# Taming #2



## Ratram (Apr 26, 2014)

I started a thread several days ago, but deleted it due to inactivity. I'm giving this a second shot since I would like some feedback on how I'm going about taming my Columbian.

Anyway, he's very cage agressive. I spend a good amount of time sitting next to the enclosure with my hands inside moving items around and changing his water. I only get a bunch of huffing and usualy a retreat to the other side of his hide. I can get fairly close to him before he stands tall and opens his mouth. What I'm concerned with is that I have to chase him down in order to remove him for feeding. I think that's not doing anything for trust building and could injur him as well. Today, I decided to build a feeding area with a hide and basking area. The feeding area is intended to give him a safe place to eat without being chased as well as keeping the food agression problem from occuring. If there is anything else I can do to help build trust, please let me know. Also attached is a picture of his new enclosure. His area is on the bottom. It's 6' long, 3' deep 30" tall. The top area is for my bearded dragons.


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## Ratram (May 7, 2014)




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## SamBobCat (May 7, 2014)

I'm not experienced enough to tell you if you're doing anything wrong but from what I have read, that seems like a great idea! Also have you tried the used T-shirt trick? I heard it works fairly well!


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## Ratram (May 8, 2014)

No I haven't tried that yet. I might have to give it a try.


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## SamBobCat (May 8, 2014)

Yeah. Just stick one of your t-shirts in the part of his cage that he is in the most and it should help him get used to your smell.


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## Ratram (May 23, 2014)

Ok. I have had a t-shirt in his viv for several days now. He does seem to allow my hand to get right up close to him. I ball my fist up and slowely get close to him until my fist is either right under his chin or is alongside his head. After he gets used to my scent he will allow me to rub the top of his head a bit. Not with more than one finger or too far down on his back. I do this every day and sit and talk to him a while. I have stopped grabbing him out of his viv to feed him as it seems that he really hates it alot. I just tong feed him inside the enclosure. I know this is not advised but I really don't know the best way to go about this. Either I grab him and he fights, or I feed him inside and this might end up worse. I wish there was a video or a specific bit of advice available to people like me to avoid problems. Yes, I have read the Tegu guide and many post on the subject. I see so many that say there Tegu is so calm and doesn't huff at all. Mine didn't when I first picked him up at the pet shop but did every time since then. Thrashing, running and barring his teeth is what my experience has been so far. I'll keep at it, but I'd sure like it if one of you with more experience would chime in.


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## Ratram (May 23, 2014)

Ok. I found the tamming section of the forum. Found a good amount of info over there. http://tegutalk.com/threads/taming-the-beast.7703/


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## joey'c' (Sep 28, 2014)

Hi, I have just joined this forum as I have exactly the same issues as yourself with my columbian. I was going to start a new thread but then realised that there were loads of them with the same theme - aggressive Tegu! I have had Vlad now for around two years and I bought him when he was quite small from a guy who found him too much in the crazy department, when I first got him home and tried to transfer him to his new viv he flew at me and shot around the room literally climbing the walls! I tried at first to go the regular handling route but, like yours, he was too skittish and very hard to pick up or keep hold of. I then moved on to the hands off approach and began feeding him in his viv. He spends a lot of time hiding and mainly comes out to eat when nobody is around. He basks in the open but runs and hides when more than one person enters the room or if you try and talk to him! When I do get him out for bathing and cleaning etc. he goes absolutely nuts, tries to bite me, gapes and launches himself around the place if he gets the chance. I think they are all pretty aggressive but each one is different and some methods will work with one but not another. I am going to try and spend a bit more time with mine and see what happens but he tried to bite me in the bath today which apparently isn't supposed to happen but I'm not giving up any time soon. Keep us updated on how you are getting on and sorry I can't be of more help!


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## Alliocha (Mar 10, 2015)

Also for his new enclosure make sure that he has much more substrate to dig in and maybe change it to topsoil. This holds the burrows much better. He will feel more comfortable then and this is positive for your taming process. Also check the site for humidity topics as it seems too dry as well.


