# taming question for the old pros out there



## nat (Jan 2, 2008)

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


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## redtail2426 (Jan 2, 2008)

Hmm If you have doors in the front of the enclosure you can do like I do and just put a plate of food on the carpet outside his door but I am thinking you have a door on the top and the only thing I can think of is maybe to try wearing oven mits and see if he reacts any differently and maybe you can get him to walk up on your mit voluntarily. Or get a decent size pan and put the food on it and wait for him to walk on it and then pick it up which I dont know how much it will help with the cage aggression because your still putting food in there but its a start. I would definately not force handle him because like you said you will be taking steps backwards.


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## AB^ (Jan 2, 2008)

I have always fed mine in their cages. Cage agression can be overcome and still use cage feeding. You can put food in a dish before the tegu wakes. you can tap on the glass or side of the cage with a certain something to let them know it's feeding time (like tapping glass with fish).
I use dishes for both my tegus now, they know and recognize their dishes. They would charge the dishes back when I started, but now I just put food in the cage before they even wake up, so now im not associated with food at all.


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## redtail2426 (Jan 2, 2008)

You run the risk of them ingesting substrate that way though, but hell even if you dont feed in the cage your tegu can eat substrate like my guy has been doing for the past week.


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## KoreanDeathKid (Jan 2, 2008)

my friend tired this method with his savannah monitor and it worked, I was able to make this into a tegu version and plan on doing this Vegas, so here it is
starve him for the next week or more, make sure that he is hungry enough to eat anything. then put some worms or fruits in your hand and offer it to him, it should work without the tegu attacking your hand. do this a couple more times, until you are sure that the tegu trusts you and that you are his or her owner that feeds you.
then put him in a small glass tank and let him look at other animals, like dogs, cats, or even other reptiles. make sure that he does not break the tank. do this until he understands that the animals around him is your pets also. and when he stops going crazy, and tring to kill your pets, let him out and see how he does with other animals. he should get along with cats, dogs, and other animals that you've shown him. than he will calm down, and relize that every living things in the house is harmless. this should help the animal socilize with other animals and humans without a problem, you can even let the tegu hang out with other reptiles.
try taking him out around 3 times a day, and handle him gently, and don't let him out of your hands. show him that you are the boss, and the owner, then the tegu is going to settle down and will eventually become tame and will enjoy human attention and their handling. 
do all this steps until he calms down perfectly. 
my tegu is around 19 inchs now, and he's learning already  , he eats eggs from my hand, and tolerates handling better than he used to


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## Mike (Jan 2, 2008)

I've never fed any lizard out of it's cage, ever. No problems so far.


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## nat (Jan 2, 2008)

korean, while I appreciate your advice, I have concerns about methods that involve starvation and "showing him whose boss". While I appreciate your desire to help, I think as a new tegu owner yourself, perhaps familiarize yourself with some of the more humane methods of taming (Bobby has some excellant advice on taming that does not require starvation or force handling). Again, I don't want to talk down to you or hurt your feelings in any way but some of the methods you mentioned concern me.


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## nat (Jan 2, 2008)

re: feeding inside the tank - I realize a lot of people don't have issues with feeding in the cage but my little red is already charging my hand because he has learned to associate my hand with food. I have placed food inside the cage while he is sleeping but then he managed to dirty it up while throwing his substrate about the tank in his daily adventures. I also really hoped to use out of the tank time to get him more acclimated to me and would really love to utilize it in order to get my guy more trusting of me. I


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## AB^ (Jan 2, 2008)

KoreanDeathKid said:


> my friend tired this method with his savannah monitor and it worked, I was able to make this into a tegu version and plan on doing this Vegas, so here it is
> starve him for the next week or more, make sure that he is hungry enough to eat anything. then put some worms or fruits in your hand and offer it to him, it should work without the tegu attacking your hand. do this a couple more times, until you are sure that the tegu trusts you and that you are his or her owner that feeds you.
> then put him in a small glass tank and let him look at other animals, like dogs, cats, or even other reptiles. make sure that he does not break the tank. do this until he understands that the animals around him is your pets also. and when he stops going crazy, and tring to kill your pets, let him out and see how he does with other animals. he should get along with cats, dogs, and other animals that you've shown him. than he will calm down, and relize that every living things in the house is harmless. this should help the animal socilize with other animals and humans without a problem, you can even let the tegu hang out with other reptiles.
> try taking him out around 3 times a day, and handle him gently, and don't let him out of your hands. show him that you are the boss, and the owner, then the tegu is going to settle down and will eventually become tame and will enjoy human attention and their handling.
> ...




