Hey im new here and i have some questions!!!

[Kusanosan123]

Hey my name is Daniel and i am the proud owners of 2 columbian tegus and a sanfireXcitrus bearded dragon. Aries is a columbian black and white tegu and Loke is a columbian golden tegu. I will post a picture of my tegus in the columbian tegu thread. I know this might be bothersome asking a bunch of question but Aries is very cage aggressive and it has gotten worse she is now opening her mouth when i get near her, but when i take her out of the cage she is alright. is this normal and how do i get her to stop being cage aggressive and another question since i just started school my tegus usually get up at 9 am and go back underground around 2 pm and since i leave at 8:15 am to 4:30 pm how should i feed them and should i dig them up to feed.

 

[Josh]

Hello and welcome to TeguTalk!
With regard to cage aggressiveness, I would see if there's a way you can open up her view a bit so that she isn't so surprised when you're around. I had a boa with this issue and I changed his location in the room so that he wasn't so startled once I was in eyesight... I dunno, it might help!
As for feeding times, maybe you can change their light timers to fit your schedule a little better. If you shifted it by just 3 hours you might be able to get to feed them while they're already up

 

[laurarfl]

Welcome to the forum!

Colombian tegus seem to be more territorial than the Argentines. If you only come near the cage when you get her out, she may be seeing you as a sort of threat to her safe zone. Maybe you can try hanging out next to her enclosure and totally ignoring her. Do homework, talk on the phone/text, read a book, etc. but don't make a lot of eye contact with her. Once she seem OK with that, hang out next to her enclosure in the same way, but talk to her every once in a while, looking toward her, but not really 'at' her. Then move up to talking to her and making eye contact.

Colombians are often little prey animals in their environment, so they can seem a bit nervous. Of course you will be taking her out during this hanging out wirth her process. You'll have to work with her by taking her out in a way that doesn't stress her out too much.

I agree with Josh, try backing up her lights, even if they just come on about 7am. Colombians do well with a timer set giving them a 12hr light cycle, so 7am-7pm lights would be ok....6:30-6:30, etc

 

[Kusanosan123]

Thank you guys alot i will be taking your advices on this luara and josh i will tell you how it works out

 

[laurarfl]

Keep us posted!