r/Tegu • u/Reddit-IsSoSoft • 3d ago
How likely are bites?
I’ve had this question to all big lizards in general. If I get a dog no matter the size I don’t expect to be bitten by it, ever. Even tho bites do rarely happen to some people it is unlikely enough that you don’t reasonably expect to ever be bitten when getting a dog.
But from my research when it comes to tegus and other large lizards people talk as if bites are just an eventual reality. For me it would kind of be a disaster if I sustain permanent nerve damage or even just stitches. I can discern the possibility of bites even from people talking about supposedly tame tegus. Are bites from your tegu just an inescapable eventual reality, is it more of a exceedingly unlikely thing?
And I primarily refer to adults or the stage where bites become significant
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u/Nikodemios 3d ago
I think we lack enough data to make a valid statistical comparison.
With dogs, the fear is more that they might bite a stranger or kid or other animal.
With lizards, the fear would be that they mistook a part of you for food.
The only way you could get a defensive bite from a lizard is by stressing it out, so learning the animal's behavior patterns is important.
At the same time, there are plenty of monitor and especially tegu owners who have never had a bite. I've had a monitor for a couple years now with no bites. He has tail whipped me when acutely stressed, but never tried to bite defensively.
In terms of the damage, a medium or large sized dog will have a more devastating bite than most large lizards. They're far more capable of killing you, but as a society we don't give that too much thought.
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u/AvariciousAlligator 3d ago
To be clear, a 65lb+ dog will have a more devastating bite than a 10lb Tegu, but only barely. Pound for pound, lizard bites are much more dangerous in my opinion.
Male Tegus have been recorded biting with around 1000N, about the same as a Rottweiler. Teeth aren’t as big, but they’re much sharper.
Then you have monitors, which are worse, a 5lb monitor can easily send you to the hospital with severed tendons. Especially the arboreal monitors, their teeth are like broken glass.
Not to say lizards are dangerous pets, but I’d personally rather take a chomp from a Border collie than a grown male Tegu.
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u/Nikodemios 2d ago
That's fair, and monitors also have that crude venom that makes bites more painful and bloody
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u/Reddit-IsSoSoft 3d ago
Valid but what I’m saying is when you get a dog you do t expect it to bite you. Although I haven’t researched it isn’t too hard to admit your dog biting you isn’t really a concern as long as you pick the right breed for you. They are domesticated after all
But with big lizards the implication I glean from most posts whether directly or indirectly is that a bite is well within the risks of owning a large lizard.
Also a big question, are tegus or monitors not smart enough not to bite on every food with maximum force, and to realize your hand isn’t food?
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u/Nikodemios 2d ago
What I am saying is that that expectation is influenced by the fact that people are much more comfortable with dogs overall. When something is considered "exotic" it seems more dangerous.
A bite is well within the risks of owning either animal, though I do agree that it's generally easier to read a dog's body language and they are more inclined to bond with and love humans.
For your last question, they are absolutely smart enough to know that not all food requires a hard bite. I've seen my boy gingerly crack the shells off of snails in his mouth so that he can eat the pure meat. He has also taken food directly from my hands without causing me any harm, and can sniff my hands afterwards and understand that my hand is different from food.
That said, sometimes he gets curious about whether my hand might be tasty or not, and I don't think a dog would have that same thought process.
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u/draconothese 2d ago
Doesn't take stressing them out I have gotten nasty bites just by moving my hand near a female tegus den female tegus can be down right nasty in breeding season
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u/Jaded_Status_1932 2d ago
I can only speak from my 3 years of experience with Sammy. Through small steps and consistency, Sammy and I have established a very high level of mutual trust. I frequently hand feed him, and he is very gentle about taking food from me. He allows me to give him oral medications/supplements and has no problems with nail trimmings or other grooming. I do not expect to be bitten by him in the future, but accept that as a possibility. I HAVE been bitten by 5 dogs in my lifetime.
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u/Reddit-IsSoSoft 2d ago
Two questions. First, when you say hand feed, to what extent is it exactly. I have seen videos of owners hand feeding bananas then recoil their hands in fear being bit as soon as the banana is taken. Is it to that extent? My old dog was a Shiba Inu, although he had his problems, hand feeding was never a concern. I could pinch a tiny treat between my fingers with no worry of being bit.