Kinda sounds like breaking the animal :?


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## AB^ (Jan 2, 2008)

nat said:


> re: feeding inside the tank - I realize a lot of people don't have issues with feeding in the cage but my little red is already charging my hand because he has learned to associate my hand with food. I have placed food inside the cage while he is sleeping but then he managed to dirty it up while throwing his substrate about the tank in his daily adventures. I also really hoped to use out of the tank time to get him more acclimated to me and would really love to utilize it in order to get my guy more trusting of me. I




You need to move your hand around the cage when you dont have food. Work inside the cage set your hand near him just have your hand be present for food and non food, kinda break the circuit.
I've been there, it takes some patience and occasional ingenuity to outsmart a lizard haha


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## nat (Jan 2, 2008)

I have been trying to do that but maybe not enough perhaps? So so far the census seems to suggest just to keep on doing what I am doing and not trying to feed him in another tank? well its feeding time right now so I guess its another night of eat in. ha ha. I look forward more on this discussion though!


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## Swtbrat (Jan 2, 2008)

I have 12 reptiles and I always feed them inside cage.
I had one cage aggressive reptile and its a BTS but he isn't anymore.
I do try to add the tegus food before they are awake but doesn't always work.I now use a clicker to let everyone know its dinner time.

Brat!


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## nat (Jan 2, 2008)

ha ha my bts male is that way to, he always charges my hand when I am feeding him. OF course he is too slow and by the time he makes to to my hand, his food is in the cage and I usually pet him on the head and he forgot what he is doing. Really funny to watch. Actually, I don't know if I would call it food aggression at all really... more like walking towards me with his mouth wide open as if the food will just magically deposit itself there.


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## ApriliaRufo (Jan 2, 2008)

Alrighty. Ready for for method by Drew and Desi? This all depends on how your cage is setup, but since I've seen that nice CTS cage I'm guessing your tank is front loading yes? If so, what I do is I have a pair of gloves that I bought specifically for the tegs. I dropped it in Apollo's cage and left it there for 3 days. I got the primary whip hiss and weave on the glove, but he soon decided to ignore it. When he was asleep I took it out, and I woke to see him what looked like searching for his gloves. I put the glove on and laid my hand under the entrance so he would have to step on it to get out. His curiosity got the best of him. I walk hand under hand so he can walk but he doesn't go anywhere. Have a friend with you after you've had some time together and done this a number of days in a row. While walking him hand under hand have the friend pull off one glove quickly and continue the march. He won't notice at first, but he will see that his walking area has got soft, give it a smell, and continue walking. After lots of tries with the switcharoo, try your bare hand, but tough it out, if he bites, he bites, don't jerk your hand back. That will upset em and you'll get the whip, which can surprisingly do some serious damage. Apollo eventually figured it out with lots of practice, and venus is in the stage of coming out bare handed but a little nervously. It worked on both of ours, so give it a shot, couldn't hurt? Well.. maybe a little bit.


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## DaveDragon (Jan 2, 2008)

ApriliaRufo said:


> Alrighty. Ready for for method by Drew and Desi? This all depends on how your cage is setup, but since I've seen that nice CTS cage I'm guessing your tank is front loading yes? If so, what I do is I have a pair of gloves that I bought specifically for the tegs. I dropped it in Apollo's cage and left it there for 3 days. I got the primary whip hiss and weave on the glove, but he soon decided to ignore it. When he was asleep I took it out, and I woke to see him what looked like searching for his gloves. I put the glove on and laid my hand under the entrance so he would have to step on it to get out. His curiosity got the best of him. I walk hand under hand so he can walk but he doesn't go anywhere. Have a friend with you after you've had some time together and done this a number of days in a row. While walking him hand under hand have the friend pull off one glove quickly and continue the march. He won't notice at first, but he will see that his walking area has got soft, give it a smell, and continue walking. After lots of tries with the switcharoo, try your bare hand, but tough it out, if he bites, he bites, don't jerk your hand back. That will upset em and you'll get the whip, which can surprisingly do some serious damage. Apollo eventually figured it out with lots of practice, and venus is in the stage of coming out bare handed but a little nervously. It worked on both of ours, so give it a shot, couldn't hurt? Well.. maybe a little bit.


I like it!!

