Taming Tegus

VARNYARD · Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 11:09 am Post subject: Taming Tegus

For those of you that have read this before, you might want to read it again. I have added to it.

Taming the beast

Let me first say, put yourself in your tegu's position. He is small and you are very big. Big things eat small things. So in his mind he is thinking you want to eat him. To start with, you must build trust with your lizard. Here’s some helpful hints: first off, the most important thing that people do wrong, is disturbing them when they are in their hide, never do this, this is their place of safety, that is one sure way to lose trust with your tegu. Next never (man handle) them, they seem to respond better if you are gentle. It is not going to happen over night. And just try to stay calm around him. If he thinks you are going to hurt him he will go into the fight or flight response. So just take your time, and he will realize you are not a threat and calm down. Keep this in the back of your mind. In the wild these little guys are prey, so when you handle him, remember this. He will come to know you as a friend and not a foe. If you are gentle and slow when handling them, they will feel more comfortable, and respond better when they are handled. It is very important to remember tegus will not respond to human contact if they are handled with the thought of making them do what you want. Tegus are very curious; it is best to use this to your advantage when getting them to become calm pets. The more you fight with them, the more they will fight back. I use a method I refer to as ignoring them to tame them. I have used this many times with great success, this has also worked on the older untamed adults. Letting them come to you can use this method. I have walk in enclosures, I use this by spending time inside them working or reading books. I just do not act like the tegu is even in there, they see me, but I am not trying to invade their space. They will learn that I am no threat and come over to investigate me, it is like the old saying: (curiosity kills the cat). They find out that I am not a predator looking for a meal, nor any kind of threat to them. They will come to learn I am a friend and not a foe. You can use this same method in your home, you need to make sure there is nothing that you tegu can harm itself on, this needs to be a tegu safe area. When your tegu comes to you to investigate you, do not make sudden moves or try to grab him. Just reach down and pet him the first few times, I would not even try to pick him up the first few times. When you do pick him up, think of them as your puppy, when you pick him up, do not grab him behind the neck or around the belly, just reach under him. Hold him with a light grip. Also, the first few times you do pick him up, do not raise him high off the floor, give him a chance to move from your hands and he will learn he is not restrained. You want him to choose to have your contact. He will never learn this if he is man handled; he will also remember the fights. Tegus are the same as a puppy, they don't like to be grabbed either.
Instead reach under them with a loose hand and be gentle. Also when handling them. Let them move through your loose hands, just keep putting one hand in front of the other until he calms down and stops moving. Just remember, the more you grab them and try to restrict them, or chase them, the longer it will take for him to trust you and become tame. The more interaction you have with him, the better. But this does not mean the contact you are making with him is making him do what you want, remember force will be responded to with fight of flight. Just try to handle him with a very slow hand, in a calm manner. Another point that I want to make is tegus can become very food aggressive. They can and will associate you with food. They will bite the hand that feeds them; this is not done in an aggressive manner. My advice to this is never feed them in their cage. Never let them see you feed them. The best way to cure this problem is to not feed them in their cage. Put the food in a separate cage, and then take the tegu from his cage to the food. This helps in many ways. You are putting him with the food, not bringing the food to him. This keeps the food aggression to a minimum. Also by doing this, you are handling him twice a day, once to take him to the food, and another when you return him to his cage. It also helps to keep from getting impactions. If you keep him on sub straights, and remove him to feed him, then you could feed him on newspaper. Then there would never be a chance for him to ingest the sub straights. Also, never feed live mice and rats, this only increases the strong instincts to chase something that moves. I will also add, dead rodents do not bite, bites from these animals can cause damage to your tegus.
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spencer · Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 8:18 am Post subject:

thank you im new to tegus and my little guy charlie seems to respond well to your methods he sometimes get scared when i open the cage so i talk to him and somehow he calms down lol
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txrepgirl · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 4:01 am Post subject:

WOW.thank you sooooo much for your info.My litle arg. bw.tegu is still very young (i think about 2 months old).do i start now with taking him out of the tank when i feed him? and when should i start picking him up under his arms? i'm realy glad i'm a member of this site.i love it.