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## Raxy (May 27, 2015)

I think my tame project has some kind of success. I got my Rax for half year when he's just at most 13cm long from head to tail. The first 2weeks he was just scared of me. If I insist to catch him, he sometimes posed a bite. But what I did is take him to a Warm Shower. I fill a container with warm water and water temperature close to the hot spot of his enclosure Put him in and I could touch his neck and he closed his eyes and enjoyed. I kept doing this and now although he's still some kind of nervous when I'm too close to him and still hiss But I can even touch his mouth with my nose and he's really smart can distinguish my hand and food cuz I keep hand feeding him. Now I send my hand to Rax with smell of beef and he won't bite which gives me confidence that gold tegu can also be dog tame. We do have different personalities so do tegus. I think it is normal for gold to hiss and I never expect Rax do the same as B&W But every time I got him out stayed with me for 1min. He's a nice doggy


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## Walter1 (May 27, 2015)

Ratram- Nothing wrong in feeding him in his cage. Use the same bowl. Dragging him out to feed is stressing him that's why tong feeding is giving you better results. Keep up with positive reinforcement activities.


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## Matt Date (Jun 2, 2015)

I found that rather than balling my fist simply sliding my hand flat until I am underneath her and slowly lifting up works great. Once it gains trust it will either climb your arm or let you pick it up. Just be sure to support its weight.


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## Daniel Fulger (Jul 1, 2015)

Ratram said:


> I started a thread several days ago, but deleted it due to inactivity. I'm giving this a second shot since I would like some feedback on how I'm going about taming my Columbian.
> 
> Anyway, he's very cage agressive. I spend a good amount of time sitting next to the enclosure with my hands inside moving items around and changing his water. I only get a bunch of huffing and usualy a retreat to the other side of his hide. I can get fairly close to him before he stands tall and opens his mouth. What I'm concerned with is that I have to chase him down in order to remove him for feeding. I think that's not doing anything for trust building and could injur him as well. Today, I decided to build a feeding area with a hide and basking area. The feeding area is intended to give him a safe place to eat without being chased as well as keeping the food agression problem from occuring. If there is anything else I can do to help build trust, please let me know. Also attached is a picture of his new enclosure. His area is on the bottom. It's 6' long, 3' deep 30" tall. The top area is for my bearded dragons.



I'm new to tegus but the best method of taming I've found is manning. Its actually used with birds of prey but works just as well basically just spend a few hours yes hours held in talking to and petting your tegu. He will not like it so be sure to hold him correctly so you don't harm it. After a while he will realize you mean no harm and will trust you.
Look up a guy on youtube named Brian Gundy


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## sonja (Aug 13, 2015)

