# Advice or reassurance



## Hally (Oct 25, 2011)

I have had Diego, who is 6 months old, for 9 days now. His previous owner handled him daily. The situation now is this; if I am not in the room he spends hours basking and milling about. As soon as I enter the room he darts into his hide and will carefully watch until I leave before he comes out again. In these 8 days I have managed to get to him on two occasions before he gets in his hide and used the techniques described on here to pick him up and move him to his feeding bin. I have pretty much put him straight back after eating, he has been a little squirmy but fairly chilled.

Should I just keep going as I am? I am in no rush at all, just worried about the amount he is eating. All advice gratefully received.


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## Rhetoric (Oct 25, 2011)

I know not everyone will reccomend this but you can try leaving some food in the enclosure when he is in his hide or before the lights come on. This way he wil be less likely to associate you with food and he will get the chance to eat every day. If you feed in the enclosure for a while try to make sure you have a dish or bowl with some height so he will be less likely to get dirt or mulch into it.
I would just keep being patient. Hes still becoming familiar with his surroundings. Where is his enclosure? Are you able to watch tv, read, surf the web, etc. near by? It could help him become used to your presence. i still wouldnt force any contact yet unless absolutley needed.
Another method many keepers have tried is wearing a shirt to bed for a few nights (no scented deoderant, perfume, sprays, etc) and then putting the shirt in the enclosure. I did this with guru last year. I put the shirt in his hide area hoping he would associate my scent with safety, im not sure if he really did or not but i feel like it helped a little.


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## Hally (Oct 25, 2011)

I will try the T-shirt thing, I did with my first Tegu Britney and it seemed to help.

His viv is in my office so I an in their a lot, surfing, reading etc. He just come to the edge of the hide to watch me (wait for me to leave really). Strangely my partner spent the afternoon in the study yesterday when I was out and she said Diego stayed out and 'looked kind of angry'.


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## TeguBuzz (Oct 25, 2011)

I'd do the t-shirt idea, I don't think it worked for me when I tried it. But it's always worth a shot, i prefer to feed within the enclosure and have been for a long time and I've experienced no cage aggression or any of that sort of thing. Your gu will come around.


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## spidersandmonsters (Oct 25, 2011)

I always feed in Gaia in her enclosure, she has food at the ready whenever she's hungry; she's never shown any sort of cage aggression . She has given me an investigative bite though, which may make for the distinguishment between hands and food. (I wouldn't recommend letting anything other than a baby do this though) It really depends on the personalty of the lizard.


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## Hally (Oct 25, 2011)

I am going to put his food in last thing at night while he settles in then. I don't want to rush him or stress him. I would like to use a feeding bin in time, Britney (my last Tegu) was very soft out the viv but very defensive when in it. Not keen on a repeat.

Thanks for the advice all, I will let you know how we get on.


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## slideaboot (Oct 25, 2011)

Feeding in the enclosure has always worked out fine for me. You might wanna try to put the food in when he's still asleep, but I don't even worry about that anymore and my guys are totally fine. Tegus require tons of time and patience, but are TOTALLY worth it--kinda like going to the gym on a regular basis.


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## spark678 (Oct 25, 2011)

Yeah forget the feeding bin. Until he is confortable with you picking him up and taking him out of the enclosure you need to wait longer then 9 days. He has to be comfortable with his enclosure first. They remember fights and you would probably have to restart your taming process so try not to man handle the little guy. Dont forget to leave your arm in the enclosure every day then he will eventually know your not there to hurt him. Dont move your arm and do this every day. GL!


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## Rhetoric (Oct 25, 2011)

If you want to use a feeding bin you can, I would just wait until he is more comfortable with you moving him. Good luck and keep us posted.


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## Hally (Oct 25, 2011)

I feel a lot better now. The last thing I want to be doing is chasing him around the viv and stressing him out. I can take as long as he needs to get used to me. I have to spend 10 hours a week reading so can just do that next to the viv and pop my hand in now and again.


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## m3s4 (Oct 27, 2011)

Don't forget to talk to him - they recognize voices. Every time I whistle around my adult she pops her head up and looks around - she knows it's me yet something about that whistle always peaks her interest. 

Anyways. 

You can talk to him just like you'd talk to a dog or cat - they really are that intelligent. 

You might want to try just slowly putting your hand in the cage and letting him lick you. Let him get totally used to your presence and scent. Try to rub him UNDER the chin, on the jowls or on his head before you attempt rubbing him on his back. Many tegus don't like their back or tails rubbed until you have their complete and total trust. 

A lot of tegus don't like to be handled or rubbed until they are sub-adults and are out that flighty mode altogether - yet some settle down really quickly. Like anything and anyone else, they're different. You just have to be acutely aware of your actions and their reactions. 

Give it time and experiment if you have to - that's what's fun about raising tegus, you have to use some smarts to try and win them over and what works for one, may or may not work for others. 

Good luck.


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## Hally (Oct 28, 2011)

We are having some progress. Diego will tolerate my presence in the same room as him for short periods before returning to his hide. I tried chatting to him and put my hand in his viv for a little bit this morning. Small steps but very good.

Really glad that I stopped trying to transfer him to the feeding bin, this approach seems a lot more conducive to him settling.


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## reptastic (Oct 28, 2011)

Out of 6 tegus i only tried bin feeding with one, my second tegu, the reason was she wasnt eating, so i would put her in a clear bin while i fed my larger gu lol she never really took to the bin except when rodents were involved lol, my experience has been to let them be, keep em fed, warm and room to grow and you got a happy gu, and a happy gu is much easier to bond with, i think thats why storm likes climbing in my lap to get a pet/scratch(shhh dont tell him i know lol)


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## Hally (Oct 28, 2011)

I didn't feel at all comfortable with trying to get him from viv to bin. It was only because a few people on here seemed to strongly advocate it that I tried. Just wish I had put this question out on the first morning I had him, hope he forgives me for those two early attempts!

My first Tegu, Britney, got quite food aggressive so I started feeding her out the viv in a dog bowl. May try that with Diego when he is a bit older.

Thanks for all the help and advice!


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## Hally (Oct 28, 2011)

Proof!


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## Hally (Nov 6, 2011)

Big steps forward. Day 21 and Diego is now coming to the front of the open viv and sitting and watching me for 10 minutes at a time, patience seems to be paying off.

The intelligence of him is striking, you can really see him sussing you out. Britney was completely different, she just seemed oblivious of my presence from day one (viv-aggression aside).

Thanks for the advice


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