need help taming

[spark678]

Ok so I have been working with my baby gu every day and seems like today I pissed him off. Every day I put my hands in the enclosure so he gets used to me. When I try to pick him up I leave my hand next to him and move closer and closer on the ground until he tries to almost climb on me then I walk him on my hands for a min or so. I have yet to take him out of the enlcosure because im afraid of him being flighty. My problem is that I cannot touch his back at all without him whipping me or taking flight. When I slowly get near his sides you can see his tail do the snake pissed off thing. Today I was attempting to bring him to bathroom but he ran to his hide and has not come out. Usually he will come right back out so I think hes pissed at me. Would it be ok if I put him in a plastic tub and work with him in there or would that be bad? Sorry for the long post thanks for the help!

 

[Kebechet]

When did you first get your baby? Have you tried putting a t-shirt in there that smells like you? It can help them get acclimated to your scent as something to not be afraid of. Just give it time. If he doesn't want you to touch his back, then don't. Let him crawl on you, and get used to you (I'm talking in the range of weeks here) before you try to push his boundaries if he is that scared.

 

[james.w]

You haven't had him long enough. Be patient, you are trying to rush it.

 

[spark678]

Thanks. Well I needed to start handling him soon because I dont want to feed him in his enlosure. I finally got a tub and got him in that then took him into a step in shower and he warmed up to me. I was being really gently with him and the little booger was letting me pet him. I just let him lay there on my lap for almost an hour today which I think was a major breakthrough. Well see how his temper is tomorrow.

 

[james.w]

So you need to handle him so you can feed out of the enclosure, but you forced him to sit with you in the shower for a hour. Let me guess his eyes were closed when you were petting him and while he was sitting on your lap??

 

[spark678]

not at all he was free to roam and he was actually crawling up my arm. I didnt force him I was very gentle and took my time. I have to start somewhere. btw I watched bobbys video on how to pick up an untamed tegu.

 

[james.w]

Bobby's video was for transferring to a feeding bin, if it is the one I am thinking of. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on the way you are going about "taming" your Tegu.

 

[spark678]

Ok and it worked. And I wanted to start getting him used to me I do not see anything wrong because I did not force him to do anything. But if you disagree I am open to suggestions on "taming" so what do you recommend?

 

[james.w]

I recommend to leave him alone until you can touch him with no negative reaction, hissing, tailwhipping, biting, running to hide, etc. Just spend time in the cage and he will learn you are not a threat.

If you are set on feeding in a seperate place, you will have to pick him up against his will, I fed in the enclosure and still do.

This is not the only way to do it, just my opinion.

 

[kellen.watkins]

i wouldnt worry too much about enclosure feeding, both of mine eat in the enclosure, ive had my extreme for about 3 months and my hybrid for 2 and have almost been exclusively cage fed with no negative effects and i will cage feed until they get bigger and more tame then i will let them come out to eat i wont get them out, bobby's video is informative but i dont remember seeing a hide for that tegu and that tegu might not of been tame but he sure wasnt very skittish especially compared to my hybrid, i think my hybrid would rather hang himself then let me touch him lol at least hes not aggressive

 

[spark678]

yeah i hear ya. my guys a mess he will fling everything all over the walls then I see him trying to bite it off the wall. I just figured putting him into a feeding bin and taking him out everyday would make the process faster. But I will wait and see if he calms down before bringing him out again. Just wondering how long are you guys leaving your hand/arm in the enclosure and moving things around for each day?

 

[kellen.watkins]

i do about an hour on the week days and 2-4 on the weekends, finally got eli out of the tank today, was goin good he was exploring doin his tegu thing for a couple hours then i got tired (i work nights) and had to get him in the cage feel real bad cause he was not having anything to do with me, wasnt aggressive just flighty to the max, had to somewhat corner him and attempt to pick him up 50 times before he let me do it, then i got him to chill in my hands for 15 minutes or so (no closed eye just a lil heavy breathing) before i put him back in his tank. im convinced i either made progress or made things worse

---

that was his first time out of his enclosure since the day i got him

 

[spark678]

Sounds pretty familiar. Hopefully that is progress! Im going to leave mine in the cage for now because he needs more work getting him out. Once hes out hes perfectly calm. Ive also notticed that for some reason mine doesnt tongue flicker that much even in his own enclosure. But he will flicker when hes being fed.

 

[kellen.watkins]

Mine I noticed flick their tongue for different thingss in different ways, like you get the excited quick flicks with food, the slightly fast "ooh what is this" the slow long interval I'm chillin what of it flicks, thelong slow I'm looking for something flick, and the I'm stressed I ain't flicking tongue flicks lol

 

[new2tegus]

So sad , mine is the not flicking at all around me now. He came out today, was down for about 6 days, ate a hopper, freaked out since his last time out, and I startled him pretty badly when I tried to pick him up from getting wedged under a door. So today he raised all the way up, whole threat display and all, tail back, up on all legs,and puffed out huffing at me. Guess the only bonus is offered him my hand,he didn't go for it,so at least he didn't want to bite me. Back to square 1 for me.

 

[spark678]

new2tegus how old is your extreme? mine only flicks his tongue when hes looking for food. or when i put my hand right in front of his mouth he will flick it a few times and then stop.

 

[new2tegus]

He is a 2011,I'd say a couple months old now, going on 3 or so. He use to flick his tongue out at me, and was very calm,but I have to start over again it looks like.