A little help needed with taming

[First Time Tegu]

Ok so let me start by saying I just purchased a Arg. Red Tegu 2 days ago, I have to call the breeder tomorrow to ask his exact age because I completely forgot...including tail he is about 12 inches long. I was talking to this guy I know who has various different reptiles (17 to be exact) including a tegu and he guessed mine was around 4 months old.

From reading around I know I have already messed up a little, I started taking him out of his hide in order to feed/handle him. I read you should wait about a week before handling him so he can get acclimated to his surroundings (makes sense), during that weeks time though should I feed him in his cage or what?

My second problem most likely has a lot to do with my first mistake. Everytime my hand even comes within inches of touching him he flips out, he has hissed at me on occassion as well. I realized it will take time for him to trust me but during that time how do I feed him outside of his cage if he will not even let me touch him (I watched both videos about 'Taming the Beast' )?

Any helpful hints or comments are appreciated.

 

[CaterpillarGiraffe]

Leaving him for a week is an excellent choice. Sometimes handling in the first week will throw off it's feeding response and sometimes you'll run into some problems with it eating.

Never feed inside the cage. Sometimes it's a little hard to do if you have a full grown Tegu, but for something little, taking it out of the enclosure and putting it into a bin will make a huge different in it's attitude.

Eventually, your Tegu will realize that your hand coming into the cage means food (if you feed in the enclosure), and it will eventually start jumping up at your hand, thrashing or attempting to bite you.

Also, another important tip is never remove it from it's hide, or if he is burrowed, never dig him up. A safe havean for a tegu is it's hide or it's burrow. You will lose the trust between you and your animal if you remove it from it's hide. This will also sometimes spark an attitude problem.

Ways of picking a tegu up is also important. Never grab from overtop, always scoop from underneath supporting the entire body, and tail. They will feel a lot more comfortable and might not thrash so much.

Hope this helps

 

[First Time Tegu]

Ok so in the first week since i'm not suppose to handle him or feed him in his cage, am I suppose to not feed him during that week?

 

[wyattroa]

i keep trying to find out the same thing.. about the feeding that is

 

[Ratchet]

handling means more like holding it and walking around, or playing with it...picking it up for longer than 2 minutes...picking it up for feeding is something totally different its a usually shorter than a minute(simple motion up and down)...all though it does help with the taming process in a huge way(as caterpillargiraffe said alrdy and i'm not gonna repeat...so yes pick up your tegu and put into the feeding bin

 

[MIKE-ZILLA]

I agree.cause I had the same problem with cage feeding . he went airborne one day jumping to bite my hand. So I started bin feeding when he was a year old. Its worked out great. my tegu doesnt like to be "handled " though. mostly because I havent held him for long periods. But he always lets me pick him up for 5-10 seconds at a time.Because he knows its : TIME TO EAT!

 

[StewS]

If the tegu doesn't come out of its hide and we're not supposed to get it from its hide, but we're also not supposed to feed it in its enclosure, how do we feed it at all? :chin

 

[White_Lotus]

it's all about patience my friend