Ben3233 · Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 5:59 pm Post subject:

Thank you ... I saved your information in my computer because I want a Black and White Tegu and I need info on the "taming work" .So thank you it will help me alot

-Ben

moltenfun · New Member Joined: Dec 17, 2007 Posts: 6

so i've got a couple of questions, my little buddy will not eat if i put him in a separate enclosure, and also he won't eat anything still. Even mealworms are too still for him. What can i do?

Ben3233 · Posted: Thu Jan 17, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject:

We need more information about it...

Is it a new Tegu?
How old is he?
Enclosure details?
Something that can stressed him?
etc...

If he's new, that might be the problem, every reptile need a little bit of time (1-2 week) to discover their new enclosure...and start to eat...
_________________
Ben
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mistery, but today is a gift...that is why we call it the present". -Tortoise Oogway

moltenfun · New Member Joined: Dec 17, 2007 Posts: 6

he is a fairly new tegu, i've had him for about a month. he is about 5 months old. i'm guessing it is because i've started to let him roam, and now he wants to do it all the time. He is in an 18wx36lx17h enclosure in my living room, so there are always cats and dogs around. I am trying to get one of my extra rooms tegu proofed right now, but i worry that he may not be as social if he's confined to his own room(it's upstairs, and i'm not sure how tegus do with stairs?). Anyways, any advice on curbing this behavior will definitely help. thanks

Ben3233 · Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:10 pm Post subject:

First of all, you have to build the trust with your Tegu, after you can start to introduce, other human, and finally with other animal.
_________________
Ben
0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Uresaii)

"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mistery, but today is a gift...that is why we call it the present". -Tortoise Oogway

joshjames14 · Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:21 pm Post subject:

I built trust with my little b&w very quickly. I have had him for 3 weeks and he is very trusting. On my days off, ( I work 48 hours on, 48 off) I have him out for at least 2-3 hours. His favorite place to chill is on my forearm. he'll just lay there while I gently pet him, then he'll fall asleep. I've never owned such as docile reptile. He's never puffed up, or shown me his teeth. I've handled mine since day one though. As soon as I brought him home he was in my hands before he ever entered his enclosure. If you show them nothing but love, they reciprocate very well.

txrepgirl · Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:52 am Post subject:

Hi Josh.I did the same thing but we are also very lucky because Alamo Aquatics ( the store where we bought the Tegus from ) they handle there lizards a lot.That's why I got my second one from there,too.I never had any problems with mine either ( from day one ).How is Rampage doing any way ? take care.

birdbrain · Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2008 1:00 pm Post subject:

Angel was good since we got her out of the box on day 1 when we got home from the pet shop.

_________________
lizard1:i see a meal,do you?
lizard2:yeah,a bird in the sky.
lizard1:i'll go get it.
lizard2:sure,but i get a bite.
lizard1:what ever.
lizard1:i can't get it...because i can't fly.
lizard2:bummer.

to many to list so far.

ApriliaRufo · Posted: Wed Jan 23, 2008 1:11 pm Post subject:

I find it unfair that Mike and Bobby's posts are still being used as stickys and helpful information.

*editted by Rick to remove rude or vulgar content*

greentriple · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:22 pm Post subject:

I would think you would be happy that any and all good information on Tegu husbandry get out to people who need it regardless of where it comes from. It seems that such information is not teritorial.

txrepgirl · Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject:

I agree with greentriple.Any informations that we can get on Tegus are welcome any where from any one.I don't want to get this heated up but you don't hear Mike or Bobby complaining that we are still using there helpful info on this forum.Why can't every one that has personal problems with any one leave it of the forum.Do it over personal e-mailing.No body is perfect.I don't know what you have against Mike and Bobby and I don't want to know because it is non of my business but I think it is rude for you to talk about them like this ON A FORUM when you learned a lot about there infos,too.So in that area you should be thankful that you got that info when you needed it.

ApriliaRufo · Posted: Sat Jan 26, 2008 1:54 pm Post subject:

*editted by Rick to remove rude or vulgar content*