Today was a day that Ammy got to explore a bit. She was restless, so I took her out of her new cage (she's got a 125 gallon tank now, plenty of room right now to burrow to her heart's content). I sat on the couch for awhile, her in her blanket cocoon (we have a blanket that now belongs to her, for when she's on the couch). We just had some girl time, me petting her and letting her climb all over me, her just having fun moving around.
I failed to see the signs of what happens when she has to go poo. If I had been thinking, i would have given her her warm bath before holding her, but yeah...I failed to remember this. So, while she was inside the blanket I smelled that horrible stench.
Which meant, Ammy was rushed to the bathroom for a bath, now that she had managed to get most of her tail covered in crap. After the warm bath and cleaning, she was happy to be picked back up in a towel and carried. I've found out that I, being smaller than my husband, have to sort of cradle her and hold most of her weight close to me. He has big hands/arms, he can support all of her without her doing the panic-flail-lizard-tail snap thing.
So, with me cradling her, I put her in the bed to wander for a few minutes. She quickly found our soft warm winter blanket, and within a few seconds, was up to her tail in the blanket. Where she stayed for a long time before deciding to explore again.
After awhile, she climbed back up my arm and with me holding her close, we just sat and watched tv for awhile.
It never fails to amaze me how smart she is. She really does seem to understand just what everything around her means. I'm still getting to know her warning signs (that tail snap friggin' hurts!), and she's at a size now where she does a considerable bit of damage (she tore my husband up the other night for him waking her up, he was worried because she had stayed burrowed all day).
But it's a good sign to me that she actively sought my attention today. She's been primarily my husband's pet, because to be honest, I kind of fear her teeth. She bit me when she was younger, and once you're bitten by a tegu, you learn, those little teeth are razor sharp. But today, despite the cuts on my arms and the bruise from the tail snap, she really was being very affectionate. It was nice to just sit there with her in her towel, her head near my shoulder, just petting her gently.
A new picture of her today, as she was exploring her domain:
And a couple more pictures because the husband is home, and she climbed up him while he was stretching:
I failed to see the signs of what happens when she has to go poo. If I had been thinking, i would have given her her warm bath before holding her, but yeah...I failed to remember this. So, while she was inside the blanket I smelled that horrible stench.
Which meant, Ammy was rushed to the bathroom for a bath, now that she had managed to get most of her tail covered in crap. After the warm bath and cleaning, she was happy to be picked back up in a towel and carried. I've found out that I, being smaller than my husband, have to sort of cradle her and hold most of her weight close to me. He has big hands/arms, he can support all of her without her doing the panic-flail-lizard-tail snap thing.
So, with me cradling her, I put her in the bed to wander for a few minutes. She quickly found our soft warm winter blanket, and within a few seconds, was up to her tail in the blanket. Where she stayed for a long time before deciding to explore again.
After awhile, she climbed back up my arm and with me holding her close, we just sat and watched tv for awhile.
It never fails to amaze me how smart she is. She really does seem to understand just what everything around her means. I'm still getting to know her warning signs (that tail snap friggin' hurts!), and she's at a size now where she does a considerable bit of damage (she tore my husband up the other night for him waking her up, he was worried because she had stayed burrowed all day).
But it's a good sign to me that she actively sought my attention today. She's been primarily my husband's pet, because to be honest, I kind of fear her teeth. She bit me when she was younger, and once you're bitten by a tegu, you learn, those little teeth are razor sharp. But today, despite the cuts on my arms and the bruise from the tail snap, she really was being very affectionate. It was nice to just sit there with her in her towel, her head near my shoulder, just petting her gently.
A new picture of her today, as she was exploring her domain:
And a couple more pictures because the husband is home, and she climbed up him while he was stretching:
