Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to thank everyone for their advice and warm welcomes to my earlier posts. The information you have given me will go a long way toward improving the care of my Tegu.
Of course something unexpected happened yesterday that brought a new question to my mind.
Basically, I was feeding my Tegu, and since I work during the day it wasn't until early evening that I could prepare his food.
With all the mulch in his enclosure, he spends much of his time underneath it, not unexpected, so I gently exposed him and showed him his bowl of food. He started eating with gusto, I stepped away, sat in a chair watching him pleased that he was eating so enthusiastically. I didn't think about the fact that I had the door of his enclosure open while I watched him, and while he was wolfing down his food he paused looked over at me and lept straight out of the cage landing on my lap and then bit my hand hard. He then lept off my lap back into his cage and continued eating.
I figured he jumped three feet both directions from a standstill, and while dealing with a lizard with an attitude doesn't bother me in the least, this little fellow is demonstrating that he is both bold and aggressive. His actions are "Argus Monitor" like right now and it seems to me this is a bit out of character for an Argentine Tegu.
He is very new, and young, and I expect that newly aquired young lizards range from spastic to docile. As they mature, do Tegus turn a corner and calm down a bit? Do they maintain a degree of aggressiveness throughout their lives?
I ask these questions so that I may be prepared to cope with interacting with him, even if that is limited to cleaning his cage and admiring him from a distance.

Sorry for the long Post, and again my thanks for your insights.

-Kit

We too have a year-old Argentine that can be very aggressive (and has grown to 37", with no end in sight). One thing you might try is feeding the tegu outside of the enclosure or cage. We started this a few weeks ago, and he has calmed down a lot (though we always wear gloves and a jacket when getting him in and out of the cage). The idea is that he doesn't associate either you or his cage with food. Get a big Rubbermaid container, put the food dish in it without him seeing you, then remove him from the cage and put him in the container. Or you can just feed him on the floor (in the kitchen for us), but always put the dish down before you get him. Wash your hands after preparing the food as well--a tegu's sense of taste/smell is so good that he can probably smell through gloves. Their feeding instinct is terribly strong. Also, I'm beginning to doubt the stuff I've heard about Argentines being more docile. Ours definitely has chutzpah!

Jonathan

Wow! I just wanted to say that that was an interesting story. Don't you really wonder what these guys are thinking sometimes? My Sav monitor got mad at me once when his breakfast was late. He took a running head start and head butted me! Then he sat there an glared at me until I put his breakfast down. Now, tail whipping or even biting, I would have expected from a petulant lizard, but head butting???

My two year old female B W, Jujuy, when she was one year old or so, exhibited some extremely agressive defensive behaviors especially when she was in her outdoors enclosure, where she had a "nest" of dry grass in a mailbox. She would get a crazed look in her eye, charge the cage wall in an attempt to attack me. I learned that if I gave her a minute, opened the lid, let her climb up and out towards me, she would snap out of it, remember who I was (no threat) and be her old docile self. I used gloves for a while untill I began to recognize the pattern.

She doesn't do this at all anymore, and also has outgrown her food associated biting. She would almost undoubtedly be very territorial of a nest site if she was in a breeding situation, however. My theory is that when they are young, these lizards practice lots of the survival behaviors that they have evolved in order to survive in the wild. They don't have the experience that comes with age to know when these behaviors are really needed or appropriate. i would guess that your baby will outgrow the food attack behavior when it isn't feeling so desperately hungry because of rapid growth at that age, and when it gets older it will calm down about you being around while it is eating.

You know, my sav would often gape and hiss at me if he thought I wasn't bringing his food fast enough. He started this behavior as a hatchling, and it continued until he passed away eight years later due to cancer.
So head butting doesn't strike me as overly strange. Displays of aggression rather than doing anything violent seem to be the way of a Bosc Monitor.
My Tegu on the other hand, well a different matter entirely.

A great story by the way,

Thanks for sharing it.

-Kit

This is a cute story, Kit. Sorry 'bout your hand.

When I first got my gold, Ravage, he used to bite A LOT -- feeding, cage cleaning, or just sitting in my lap. He'd be nice & calm then suddenly latch onto my hand. It took him a while to realize I wasn't his food, and vice-versa.

Consistently using a food dish helped. He can differentiate between his dish and other items of similiar size/color. (Their excellent sense of smell helps, I'm sure!) Changing to a less "fruity" handsoap helped as well.

They're quite the jumpers, aren't they? Mine has calmed a bit now that he's about 1.5 yrs old, but sometimes I think he thinks he can fly. My mellow adult red doesn't jump much except for the occasional "tripod leap."