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I found out mine does a 'trick', when you say "He's a silly Tegu!" (With Australian Accent), he stands up on his hind feet and waves his paws in the air, its funny to see him do it. I would take a picture, but he tends to get right infront of the Camra and climb in it (He came up and got ontop of my head that way).

The other thing he does (Its not really a trick, but its funny that he does it) is when I put my hand in, he puts his front paws on it and looks in my palm, probably for food, then he goes back and lays down.

And, something strange has happened, when I take him out and sit on the couch, our Dog, Foxy (A female Gordon Setter), comes in and sits on the floor, and just stares at him, I let her come up and sniff him (he usually flicks his tounge out and gets her on the nose and she shakes her head and gives this look of "WHAT WAS THAT!?!" the thing is, when she stares at him, its the same look she gives someone who holds one of her puppies (She's had 3 litters, the last one had 13 puppies, they've since gone to their own homes) and she sits there and whines till I put him back in his cage where she can't see him.

its not a trick but it looks cool, and im sure pretty much all tegus do it. ill get a rat hold in about 4-5ft. in the air and Taz for his size has an awesome vertical. normally jumping and getting it within the first 2 tries. when hes being lazy he climbs up me to about my shoulders and then jumps to get it. hes gotten close to my fingers when he does that. but i have always hand fed him. he seems to know exactly where my hand is and where the food is. he gets close sometimes, but never has even knicked me. and yes he charges for his food
can look scary, lol

No, I don't have any food in my hand at all, and he does it anyway.

I used to call my tegus over to me when it was feeding time. They were very responsive too they would swing around and sprint from across the room. Since then we've forgot about doing the trick daily and just been feeding them like normal. I think they've forgot too except for maybe if they're really hungry.

Don't know about the tegu tricks...my Llewellen Setter points tegus. Now I have a bird/lizard dog. Sounds like your dog is traumatized by the lizard. It goes both ways. My red/blue cross huffs and puffs and even goes after my lab mix. No puppy love there. I think the red teases the dogs. When I have a lizard, or snake out the lab will sit 10 feet away and watch. The Llewellen will come investigate and lay at my feet.

Anyone have any observations. They say dogs and tortoises don't mix. How about lizards. I think it is making my red/blue cross even more aggressive toward the dogs and my other tegu. The two tegus don't seem to be best friends anymore. What do you think???

Mike B

Ecthelion, that is so cute! I love when they tripod!

When I wave this big black cooking spoon in a circle above my red, she tripods and follows it, head spinning around like a kitten chasing a string. She knows it's not food, it's just a game we play.

Not really a trick, but she also likes to slide down the (carpeted) stairs on her belly. She starts off slow, gains momentum midway, then slows before the bottom. It's really funny to watch.