We got 3 of our Tegu's as adults. They had some to moderate cage aggression. They get their fruit & veggies in a bowl in their tank, before they get up. Rodents are fed in their bowl on the kitchen floor. No exceptions. Of course, being adults they aren't afraid of anything, including our dog and 3 cats. So they never run away. They just like to wander around the house.

The 9 month old (we've had since he was 2 months old) gets all of his food in his bowl (including rodents) in his cage before he gets up. He went through a wild aggressive phase around 5 months until almost 8 months. anything that entered his domain was toast!!! KILL, KILL, KILL!!! I could never remove his bowl while he was up, he'd fly across and attack me! When I tried to slowly put my hand in for him to check it out, he knudged it twice and then chomped down hard!! Sometimes he'd even lunge at the glass if I got too close! Then he magically calmed down. I can take him out without a problem. On the weekends we put a harness on him (a struggle) and feed him in the kitchen. Sometimes he'll eat but most of the time he's looking for a dark corner to hide in. We let him hide a little and carefully pull him out. He'll sit on my hand but can get flightly at any time.

The moral of my long winded story is they will calm down with age. If you can get him to accept you as something that isn't trying to eat him, that great!! Just take it slow and don't lose his trust. He'll come around sooner or later.


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## KoreanDeathKid (Jan 2, 2008)

blah, may be that was kinda breakin the animal, aw well, just gonna have to learn from you guys before my tegu gets out of hibernation


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## ApriliaRufo (Jan 3, 2008)

KoreanDeathKid said:


> my friend tired this method with his savannah monitor and it worked, I was able to make this into a tegu version and plan on doing this Vegas, so here it is
> starve him for the next week or more, make sure that he is hungry enough to eat anything. then put some worms or fruits in your hand and offer it to him, it should work without the tegu attacking your hand. do this a couple more times, until you are sure that the tegu trusts you and that you are his or her owner that feeds you.
> then put him in a small glass tank and let him look at other animals, like dogs, cats, or even other reptiles. make sure that he does not break the tank. do this until he understands that the animals around him is your pets also. and when he stops going crazy, and tring to kill your pets, let him out and see how he does with other animals. he should get along with cats, dogs, and other animals that you've shown him. than he will calm down, and relize that every living things in the house is harmless. this should help the animal socilize with other animals and humans without a problem, you can even let the tegu hang out with other reptiles.
> try taking him out around 3 times a day, and handle him gently, and don't let him out of your hands. show him that you are the boss, and the owner, then the tegu is going to settle down and will eventually become tame and will enjoy human attention and their handling.
> ...




I would dump that plan immediately. Apollo will eat out of my hand now, though I don't recommend it. I spend up to 5 hours each day with him and Venus. Apollo, of course being farther along, has no problems eating out of my hand, but it's a risk I take and I would never force his hunger to the point where he would HAVE to eat out of my hand. Venus is still working on not being afraid of the barehanded exit, but eventually she will get it.

So called "taming" tegus is really just a matter of how much energy, time, and money you have. I work 60 hours a week climbing telephone poles, then do maintenance repairs for 110 apartments on call, but still each night, is dedicated to them. I don't want Apollo to jump through hoops, I don't want him to beg for food, I don't even want him to be the terror some call "free-roaming" tegus in the house. He can explore, but it's all up to them.

It's really that easy for me. Tegus are tegus. I am the intruder on their lifestyle, not the other way around, remember that everyone. You are the intruder, you are the stressor, and you are responsible. Don't treat them like children, or wild animals, treat them like peers. They have a lot you can learn from them.


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## greentriple (Jan 3, 2008)

Wonderful infromation in this thread. Most have great stuff to take away and use. I too feed in cage, this started mostly because he was down and out when I was up, and he's doing well with it, no attacks to date. I'm not a fan of "breaking" an animal, but understand that for some this is a normal way of establishing human dominance over a pet. I've seen it used on dogs and young people in the military.

The diversity of sucess stories goes to the diversity of those here. What's great is if one thing is not working there are so many options to try, gloves, t-shirts, feeding in cage, feeding outside of cage, etc....

I only wish more people spent time learning this stuff before buying a baby anything, but I'm glad this and other sites exist to help along the way.
:wink:


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## VARNYARD (Jan 4, 2008)

Sorry it took me so long to respond to this thread, I wanted to make a video to show how to remove the tegu that is not tame for feeding:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6U_3NCDot8">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6U_3NCDot8</a><!-- m -->

Here is part 2:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zlWvpgYzFOE">http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zlWvpgYzFOE</a><!-- m -->

I removed all of my babies from outside due to the very cold temps we have been having here. So I decided to make these videos to help show what I am talking about on the removal for feeding. I will let them return to hibernation in a cool room, I just got worried about my babies.

