Extremely food aggressive in viv.

[Buda87]

Got my new gu today. About 2years old and very tame.

Put him in his viv. Went to open it up a few hours later and he LAUNCHED himself and his open mouth at my hand!!
Just wondering how I can work with him to stop this association of hand=food

I intend on feeding him outside of the viv but can't pick him up to get him out without being munched on! Lol

Any help would me greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Josh

 

[reptastic]

He may be just just territorial, I feed my tegus in the enclosure from time to time and havnt any problems, give him some time to settle

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Congrats on the new gu.

Give him time to settle in and later find out if he really is food or cage aggressive. Either way for now no food around the enclosure. If he's hard to get out, let him come out on his own to feed him some where else. Of course also make sure that you don't smell like food. You can even fall back to the basics. Spend time around his cage opening and closing the door at times to get him use to it and not expecting food every time.

Every once in a while Natsuki still gets excited when he hears the key in the lock or the doors slide open. But no where close to how he use to be when I got him. When he does get excited I stop what ever I'm doing and wait for him to calm down and realize there's no food.

 

[Buda87]

Congrats on the new gu.

Give him time to settle in and later find out if he really is food or cage aggressive. Either way for now no food around the enclosure. If he's hard to get out, let him come out on his own to feed him some where else. Of course also make sure that you don't smell like food. You can even fall back to the basics. Spend time around his cage opening and closing the door at times to get him use to it and not expecting food every time.

Every once in a while Natsuki still gets excited when he hears the key in the lock or the doors slide open. But no where close to how he use to be when I got him. When he does get excited I stop what ever I'm doing and wait for him to calm down and realize there's no food.

Thanks for the replys. I thought it to be food aggression as he even went for the dangling keys that I put in the lock after he thought I was food.
Do you think he will be a lot calmer if he comes out of his own acord?

It's very odd but interesting to see how he was very tame before we put him in his viv then a complete change when I put my hand in there. Took him two seconds to shoot 5ft across the viv for me lol

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

[size=small]Depending on what the previous owner did that maybe what he's use to. More often than not if a hand was in his enclosure it probably was to feed him. So he associates that and what ever else was involved at that time with food. All of mine were mainly fed in their enclosure until they settled in, were able to be picked up and or came out on their own. But I also spent more time with my hands in there just hanging out, messing around, moving stuff, cleaning or what ever with no food involved.

I can open Korbens door and do what ever I want at any time with very little reaction from him besides the typical Colombian huff. But if he sees the tongs or his bowl he's on it. For now I'm fine with that because he associates those things with food and not me. Now that he's coming out more and doesn't mind being handled as much I take him out to be fed.

He'll be calmer as long as there's no food around for him to smell or pick up on. Once he has time to calm down, realize that and over time start to disassociate hands, movement, keys or what ever with food. Take away the cause of that response and they catch on pretty quick.

By waiting for him to calm down and or come out on his own, you're giving him time to assess the situation and figure things out. Instead of reacting and lunging right away. [/size]

 

[Buda87]

[size=small]Depending on what the previous owner did that maybe what he's use to. More often than not if a hand was in his enclosure it probably was to feed him. So he associates that and what ever else was involved at that time with food. All of mine were mainly fed in their enclosure until they settled in, were able to be picked up and or came out on their own. But I also spent more time with my hands in there just hanging out, messing around, moving stuff, cleaning or what ever with no food involved.

I can open Korbens door and do what ever I want at any time with very little reaction from him besides the typical Colombian huff. But if he sees the tongs or his bowl he's on it. For now I'm fine with that because he associates those things with food and not me. Now that he's coming out more and doesn't mind being handled as much I take him out to be fed.

He'll be calmer as long as there's no food around for him to smell or pick up on. Once he has time to calm down, realize that and over time start to disassociate hands, movement, keys or what ever with food. Take away the cause of that response and they catch on pretty quick.

By waiting for him to calm down and or come out on his own, you're giving him time to assess the situation and figure things out. Instead of reacting and lunging right away. [/size]

Thanks yeah I'm going to try and let him out tomorrow/today and have his food already set out for him.
After the first dash toward my hand I put my hand in again later to move substrate and he wasn't as keen and seemed to see what I was doing.

 

[frost]

my b/w does that. i feed in outside of his enclosure most of the time usually on the carpet or tile. once hes out he doesent do it. and when he full he doesent do it in his enclosure. my other tegus dont do it tho. maybe just his personality. might just be something you will have to work around.