I LOVE MY TEGU!!!!!!!!!!!

[tegu_girl0]

he is the best lizard hes not thinking my finger is food any more!!!! he thinks the glove is and thats ok cus i can buy a new 1.

[Rick]

I wouldn't feed with gloves. You do not want gloves to be associated with food. Picture this.. It's years later. Gonzo is three feet, four inches.. Your little cousin is over and just comes in from playing outside in the garden with your mom. She sits down to take off her boots and gloves, but you forgot Gonzo was out in the livingroom and all of a sudden there is a little cousins hand stuck inside a 3 foot lizards mouth.

That is just one possibility. I would attempt to avoid associating anything common with the tegus food. Also as I stated, my tegu associates color as well. Imagine your gloves are gray or black and a friend shows up with gray or black sunglasses and he leans in to see your 3 foot tegu. :(

Just be very careful and think of all of the consequences of each action.

Rick
theTegu.com

[tegu_girl0]

good point never thought of that im just thinking of somthing to use that does not look like my hand

[beardiedragon]

tongs or forceps work well

[Rick]

I currently use yellow plastic tongs. They are about 5 inches. I find my hand going down into the enclosure is still a cause for a stir. They assume I have the tongs. Not only that but they will also attack yellow markers or yellow measuring tape. For those who say tegus can't see color I tend to disagree since I can dump out a box of colored markers and Tux will grab the yellow one.

Anyways, I am going to use the method I used for the two tegus I pet sitted for, which is to put food into the enclosure while the tegus are out of the enclosure so when they are returned the food is just there. No association with anything, especially someones hand entering the enclosure.

Just my personal experience with Tux.

Rick
theTegu.com

[John]

neither of my tegus expect food when I reach into the enclosure. I decided to hand feed my big girl and found she's very laid back when food is present. She opened wide and gently grasped the food. When she was done I had no problem petting her and she just stayed as she would normally. My male is smaller and he's still a bit uptight. When he's out he's fine but sometimes he gives me a slight struggle when I want to take him out (1/2 deffensive posture....) Anyways I've switched over to the bowl method for the male as he won't eat from my hands unless it's been sitting out a day and smelly! The female had no problems at all. She will be switched over to the bowl when she decides to stop sleeping all the time lol. I'm in NO way stating that one should feed their tegus by hand as it's not recommended what-so-ever!