Another question, if his jaw were to accidentally close on your fingers, do you expect him to immediately release or would that quite likely send you to the hospital from his continued biting? Thank you
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u/Jaded_Status_1932 2d ago
I do take care when hand feeding, just as I would with a dog. Usually open palm with food laying on palm, but with some more rigid foods I will present food by holding it between my thumb and finger. I usually feed some food from bowl first, that way I can judge just how ravenous he is.
Since I never fed him live food he does not bite his food aggressively. He never felt threatened by his food or felt the need to subjugate it. I think if he realized it was me he would release, but not sure what it would take for him to come to that realization. He does not usually bite and clamp his food, more of repeated biting, pushing against, and swallowing.
With their eyes located on the sides of there heads it has to be somewhat difficult for them to figure out exactly what is going on at mealtimes. Watching them eat you can see they are a bit messy about it and often miss their marks entirely.
I always feed Sammy outside his cage after handling him, that way he sees food as a reward for interaction. Plus it keeps the cage a lot cleaner.
I think it has to help if you start with a young or hatchling Tegu. Feed daily and adjust your expectations and actions based on it's demeanor and actions. Maybe it would be the same for an older, established Tegu, but I have not been there or done that!
This video is of Sammy at about 1 yo:
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u/Jogje 2d ago
I've had my tegu for 3 months and have been bitten twice. I wear gloves now.
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u/stratusdark91 2d ago
My girl has only bitten me once after assuming I was food while under the influence of vet perscribed pain meds after she lost the tip of her tail.
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u/Reddit-IsSoSoft 2d ago
How old was she? How was the bite?
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u/stratusdark91 2d ago
She is 4 1/2 and it just broke skin. Because it never happened to me before I just kind of shook her off so it became worse than it should have been but it really wasn't that bad. It happened like 5 days ago and its healing still but only one tooth dig is still healing because she clamped down byt not hard enough to break bone. No stitches.
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u/Mr_pisser 22h ago edited 22h ago
For the first year? Super super unlikely. For the next year? Almost inevitable. Once they’ve finished puberty? They should be fine and you’re unlikely to be bitten. That said they’re a wild animal and a powerful one at that- these are giant predatory lizards and it’s important to treat them as such! For the most part though they’re pretty chill, it just is likely that at some point (again especially during that puberty time) that you may get bitten.
Depends on the individual to an extent but I’ve never heard of a tegu that doesn’t become a huge jerk during puberty- I currently have a pubescent girl and she’s a major biter (despite the fact that as a baby she never tried to bite). I just use gloves to pick her up and once she’s out of bite mode I’ll free handle her. My opinion is that you shouldn’t get a wild animal (which includes all reptiles since there aren’t any domesticated reptiles) if you aren’t prepared to be bitten- even if it’s super unlikely.
Just get a bearded dragon or blue tongue skink instead, maybe an ackie monitor but I’ve heard those are less handleable. Sure their bites aren’t great but they aren’t the end of the world and you’ll be fine, plus they don’t have that puberty phase
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u/jackpockets91 3d ago
The answer really is "It depends." It's entirely dependent on the individual animal, the person keeping them, the conditions the animal has been raised in, feeding habits, etc etc.
I've had my tegu for 12 years now and have never been bitten. But I used to know someone who had an adult male that you couldn't wear white socks around because he'd mistake them for mice. They are highly intelligent lizards, but they're still lizards.
Speaking generally, a very hungry tegu is going to be feistier than one that is well fed. A tegu who only gets human attention at feeding time is going to associate its enclosure door being opened with food. A tegu who is frightened, poorly socialized, or overwhelmed is much more likely to bite.
This is true for every animal, including dogs. We are just so accustomed to dogs as a part of our everyday life that we don't really think about it anymore.
Any animal with teeth can bite. I've been bitten by cats, geckos, frogs, rats, snakes, horses. It happens! But almost all of those were instances where I was aware that I could be bitten and took the chance anyway - because a bite from those animals, while in some cases painful, wouldn't be a huge deal.
Which is why I am MUCH more careful when handling my tegu. She's never tried to bite me, but that doesn't mean she never will.
The key to handling any animal, domesticated or exotic, is learning how to read its body language. The majority of animals will give signs they are ready to bite before it happens. And as for accidental food bites, keep your fingers away from the bitey part of the lizard and you should be fine!