Is it bad that I haven't handled him much?

[woeisleticia]

Ok, so I've got a Colombian tegu, he's 6 months old, got him when he was 3 months old. I've had a colombian before and EVENTUALLY got him to be semi tame. This one though, is a lot younger than my other one, and a lot more aggressive, I've gotten bitten a few times, and now have to use gloves, which I hate. Most of the time when I go near his cage, he freaks out and goes crazy, I put some of my worn shirts around his cage so he can be used to my scent. He's not as crazy as he used to be, but I don't want to force handle him, and stress him out, but I can't get anywhere near him at all or he goes insane. I don't know what to do, but he now lets me tong feed him which is something he never would do before. I try to put my hand in his cage a few times a day, and let him see me do his water and everything, and he's fine if im way on the other side of the cage, still cautious, but fine. but sometimes i will slowly try to move my hand towards him and he flips out. I just want to know if theres anything i should be doing differently, is it okay that it's taking this long to get him used to me? or should it not be taking this long and i should be handling him more?

 

[Walter1]

I wish I knew. Taming Columbian Tegus comes with very mixed success, and even the best of handlers can fail. It's threshold for being scared is very low. More so, on average, than in an Argentine. Approaching from above is nearly always bad, but sounds like you're not. Thinking out loud, if he were mine, I'd stick with keeping my distance from him in the cage except for tong feeding. See how close you can get to him before he flips out, and over time see if the distance gets smaller. Again, I suggest this simply from the standpoint of what I would try and open to the idea that maybe he will always be a display animal, comfortable even if not handleable.