How to get blue to eat outside tank

[ashesc212]

My baby blue is getting bigger and I think it's a good idea if we start shifting him over to feeding outside of the tank. He's really aggressive with his food and I don't want that to be my finger when he's bigger. I tried last night, and he freaked out and thought it was play time. I had put his ground turkey bowl, some crickets, and a few mealies in a cardboard box and put the little guy in there. He clearly was not a fan of that plan and tried to hang out on me instead. Needless to say, I resorted to feeding him in the tank again. *sigh*

I don't want him to become cage aggressive. Any tips or is he still too young? (4-5 weeks I think)

 

[DaveDragon]

I'm assuming he feels very uncomfortable when he's outside his home (or not on you).

We've had luck getting other small lizards to eat in a large critter keeper (with lid shut!) but I haven't tried at that age. You'd probably have to cover the sides and bottom (but not make it too dark) to make him feel more secure. I should try that this weekend.

He'll get used to it eventually. Like everything, it just takes time.

Measure him and see how long he is. Where's the pics?

 

[ashesc212]

I'm assuming he feels very uncomfortable when he's outside his home (or not on you).

We've had luck getting other small lizards to eat in a large critter keeper (with lid shut!) but I haven't tried at that age. You'd probably have to cover the sides and bottom (but not make it too dark) to make him feel more secure. I should try that this weekend.

He'll get used to it eventually. Like everything, it just takes time.

Measure him and see how long he is. Where's the pics?

That's a good point. I should keep a growth chart before it's too late. I started one for beardie but I was always too busy to actually take down the numbers ( ) He appears to be at least 12-13". I'll try to take pics tonight or tomorrow night.

 

[DaveDragon]

I should keep a growth chart before it's too late. I started one for beardie but I was always too busy to actually take down the numbers ( ) He appears to be at least 12-13".

When we started we weighed & measured everything on Sunday and recorded it in a spreadsheet. I've slacked off a bit on the weights and even worse on the lengths. But I do record feeding, BM's & sheds of all of our snakes (weights most of the time). The lizards are weighed every couple of months but I do record what and when the Tegu's eat and most of their BM's.

 

[Oddball]

i agree with ashesc
Comrade is finikey and jumpy when elevated, but being held (and still) he's fine
i just cant really feed him outside his tank until he lets me take him out of it

 

[DaveDragon]

You just have to get used to taking him out. I clean the tanks between 10-11pm when they're sleeping. They wake up but they're cold and don't struggle. It's a great time to talk to them. They don't seem to mind, many of them look at me and close their eyes. Baths, of course, are done during the day and it's a bit more of a challenge to get them out. They're lifted out of the tank, I talk to them, and they're put in a critter keeper to be transported to the bath.

Another thing I've learned from handling some of our snakes is don't hesitate. They might think you're stalking them. Just move in slowly and scoop him up. Once you stop and retract they get the upper hand and there's a better chance of getting bit on the second try. This is good in theory, but I've yet to master it. I'm the king of hesitation and I'm lucky I haven't been bitten by more hungry snakes.

But, you're doing good. Just take it easy and you'll both learn.

 

[leoares27]

just a quick thought...maybe you can take him out...play with him, get his food ready before you take him out, while he's out, put his food in the cage, so he doesn't see his food going in. that way, his food is already in his cage before he is in there...that's what i do sometimes...

(on a side note, sometimes I feed mine by hand now lol, he is over a year old and knows when its feeding time, he is awesome!)

 

[Gx3]

I just have a few thoughts I thought I'd share on this topic....

First, definitely start feeding him in a separate enclosure or he WILL get cage aggressive. Two, ALWAYS wash your hands after handling food. This is something that I have noticed helps tremendously whether it be lizards or snakes. And, when I start feeding an animal outside of its enclosure I always start just using a small 10 gallon tank with a lid as their feeding tank, because they cage is small they are forced to pace in a small area and walk by their food often and eventually get curious enough to nip at it. I started this with my red when he was only a week or two old and then after a couple of weeks I moved him to a litter box with a paper towel on it. Now he will walk around his litter box and take his time eating and then hop on out and walk around the house when he's done.