My female turned pretty tame in the past 6 months, but I find it hard to tell what exactly made her trust me. my husband got her like 5 years ago out of a "not so good" home. He always had trouble getting her out of her viv, but once she was out, she calmed down quickly. trouble was that opening the viv meant her jumping at your face and snapping around, you then had to chase her and then take 5 for both to calm down. she was so used to being fed only with cat food that she didnt eat anything else at first and thus was always hungry and in a bad mood. so she basically lived with little human (or any) contact, cat food every few days put in the viv while she was still warming up in the mornings and trying to get her started on decent foods with much frustration on both sides. she didnt live with us and we hardly ever saw her for 2.5 years. so when we finally moved into a place we could keep her with us again, she moved back in and i took over caring for her. she got used to me pretty quickly and i did start by talking to her and letting her smell my hand thru a tiny crack in the doors. soon she started to react to me calling her by name (same tone always) and came to the gap slowly, so i opened up the viv more and showed her my hand. i always used a different tone and word and a red feeding bowl when i actually had food. she soon stopped jumping up and tensing when no red bowl was in sight. I then started showing her the bowl and setting it in front of the viv and open the doors. she would come outside in a rush and bite the bowl (she always bites the bowl first and shakes it as if trying to kill it) while i tried to teach her yet another word. i would then open the viv and tell her to come out and she would come more slowly. next i taught her no but im not really sure how it worked. mostly, shes good now and only gets cranky when ive been gone for a while. then shes pissed and hisses at me when i first approach her. guess she feels neglected. also, i usually bathe her at least once a week, take her out and into the tub, while sitting her on my hand (shes pretty small for her 9 years due to her past). she now tends to fall asleep in the warm water for a few minutes... i am also feeding her fruits and vegetables and crickets instead of cat food now, which i started by mixing fruit into her cat food, then giving her food sprinkled with the sauce from the cat food, and giving her crickets to chase in the viv (it was so not funny to teach her that since she wasnt used to moving food, but she liked it and caught on fairly quick). shes only getting cat food like 2-3 times a month now. she likes it less i think. i only give it to her before i leave for a few days, and she seems to like me, so she now sort of blames the cat food for me leaving. she likes apples, pear, peach, banana, cherry, plum, cucumber, tomato so far. grapes are okay. crickets and pinkies are very welcome. most of the days, she now lets me touch and pet her even when shes basking, i take her out on the balcony in sunny weather or put her on the window sill if its sunny but too cold outside, she warms up and starts exploring, or comes lying next to me to cuddle and get her neck scratched. so, i guess what im trying to say is, invest the time and energy, its worth it! also, whatever you do, first learn how YOUR tegu reacts, and go slowly. dont be scared of being bitten - use any protection you got that doesnt scare the tegu and be calm, tegus hate agitated people and react accordingly. if you want it to trust you, you have to learn to trust your tegu first. between the 2 of you, you are the threat. remind yourself that the tegu lives a long time - you dont have to get there today. stop expecting wonders and be happy about the little steps. and always take time with your tegu, dont go near them if you are stressed or pissed or tired out. trust is a precious things thats much easier to keep then regain


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## loweryrr (Aug 13, 2015)

My advice may differ from most here but what I do is after the first week of adjustment I try to hold them some. I start off small like 15 minutes at a time for the first week or two and increase it to 30 minutes after they seem less stressed and just keep that up, work your way up to longer periods of time. I have found with my argentine the best times to hold her was when she first woke up and after the lights went out. If she was scared and flighty I let her crawl into a pillow case and held her while petting her. Its been a month and a half and she has no fear, no anxiety and definitely no aggression about me getting her out or picking her up. She likes to be held some now and runs to me for safety when something scares her. She did fight it at first so I wouldn't put her down until she relaxed. The pillow case trick helped a lot with this by the way. Now she doesn't fight unless she really wants to explore for food. Its been my experience that if you don't hold them some they don't tame very fast (reptiles in general). Either way they will be stressed when you first start handling them so I prefer to get it out of the way.


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## Jaked9573 (Aug 16, 2015)

Ratram said:


> Ok. I have had a t-shirt in his viv for several days now. He does seem to allow my hand to get right up close to him. I ball my fist up and slowely get close to him until my fist is either right under his chin or is alongside his head. After he gets used to my scent he will allow me to rub the top of his head a bit. Not with more than one finger or too far down on his back. I do this every day and sit and talk to him a while. I have stopped grabbing him out of his viv to feed him as it seems that he really hates it alot. I just tong feed him inside the enclosure. I know this is not advised but I really don't know the best way to go about this. Either I grab him and he fights, or I feed him inside and this might end up worse. I wish there was a video or a specific bit of advice available to people like me to avoid problems. Yes, I have read the Tegu guide and many post on the subject. I see so many that say there Tegu is so calm and doesn't huff at all. Mine didn't when I first picked him up at the pet shop but did every time since then. Thrashing, running and barring his teeth is what my experience has been so far. I'll keep at it, but I'd sure like it if one of you with more experience would chime in.


Something I have tried with my baby columbian b&w is getting him out at night. Hes more relaxed and he falls asleep in my shirt or on my legs and with him sleeping next to or on me he gets used to my scent faster. Ive had him for about 3 weeks and hes already incredibly tame. Never showed any aggression.


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## loweryrr (Aug 16, 2015)

Jaked9573 said:


> Something I have tried with my baby columbian b&w is getting him out at night. Hes more relaxed and he falls asleep in my shirt or on my legs and with him sleeping next to or on me he gets used to my scent faster. Ive had him for about 3 weeks and hes already incredibly tame. Never showed any aggression.


Good advice


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