# 10 weeks and finally some cuddles



## herpgirl2510 (Aug 22, 2011)

In the beginning of June I ahd bought Chevy a 2010 extreme from someone. He had gone down a month after the guy had received him and slept for like 8 months. He also had never een handled. When he arrived he immediately uried he would ome out and bask but rarely ate for the first 4 weeks at least. When I would try and hold him he would start vibrating and convulsing. He would also wiggle alot when he walked more than normal and he would walk on his front elbows which is not normal. I know a main staple in his diet was eggs. I took the hands off approach just like I did with Tonka. If I would attempt to handle him he would defecate convulse it was pretty awful. Slowly over the last 10 weeks he has been coming around. I started by just stroking him when he would walk by it was funny he would take of like a shot after about 10 seconds. He seemed to start to enjoy being pet he would arch his back and kind of wiggle. Well long story short we have gotten to the point where he will now only flip for a second when I hold him then he seems totally relaxed and I can stroke him and he cuddles agains my chest. I also swithed him to a whole prey diet about a month ago. He is now starting to walk up on his feet and wiggles as much a Tonka does when he walks. He never convulses anymore and his appetite finally piked up with the new diet. He went from 24" to around 38-40" in the last 10 weeks. So yesterday I pulled him on my lap and he was happy sitting in the chair and exploring it was very exciting I have waited a long time for this. Also I brought out some roaches which he was uninterested in before and i would throw him roaches and he would chase them and eat them it was a good bonding experience he would eg like a dog for more. I was careful of my face though because he has bit it before more like a sampling it was not aggression. I figured I would post this so in case you are getting worried aout the taming process that it works out in the end. It is funny chevy seems way more intuned to me than Chevy he really stares into my eyes and checks me out I think we may develop a strong bond because of how long are road to him allowing me to handle him has been. So everyone it gets better with time and it is so rewarding even when you have a little progress like I had this weekend. There is my long winded post of the week.


----------



## jdpFL (Aug 22, 2011)

Awesome story herpgirl....and encouraging because we have a similar situation with our tegu. He's tame....enjoys all interactions....but wasn't fed properly and we are hoping he grows now that he's on the proper diet.


----------



## bonedoc (Aug 22, 2011)

Great story, we had two tegus, a black and white and a red. They were awesome but unfortunately they were lost in a house fire the beginning of this year that destroyed my kids home. We can't wait to have them in our home again. We were waiting on an extreme giant and a red from Varnyard but in light of his unfortunate happenings we are waiting till the 2012 breeding season.


----------



## herpgirl2510 (Aug 22, 2011)

Thanks things are really progressing I was so worried especially about his walking so I did not want to stress him by handling I figured I would let him come to me. It probably could have been done quicker ut I have many other lizards to occupy me when I ge antsy. Here is a chevy


----------



## new2tegus (Aug 24, 2011)

That's wonderful news, there is nothing more exciting than making progress. It's been a little slow for me as well, but things have moved along. He doesn't run at all now, he just closes his eyes and will tongue flick me, then climb on and sleep. Each attempt to pick him up met with a flailing lizard, so I let him be. Wonderful looking gu's though, looks like they enjoy that door lol


----------



## herpgirl2510 (Aug 27, 2011)

We did have a little fiasco here with him biting my son on the foot but we are still working on things. He is at that age.


----------

