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Hand feeding


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Posted by Ripley on April 23, 2003 at 15:34:10:

In Reply to: Hand feeding posted by Rollin on April 23, 2003 at 09:38:21:

It sounds like you & Taz enjoy this "bonding" every day. :-) That's pretty cool that he'll run over to you then stop & wait for his dinner. I hear ya about hand-feeding. I don't really advocate it either, and wouldn't recommend it to someone unfamiliar with a particular tegu's temperament.

That being said... My red female is extremely mellow, and I used to hand-feed her treats which she'd delicately eat from my palm (not mice, she'd attack those!) We later got a juvenile gold male that was very aggressive and bit a lot (see "Colombian tegu bite" post below). There's NO WAY I'd hand-feed him! Now they're both bowl-fed and that works great for me. OK, the red still gets an occasional treat by hand...

I'm glad you shared the video. Please post more of 'em!


:I don't want to advocate hand feeding. I realize there is a risk in associating food with my hand. Taz has never attempted to bite anyone so I feel comfortable with it. I have been tossing food to him for months now so that's why I didn't think twice about posting the video. Thanks for bringing it up I really should watch it, I had kinda forgot about the risk, I could have just used my tongs or put it on the floor before I call him over.

:I do feed him like this every day, usually I do it a couple of times in a row. It's a way for me to have fun with him and teach him a trick, much like the way I taught my dog. He has been really good about not seeing my hand as food like my dog. He'll usually stop about a foot short of me and wait while I reach for the food to toss him, and he's usually not so energetic about it.

:I'm not concerned about the 70s shag carpet here because it's going to be replaced soon. It's a good thing too not because what I feed, it's what comes out the other end. All of the mice I've feed go down just like the one in the video with no mess no fuss.
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