Uh oh what have I done >_<

Knight05 · Posted: Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:57 am Post subject: Uh oh what have I done >_<

First off I know feeding in enclosures is #1 don't do it. Well I've been running late to work a few days and I was like damn it! No time to feed the lizards. So I threw a couple frozen's in their cage and when i would come home they ate them np. The problem now is, my tegu's have associated my fingers with dinner as most people know they would eventually. So now I've fed them outside the cage but even after 3 days while in the cage my fingers are food, once they are outside though everything is normal and they won't try to bite. Anyways to fix this other than feeding them in a seperate enclosure from now on? I don't want to stress petting them every day in the cage if I'm worried about being target practice.

Also they seem to have slight behavioral problems now as far as being held (m/f b/w arg pair btw about 1 yr old) when I pet them it's fine but when i go to pick them up by sort of tucking my hand under their legs and gently lifting they try to shoot off my hand like a bat outta hell. And when they are in my hands sometimes they are calm but usually they squirm like crazy and sometimes unintentionally tail whip.

jose2187 · Honored Member Joined: Mar 08, 2008 Posts: 261

i have been trying to fix this problem too, it is very hard to undo because they have seen you do it and now they know you can produce food so be carefull my big black and white has tried to eat my hand before

txrepgirl · Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 2:49 am Post subject:

I don't know if this is going to work but it's worth a try.Hold the food for them in front of the enclosure.Let them come close or at least make sure they see it.Put the food in the separate bin ( with them still watching you ).Also make sure that your hands don't smell like food.Put your hand in there enclosure and try to get them out.If they try to bite take your hand back out and put the food in front of the enclosure again.They should know by that time that you are not putting the food in the enclosure and as long as they try to bite they don't get there food.When they calm down put them one by one ( feed one first than the other ) in the bin.Hope that helps.Sorry that there attitude changed like that.Please keep us posted on how they are doing.Thanks and good luck.

Lucille · Member Joined: Dec 27, 2007 Posts: 63

Experiments have shown that the #1 way to reinforce behavior is to reward it only sometimes; the behavior rewarded that way lasts longer than if it is rewarded each time it is done. What that means is that if your fingers are even on ly occasionally associated with food, those lizards will remember that for a long time.
In practical terms what that means is that eventually the connection will be extinguished if you feed them out of the enclosure but even one future hand feeding will bring it back in force.