hand seen people hand feed uromastyx, breardie, iaguana, croc monitor, timor monitor.. Does it maens there tame, no it doesn't it just means that people work with there animal to teach it how to respond with the scent of your hand as to the scent of tongs.. Not that tongs have a scent LOL. I hope you understanding what I'm trying to say LOL..
 

dpjm

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
378
Well said Jrock23. Tolerate is the most accurate term you can use - it is something we can actually observe. I work at a zoo and people always ask me: "Do the animals like or dislike this?" I always answer "I don't know, they never tell me what they like or don't like, but I can say that they tolerate or don't tolerate certain things". I would never call any of these exotic animals "tame", it's not the correct term. They are either tolerant or intolerant in regards to certain events.

Sorry, that was a bit off topic.
 

Walter1

Moderator
Staff member
1,000+ Post Club
5 Year Member
Messages
4,384
You know, though, some things can be inferred. I have come to conclude that some Green Iguanas and som Argies actually like to interact with certain people- stretching into a neck scratch, etc. a spectrum really with most not disliking the interaction.
 

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