Meet Jaeger :)

[Rhetoric]

Maybe he saw a reflection. They can be pretty jumpy but it makes sense when you think about everything that would love to eat them at that size. Sounds could also spook it.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

When can I start handling him every day? Should I wait a couple days for him to settle in or can I start simple and right away (like placing and leaving my hand in the enclosure everyday and so on)

 

[Steven.]

I handle kane everyday since I've gotten him.. But then again.. He's super small compared to jaeger..

sent from my phone to your eyes

 

[Rhetoric]

I would give it a few days but its entirely up to you. If it were me I would do something like this:
Give him a few days to settle in, hang out around the outside of the enclosure (reading, redditing, whatever). This will help him get used to your presence.
Once he seems comfortable having you in eyesight I would start putting my hands in the enclosure more often. Spot cleaning, water changing, etc. I wouldn't touch him quite yet, maybe a few days of this. Then slowly work your way closer to him as you planned. Hold a hand out, slow movements, some touching as he allows, etc. I wouldn't chase him around if he gets uncomfortable and bolts.

I'm not sure if they pick up on voices, I talk to my lizards lol. You can also try wearing an old shirt to bed for a few nights and then put it in the enclosure. I tried this with guru, I put a shirt in his hide and I think it may have helped... Certainly didn't hurt.
There are a bunch of different ways you can go about handling. Try one and if you have negative results play around with it.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Thanks I think I'll try your method.

I'm so worried about messing this up... After failing with my other tegu and having a BTS die on me (he had a birth defect), I've felt I've had no luck with lizards and I just don't want something bad to happen to this guy. Both the BTS and red hardly ate and constantly hid so it makes me nervous when Jaeger refuses a meal and hides. I understand that's normal for a new baby but it's stuck in the back of my mind that this is what he'll be doing constantly.

I'm terrified of letting him hibernate because when my red did that, she never came back out. She just constantly hid from then on.

Today he refused food and did his weird flipping out so that made me kind of depressed and nervous.

I'm real emotional about lizards apparently...

 

[paulsreef]

Thanks I think I'll try your method.

I'm so worried about messing this up... After failing with my other tegu and having a BTS die on me (he had a birth defect), I've felt I've had no luck with lizards and I just don't want something bad to happen to this guy. Both the BTS and red hardly ate and constantly hid so it makes me nervous when Jaeger refuses a meal and hides. I understand that's normal for a new baby but it's stuck in the back of my mind that this is what he'll be doing constantly.

I'm terrified of letting him hibernate because when my red did that, she never came back out. She just constantly hid from then on.

Today he refused food and did his weird flipping out so that made me kind of depressed and nervous.

I'm real emotional about lizards apparently...

He's beautiful, I regret not picking one up at the show. I lost a beautiful Tegu a few years ago when it ate cyprus mulch and ended up getting a prolapse as a result of struggling to pass it. I always fed my tegu in another room outside of his enclosure and made sure he carried no food on his feet back into his enclosure. He was fed the proper diet and the proper amount as recommended on the Tegu breeder sites, but he still ate his substrate. When I researched this, I found out that tegu's eating their substrate is a common occurence, that's why I always removed him from his enclosure to eat. I changed his substrate to eco-earth which is similiar to peat, so if any is swallowed it will pass easier than pieces of wood; but the damage was already done. Keep an eye on your tegu, their intelligent, but sometimes act like little kids by putting things in their mouths that they shouldn't.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Thanks for the reply and I'm sorry for your loss. Over the years, I've read several threads about tegus becoming impacted from cypress mulch. I began wondering why so many people used it because it seemed like impaction was becoming common with it. When I picked up my 'gu from TeguTopia, the breeder told me about how one of her males ingested (and she didn't know how because he wasn't fed on the stuff) and passed a GIANT piece of cypress. She then told me that most bags of cypress mulch aren't 100% and that they're mixes. It apparently took Johnny of TeguTerra months to finally squeeze out from the company what was mixed in with the cypress he was using. Apparently it was pine.

So I'm never going to be using Cypress. I'm using coconut husk chips and sphagnum moss right now but will be switching to either a soil/sand mixture or ecoearth mixture with possibly wheat hay (the breeder used it for adults because it doesn't mould).

 

[Murkve]

Thanks I think I'll try your method.

I'm so worried about messing this up... After failing with my other tegu and having a BTS die on me (he had a birth defect), I've felt I've had no luck with lizards and I just don't want something bad to happen to this guy. Both the BTS and red hardly ate and constantly hid so it makes me nervous when Jaeger refuses a meal and hides. I understand that's normal for a new baby but it's stuck in the back of my mind that this is what he'll be doing constantly.

I'm terrified of letting him hibernate because when my red did that, she never came back out. She just constantly hid from then on.

Today he refused food and did his weird flipping out so that made me kind of depressed and nervous.

I'm real emotional about lizards apparently...

What are your temps like? Sometimes too high of an ambient temperature will cause lizards to "flip out" while out in the open, and consequently stay in hiding to try and stay cool.

 

[Little Wise Owl]

Warm side = mid 80s
Cool side = mid 70s
Basking = 98-102F