Tegu jaw emergency release??

[ercussio]

So today my tegu Sebastián once again got a hold of my work-out glove, which has a bit of rubber on it (which he loves to chew on for some reason). Anyways, he would NOT give up that glove, even when offered dead rat. I ended up wrestling with him for a good ten minutes, trying to pry his mouth open to get it out (it was starting to seem that he could actually swallow it, so I decided to try to remove it). So, in the future, is there any decent way to get a tegu to unclamp his jaw, or is it just an alligator death-grip? I fear the day I might get locked in his jaw... Thanks!

[dpjm]

With snakes I usually put their head under running water or submerge the head in water. That usually surprises them enough to let go. It might work with a tegu as well, you'd have to try it.

[txrepgirl]

When I put one finger on each side of the bottom and the upper jaw and squeeze ( kind of in the middle ) they open their mouth. I had to do it many times when I had to force feed them. Sometimes it works with just one hand sometimes I had to use both hands to open the mouth. One time our Spatzi ( blue/red hybrid ) bit down on his tongue so hard his jaws locked up ( at least that's what it felt like ). Doing what I have mentioned at the beginning he opened his mouth and his tongue was fine.

[ercussio]

the pressure on the side of the mouth works when he's not already biting down. I'll try the water next time - I bet it would confuse enough for him to open up