ok so I have had my little red Dante since sept. He is still very small (about 6 inches SVL). He opted to semi - hibernate up until Dec. so I opted to leave him alone rather than try to acclimate him to handling. Well the beginning of Dec. he decided to not hibernate anymore and I am now in the process of trying to tame a semi-wild little red.
I have read all materials available about taming and he now tolerates my hands near him in his cage (and even comes closer to see if its anything edible). Now I want to start feeding him out of his cage to both reduce food aggression and also to allow more handling and interaction. The problem is that I know everyone recomends NOT to man handle the tegu or force him to be held while trying to tame them. I don't know how to get him into a seperate feeding container without manhandling him as he does not want anything to do with being touched, held, etc. So how do I handle this situation. Do I continue to feed him in his enclosure, or do I pick him up whether he likes it or not to put him in his seperate container.
I ask because I tried once to just pick him up and put him in his feeding container and it resulted in him liking me less rather than more by the time the whole debacule was over. He now likes my hands in his enclosure less than he did before, despite getting food out of the deal.
I guess I am just wondering how others would be handling this situation as my red is still fairly wild acting at this point and I would like to see some progress !
thanks
I have read all materials available about taming and he now tolerates my hands near him in his cage (and even comes closer to see if its anything edible). Now I want to start feeding him out of his cage to both reduce food aggression and also to allow more handling and interaction. The problem is that I know everyone recomends NOT to man handle the tegu or force him to be held while trying to tame them. I don't know how to get him into a seperate feeding container without manhandling him as he does not want anything to do with being touched, held, etc. So how do I handle this situation. Do I continue to feed him in his enclosure, or do I pick him up whether he likes it or not to put him in his seperate container.
I ask because I tried once to just pick him up and put him in his feeding container and it resulted in him liking me less rather than more by the time the whole debacule was over. He now likes my hands in his enclosure less than he did before, despite getting food out of the deal.
I guess I am just wondering how others would be handling this situation as my red is still fairly wild acting at this point and I would like to see some progress !
thanks