OK I typed this post before but it coiuldn't post and I had to type it again, so I will give the cliffs note version. I am experienced with tegus to some extent having kept them for several years, but none has every biten me, until this last one. She is an arg red female that I adopted who had been kept in incorrect husbandry by previous owners:
1) Kept with an iguana
2) Fed only meat and eggs. They said she refused fruit so they only fed meat, but this is untrue because she ate fruits immediately upon being served by me.
3) had paint (yes, paint) on her because they were "decorating their house".
It is by all means healthy looking, weight is good, alert and has no missing toes/tail. However, it seems to associate my fingers with food. Only fingers, no other bodypart. The owners showed pics of her eating from a bowl before she was abandoned. But I suspect it was feed by hand. It wasn't an aggressive bite from what I saw. It seemed like a "I think that is food" bite.
If it was an aggressive bite, I would use gloves and not move so it will think it is not affecting me. But since it is a food bite, I am stumped.
I did handle food before the bite, but I did wash my hands 100% thoroughly. Also it is interested in my fingers all the time, not just before it happened. She seems not interested in any other bodypart (feed, arms, legs etc.).
I understand they are animals and not to be trusted 100% ever no matter how tame, but still there has to be some way to reduce this type of behavior over time.
By the way this is not a little baby girl she is 40 inches long.
Please help.
1) Kept with an iguana
2) Fed only meat and eggs. They said she refused fruit so they only fed meat, but this is untrue because she ate fruits immediately upon being served by me.
3) had paint (yes, paint) on her because they were "decorating their house".
It is by all means healthy looking, weight is good, alert and has no missing toes/tail. However, it seems to associate my fingers with food. Only fingers, no other bodypart. The owners showed pics of her eating from a bowl before she was abandoned. But I suspect it was feed by hand. It wasn't an aggressive bite from what I saw. It seemed like a "I think that is food" bite.
If it was an aggressive bite, I would use gloves and not move so it will think it is not affecting me. But since it is a food bite, I am stumped.
I did handle food before the bite, but I did wash my hands 100% thoroughly. Also it is interested in my fingers all the time, not just before it happened. She seems not interested in any other bodypart (feed, arms, legs etc.).
I understand they are animals and not to be trusted 100% ever no matter how tame, but still there has to be some way to reduce this type of behavior over time.
By the way this is not a little baby girl she is 40 inches long.
Please help.
