Hi-Newbie member with q's

[ddoug]

Hello everyone. I have had my argentine tegu since October of this year. He/she is approx. 6 months old. I bought him at an expo. I love him to death but he has issues. First of all he's my first and only tegu and I bought him without really knowing anything at all about tegus (my first mistake). I want to learn as much as I can about them and I'm trying to do everything right but until I found this website I was finding a lot of conflicting information.

The only cage I had available for him was the size of a 40 breeder but it has front sliding doors so I have his hide and UV lighting in his cage with substrate for him to burrow in but the cage sits on the floor and he comes and goes as he pleases. He has full use of one room in my house. I go in the room often and sit on the floor and he's not shy at all about climbing into my lap for a nap after he eats. Most of the time he will sit contentedly for a long while and let me scratch him behind his ears while he naps but at least once a day he sees my hand move and he jumps at it as if it is a threat to him or perhaps he thinks it's food? He has usually eaten his fill by the time I sit with him though so he shouldn't be hungry. He has only bitten me once and that was on the back of my neck. He was crawling on my shoulder and when I tried to move him he lunged and bit me.

My questions then are, is it ok for him to be housed this way? And will this behavior continue or will he eventually stop trying to bite every time I move my hands in front of him? Right now it's not so bad but I'm picturing what the bite of a large tegu will be like and I don't like that thought. Sorry for the long post. Any advice or critism will be appreciated. Thank you.

Diana

 

[Jer723]

Your tegu will be fine in a 40 breeder if he is still little but he will definately outgrow it quickly. your tegu just needs to get used to you. he/she will come around soon.

Jerry

 

[rrcoolj]

Are you feeding him in his enclosure? This sounds like cage aggression. He sounds like he is asociating your hand with food. Start feeding him in a seperate bin or container and he should stop. A 40 breeder is a fine grow out tank but he will out grow it in about 8months to a year depending if he hibernaes which he probably won't.

 

[ddoug]

No, he doesn't eat in his cage. He is only in his cage when he sleeps. Otherwise he has the run of the room. He eats outside of his tank and he never sees me even put the food down. He never lunges at his food. He always walks calmly over to it and starts eating. I never feed him anything live either. I'm hoping this is something he will outgrow. He almost acts like a playful puppy at times when he's trying to nip me. Is that normal?

 

[Jefroka]

Diana, welcome to tegutalk. It does sound like your gu was fed in its housing before you got it, do you know for certain if it was fed in/out of the enclosure?

I always wash my hands, dry them, then use an antibacterial before picking up my gu, other lizards & snakes.

I would suggest you pay special attention to scent control, using something such as soap or antibacterial lotion, etc... to cover your scent, descent your neck area also.

Also, with an open palm let your gu smell your hand (descented) so that it will condition itself to knowing you are not food.

I've picked up quite a few tegus that were fed inside their enclosures that were somewhat food aggressive, by using the above open palm method.

They usually come over with an open mouth, flicking their tongues several times, opening and closing their mouths a few times or three. Once they realize I am not food, they turn away. This is when I pick them up.

Its all a matter of conditioning really.

Best of luck!


...Jefroka

 

[VARNYARD]

I must agree with these guys, tegus can get a very strong feeding response, and this also sounds like the case here.

And welcome to the TeguTalk community, glad you joined us.

 

[ddoug]

Thank you all for the welcomes. I appreciate it.

I'm glad to know that this is a fairly common problem and it can be fixed. I will continue to work with Tequila of course and hopefully get this resolved. He hasn't been lunging at me for the last few days so I guess what I'm doing is working. Since he has full use of a large room I sit with him often and he climbs onto my lap as he pleases. I know he loves the rubs because he comes often to sit with me. I don't understand why he would sit with me for 15 minutes before he decides to lunge at my fingers but when he does that I usually just move him off my lap and point him towards his food. Most of the time he is not doing it because he's hungry so he must be smelling something that he doesn't like. I have other critters so I'm sure it's something of that nature.

Thanks for the suggestions and I will keep you all posted on how he progresses.

 

[Jefroka]

Thank you all for the welcomes. I appreciate it.

I'm glad to know that this is a fairly common problem and it can be fixed. I will continue to work with Tequila of course and hopefully get this resolved. He hasn't been lunging at me for the last few days so I guess what I'm doing is working. Since he has full use of a large room I sit with him often and he climbs onto my lap as he pleases. I know he loves the rubs because he comes often to sit with me. I don't understand why he would sit with me for 15 minutes before he decides to lunge at my fingers but when he does that I usually just move him off my lap and point him towards his food. Most of the time he is not doing it because he's hungry so he must be smelling something that he doesn't like. I have other critters so I'm sure it's something of that nature.

Thanks for the suggestions and I will keep you all posted on how he progresses.

Part of your problem could be that you leave the food out and the tegu has a choice of eating its food or going for your fingers.

Don't leave the food out. Only offer food once a day and in a feeding enclosure.

Hope this helps.


...Jefroka

 

[ddoug]

Thank you again for the replies. All of your suggestions have helped but Tequila continues to have a lot of aggression. A few weeks ago when I walked in his room he came running out of his enclosure and grabbed the bottom of my pants leg and did an alligator death roll before he realized I wasn't food. I decded to build him a bigger cage and stop letting him have full run of the room. It has also been suggested by someone in my herpeological society that perhaps even though I paid for an argentine I may have gotten a columbian. Besides his jumpy attitude and feistiness he never hibernates except when he's in shed and that's only for a week or so at a time. I bought him from a nobody breeder at an expo and took his word for it that he was an argentine. Next time I believe it would be worth it to buy from a well known breeder and get what I actually pay for. Buyer beware. Despite his attitude he has his good moments and I still believe in time and with a lot of patience he will be a good pet. I keep working with him every day but now I take him out of his cage to eat and to interact. It seems to be helping.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

Pics will help clarify what you have . Do you have any to post?

 

[ddoug]

This is the only pic I have of him and it's a couple months old. He was around 6 months in the pic.

 

[Bubblz Calhoun]

B & W,...definitely not a Colombian.

 

[Kingwolf26]

I think its just from the previous owner and what do you feed him that he wants so much more. mine is kept in the same manner as yours... in a room, all buy herself and if there is one thing I do is that I have defended myself against my lizard and she learned not to fool with my. My lizard had a deadly feeding response and now she is calm