Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Feelin' frustrated and need big-time feedback. I keeping hearing all these great stories about how tame some of your Tegus are, and I'm having the opposite experience. I got my Arg. B&W two months ago when he was already about 1 yr. old. He had, also, survived a large fire that pretty much gutted the reptile shop where I got him. Since bringing him home he has been very aggressive, won't stand for any handling, and lunges at the glass about half the time anyone approaches his cage.
Is this common? Is there still a chance he'll tame down with age and good old TLC? Or, did I wind up bringing home the Chucky-doll of Arg. B&W Tegus??
Any suggestions, words of wisdom, or otherwise helpfull info would be much appreciated.

Are you sure its a Arg. B&W, not a colombian? They look similar. Most of the colombian B&W's ive seen are vicious, and 99% of the argentine tegus are fat and lazy, and really dont care about anything but eating.

Thanks for your reply loyski, but I've already checked on that by using the two methods I'm aware of. He has the beaded scales on the top of his head and two large scales between the nasal scales and the eye scales. Is there any other way to differentiate between the Arg. and Colombian?

Can you post a close up pic?
thanks

Wish I could, I'll try to borrow a dig. camera ASAP and get some posted. You may have to tell me how though, I have no idea how to do that on this site.
My tegu also has a LOT of orange coloration on his belly. Does this narrow it down any?

I don't have experience bringing home lizards from a pet store but I did get my sugar glider from one. They have the similar trait of supposedly being nice once adult, but the one I got from the shop was very afraid of people because she would always be bothered in her cage. It's been almost a year and she is much nicer but still won't let us hold her. You might have the same situation with your tegu, he could have been mistreated by customers and gained a dislike for people. Give him time and plenty of patience, work carefully but not too much together. If his temperment doesn't improve over time, which for you I hope it does, at least you saved him from a possibly worse life.

Don't give up. We have an (almost) 2-yr. old Argentine who's now almost 4 ft. in length, and _much_tamer than during his fast "growth spurt" from approx. 8-16 months in age. A couple of tips:

1. Don't feed your Argentine in the cage. The aggression in a young tegu is part of a feeding instinct. Get protective gear (I use an old leather jacket, zipped up, and heavy-duty cut-proof gloves you can find at Home Depot) and get the tegu out of the cage for feeding. Put the food dish in a large Rubbermaid container on the floor and put the tegu in it (don't let him see you put the food in--you want to break the association between you and food). After he start to tame down, you can feed him on the kitchen floor (not on carpet--tegu dinnertime is often followed by cleanup time!).

2. How to handle him, though? The first few times will be rough, but don't give up. I used paper towels or a rag gently tossed over his head with one (gloved) hand while I wrapped the other hand around the neck. Then work a hand under him, cradle him tightly next to your body, and slip him in the container. Watch the tail--long after he stops trying to bite he may continue to whip.

3. The good news--after about 3 weeks of this, our Argentine started to calm down considerably, and he's a big, fat, lazy, fairly tame lizard today. He even let's us pet him bare-handed now!

Good luck, don't give up, but you do have to stick with it.

Jonathan

Thanks a lot Jonathan, it's nice to hear that there's still hope!I have no problem with putting in the time and patience. Your suggestions about feeding were very helpfull, they make perfect since now that I think about it. I've been making two mistakes, feeding him in his cage AND placing his food in the cage with my hands. I'll make the changes! Thanks again!

Ok sounds like you are in the same situation I was with mine. This is how I tamed mine I got him and wrapped him up in a towel with his arms and legs pinned to his sides so he couldn't escape. then I sat down and watched tv with him in my lap petting him and talking to him the whole time. eventually he got the idea and fell asleep. ever since he has been dog tame. By the way he bite me in the store when I bought him. In fact thats the main reason I bought him.

Thanks much for your reply Kojiroh1. This was, actually, the first thing I tried after seeking advice from the people I bought him from. But, it seemed to make the situation even worse; he became even more aggresive. Also, the firmer I held him (NEVER sqeezing tight enough to hurt him though)and the longer I held him, the more he would struggle.
I do have a couple of questions for you though, if you don't mind. Unfortunately, he's been in a top loading cage (to be remedied very soon)and it really seemed to set him off when I had to reach down from above him, and them grab him around his body to lift him out. Do you think this may have been part of the problem? Next question...how long would you hold your Tegu like this before you would consider it to be too stressful on him? Thanks again for passing on your valuble experience.

Hmmm...It's possible that the "top Loading" cage had something to do with it, but I used to keep mine in a 4x2x2 glass reptile tank and it wasn't a problem.

I held on to him for about 5 hours or so. after the first couple of minutes he settled down and would only try and move if I made a sudden movements. I could't tell you how long to hold before your animal was too stressed, just pay attention to his behavior if you feel it's too much then your probably right.

Did you pet and talk to your tegu while he was sitting on your lap, I think I heard some where that it desensitizes them.

The only other sugestion I could make would be keep him full.

I hope this helps

Thanks Kojiroh...ALL the info I've gotten from people on this forum has been very helpfull! I feel lucky to have found it. I may try this method again, maybe the increase of aggression was the "extinction burst" they refer to when teaching behavior modification.