# First time outside...



## Piercedcub32 (Aug 20, 2011)

So my tegu and I sat on the deck in the sun for about 3 minutes before he bolted! luckily after 45 minutes I calmly picked him up held him close and went to return him to his enclosure when he bolted for the second time I have no idea where he is! he is in confined to one room, stuck a towel under the door, set up a basking place near my bed with a rubbermaid container with some substrate laying on it side near the spot... hopefully he burrows in there for the night and i just tip the container upright and voila caught tegu! Have I broken the trust with him now by taking him outside? Do u think he is going to be flighty for a while after I catch him? I have put so much work in so far, I would hate for it to all be in vane.. thanks guys!


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## Bubblz Calhoun (Aug 20, 2011)

_He'll get over it ,.. but for future reference, us a harness and leash, some sort of restraints or confinement when you take him out. You were seriously lucky that you caught him outside the first time. _


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## kellen.watkins (Aug 20, 2011)

Yeah I would say the trust will be gone for a while, my 2011 extreme got loose and I had to barely manhandle her to get her and she has been extremely skittish since then (a couple weeks ago) I have no doubt she will get over it and she's not aggressive but I have had to go back to tank feeding :-(


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## reptastic (Aug 20, 2011)

the first time I took storm outside, he didn't try to bolt but he turned aggresive and tried. To charge and bite me repeatedly, at 2' it wasn't that bad but if he tried it now at nearly 4' i'd be in serious trouble, he eventually learned with work and patience(on my part) that being outside isn't bad, now he goes out happily every chance he gets, I say that to show that they are still babies and learning what's dangerous, eadible ect. He will come around eventually, and like bubblz said use a harness or some safe restraint, and you should be fin


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## Piercedcub32 (Aug 20, 2011)

Thanks guys, finally caught the lil bugger! I left for a few hours, found him on my bed, burrowed into my pillow case! Now in his enclosure, doesn't seem that mad at me ;o) What kind of harness/ restraint do you recommend for the babies? or should I just wait until he is much larger? I was just trying to get him some real sunshine... looks like all he is gonna get is the window sill with the screen in ;o)


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## JohnMatthew (Aug 20, 2011)

Small tegus are just going to get spooked that much easier going outside, they know they're near the bottom of the food-chain and you can tell in their reactions to the smallest stimuli. If you really want to start bringing them outside I'd suggest some type of secure outdoor enclosure, you can give them little daily excursions in there so they get more accustomed to some of that crazy outside activity. If you're working on building trust with a tiny GU I don't recommend trying to take them outside on a leash. Try to picture the outside world how a small, leashed tegu might.. 

"I'm tethered to this huge, scary looking humanoid.. [shadow of a bird crosses the ground in their line of sight] Oh crap I gotta get out of here but I can't, I'm connected to this stupid, crazy beast..I can't even run for cover.. I'M GOING TO DIE!!" This is when they start flipping out..

Invariably you're going to pickup alot of the blame for what they experience while in your company. After a scenario such as this they might not be too keen on your approaching them for a while.


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## jtpowers (Aug 20, 2011)

Excellent analogy, JohnMatthew. 

Piercedcub32, glad you're reunited with your tegu...i was holding my breath along with you.



JohnMatthew said:


> Small tegus are just going to get spooked that much easier going outside, they know they're near the bottom of the food-chain and you can tell in their reactions to the smallest stimuli. If you really want to start bringing them outside I'd suggest some type of secure outdoor enclosure, you can give them little daily excursions in there so they get more accustomed to some of that crazy outside activity. If you're working on building trust with a tiny GU I don't recommend trying to take them outside on a leash. Try to picture the outside world how a small, leashed tegu might..
> 
> "I'm tethered to this huge, scary looking humanoid.. [shadow of a bird crosses the ground in their line of sight] Oh crap I gotta get out of here but I can't, I'm connected to this stupid, crazy beast..I can't even run for cover.. I'M GOING TO DIE!!" This is when they start flipping out..
> 
> Invariably you're going to pickup alot of the blame for what they experience while in your company. After a scenario such as this they might not be too keen on your approaching them for a while.


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## reptastic (Aug 21, 2011)

I used a clear plastic bin for my baby tegus, never used a harness, this way they can get sunlight, see what's going on around them and not escape, I had 4 tegus I used this method on and each one of them did very well with going outside


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## herpgirl2510 (Aug 22, 2011)

I have only brough Tonka out 1 time he is horrible to get into a harness and I would never take any of my lizards out without a leash. Now that Chevy is allowing me to hold him maye I will attempt a harness. I would start early with leash training Tonka had never been on a leash before I got him and now at 40" and 10-12 pounds I am not about to wrestle him into one.


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## Piercedcub32 (Aug 22, 2011)

Thanks again everyone! I left him alone yesterday, today he seemed to be back to his normal self, jumping around his enclosure to come out, so I prepared his food and transferred him to his feeding bin, all is pretty good, I can tell he is much more jumpy than he used to be, and looks at me with fear in his eyes instead of the trust he used to look at me with. Still lets me rub his neck and back and closes his eyes while I do it, so I think in the long run, we are going to be ok. Not going to try and take him outside again until after hibernation if he goes down. ;o) We got some work to do .


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