Let me know if this helps, and what you think of the way this is done.


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## AB^ (Jan 4, 2008)

I like the videos,
so much can be said for coming at your animal in a non threatening manner


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## nat (Jan 4, 2008)

thanks for that video bobby, my tegu is about the same size and perhaps a little wilder than the one in the video, but it gives me a lot of info. Thanks! I would also like your opinion on wether or not its a good idea to use a feeding bin on an animal that you are trying to tame.


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## VARNYARD (Jan 4, 2008)

nat said:


> thanks for that video bobby, my tegu is about the same size and perhaps a little wilder than the one in the video, but it gives me a lot of info. Thanks! I would also like your opinion on wether or not its a good idea to use a feeding bin on an animal that you are trying to tame.



You are more than welcome. 

As for the feeding bin, I think it is a must; tegus can have a very strong feeding response. It is not real bad at this age, but you do not want a grown tegu thinking that you are the source of the food. They can and will bite you if they think this. And never hand feed tegus, you never want him to think your hand is where the food comes from.

The food needs to be in the bin before you put the tegu in there. This way he looks to the bin for the source of the food, and not you.


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## DaveDragon (Jan 4, 2008)

I guess we're lucky. I feed our Adult tegu's rodent's (once a week) in a bowl on the kitchen floor. I puth them there and put the bowl down in front of them. No problems. Regular feeding is in there enclosures. Most of the time before they wake up.

The big Red was very cage/food aggressive when we got him. Shortly after he moved from the dog crate he had been living in (rescue) he calmed down. He's like a big old dog now.


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## DaveDragon (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice vids!! That's how we pick up our 9 month old that we only see a few times on the weekend.

Is that a long sleeve sweatshirt you're wearing?? Is your blood a little too thin for this weather?? 

It was 5 degrees this morning when I left for work. Now that's cold!!! Except if you live in parts of Canada. I worked with a guy who lived in an area where it got down to -60 degrees once!! Now THAT'S cold!!!!


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## VARNYARD (Jan 4, 2008)

It has been a bit cold here, that is why I brought all my babies inside.


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## DaveDragon (Jan 4, 2008)

VARNYARD said:


> It has been a bit cold here, that is why I brough all my babies inside.


Just busting em' on ya!!! Every picture I've seen of you you've been wearing a t-shirt! I wear t-shirts all year round. In my younger days I used to shovel snow in a t-shirt, as long as there was no wind.


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## COWHER (Jan 4, 2008)

bobby those are awesome videos!!! absolutely ground breaking!!!!!


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## Mike (Jan 5, 2008)

Nice videos Bobby.


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## dorton (Jan 5, 2008)

Nice vids Bobby, maybe someone new/potentially new/or even currently own but does not handle them correctly will find that helpful and keep them from the death grip handling method.


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## VARNYARD (Jan 5, 2008)

Thanks guys, I hope it is put to good use, and it can be referred over and over.


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## Swtbrat (Jan 5, 2008)

I'd like to see how to handle a Tegu thats bigger and not fully tamed and in a 8 foot cage.
How would you get under him and lift if he is tailwhipping and jumping all over? :cry: 

Brat!


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## DaveDragon (Jan 5, 2008)

Swtbrat said:


> I'd like to see how to handle a Tegu thats bigger and not fully tamed and in a 8 foot cage.
> How would you get under him and lift if he is tailwhipping and jumping all over? :cry:
> 
> Brat!


Especially if he's facing you, like in a fight.

When we got our big Red he was living in a dog crate. That didn't make him very happy. And no substrate. Very food aggressive. I gave him a towel to hide under. It was a struggle to get him out and food bowls in and out. He would charge most of the time. Once we got him into a big enclosure with 8" of mulch he calmed quickly. His rat once a week is fed in a bowl on the kitchen floor. No exceptions. Getting a hungry aggressive Tegu out was fun. I'd just open the door and wave him out and he'd eventually come out. If he was sideways sometimes I'd grab him, but the threat of being bit was alway there. He never did bite me. Lunged (very aggressive!) at my feet a few time when he was in the cage! We've had him 4.5 months, now he's like a big old dog. I trust him the most out of all of them even though he's much bigger and could do far more damage.

Our 3 year old male Blue Tegu, that we got 2 months ago, was very cage aggressive also. He lived in a big (4ft x 1.5ft) animal cage, wide open all around with maybe 3 inches of mulch. Whenever I'd go to take him out of change his bowl I'd get charged. He can leap forward or straight up 18" to 24"!!! He nearly got me many times but I was very attentive and watched him closely, and I'm just a little faster than him! Since he got into a full size enclosure he's calmed some. But the last 2 weeks it seems he's finally accepted me. I gave him a nice warm bath and he snuggled in a towel with me for 20 minutes. Since then he's let me do whatever I want to him. Maybe with a little struggle but no aggressive behavior. He comes out every day and walks around and eventually sleeps under the couch when he cools off. He sleeps all the way in the back so I have to put the front of the couch on blocks and try to coax him out. 3 days ago he wouldn't come out so I had to go in after him, facing me. I shoved my hand under the couch as far as I could reach and pet his head and mouth. He closed him eyes. After 5 minutes I grabbed him by the neck and slowly pulled him out. I never would have done that a couple of weeks before. Last night we watched him making a nest under the couch!! Making digging motions trying to pull in whatever he could find! I let him stay under there for a half an hour and pulled him out.

I've read that alot of aggressiveness is actually fear. If you're reach down from above you're obviously a predator and trying to eat him. What his response going to be??!! Until he trusts that he's not your next meal he's going to do something to defend himself. If they're not comfortable in their "home" that can make them afraid or aggressive too. Having started with a baby "spaz" Tegu and then getting (3) adults, some with less than optimal backgrounds, their aggressiveness with subside with age and getting comfortable in their environment. It just takes time and being calm with them. Naturally, a house full of yelling screaming kids isn't going to make a calm Tegu. We moved our 9 month old into the living room where there's alot more noise than when he was downstairs. He noticeably not happy with the arrangement. I haven't been able to get him out, he just runs back under his substrate. He'd better get used to it, he's going to be there until the spring when I have time to build him a full size enclosure.

Sorry for being so long winded, I just wanted to tell the stories.


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## Swtbrat (Jan 5, 2008)

I enjoy stories.,And pics too. :wink: 
I can't get enough reptile pics.

Brat!


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## VARNYARD (Jan 5, 2008)

These are the points on this I made on the Taming the beast thread:



> Tegus are very curious; it is best to use this to your advantage when getting them to become calm pets. The more you fight with them, the more they will fight back. I use a method I refer to as ignoring them to tame them. I have used this many times with great success, this has also worked on the older untamed adults. Letting them come to you can use this method. I have walk in enclosures, I use this by spending time inside them working or reading books. I just do not act like the tegu is even in there, they see me, but I am not trying to invade their space. They will learn that I am no threat and come over to investigate me, it is like the old saying: (curiosity kills the cat). They find out that I am not a predator looking for a meal, nor any kind of threat to them. They will come to learn I am a friend and not a foe. You can use this same method in your home, you need to make sure there is nothing that you tegu can harm itself on, this needs to be a tegu safe area. When your tegu comes to you to investigate you, do not make sudden moves or try to grab him. Just reach down and pet him the first few times, I would not even try to pick him up the first few times. When you do pick him up, think of them as your puppy, when you pick him up, do not grab him behind the neck or around the belly, just reach under him. Hold him with a light grip. Also, the first few times you do pick him up, do not raise him high off the floor, give him a chance to move from your hands and he will learn he is not restrained. You want him to choose to have your contact. He will never learn this if he is man handled; he will also remember the fights. Tegus are the same as a puppy, they don't like to be grabbed either. Instead reach under them with a loose hand and be gentle. Also when handling them. Let them move through your loose hands, just keep putting one hand in front of the other until he calms down and stops moving. Just remember, the more you grab them and try to restrict them, or chase them, the longer it will take for him to trust you and become tame. The more interaction you have with him, the better. But this does not mean the contact you are making with him is making him do what you want, remember force will be responded to with fight of flight. Just try to handle him with a very slow hand, in a calm manner.



The same thing works with larger animals, I do not pick them up the first few times they come to me. I do not try to invade thier space of force them into contact with me. If you are working in an 8ft x 8ft cage, you have plenty of room to go in and just hang out in the same area as the tegu. Just read a book, and let the curious tegu come to you.


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