Bad Taming Experience..

[Diablo]

Ok so I went and got some dubia's for Yoshi (didn't like the name smaug so I changed it). Anyways I wanted to get him used to my hands and getting picked up. He was walking around in his cage so i figured now would be a good time. I stuck my hand inside and set it down in front of him. He came up and started licking it, then bit me about 4 or 5 times. I didn't flinch, I said ow loudly a couple times but that was it. After that he stopped and walked away. I made some progress and was able to pet him, and then after about an hour of this I picked him up with one hand and put him in the palm of my other hand. This is where it all went downhill...


I was stupid and decided to bring him out of the cage and to try and sit on my lap. Not 5 seconds after he was outside of the cage he flips out of my hand and bolts under the stand that his cage was one. I played cat and mouse with him under there and under my bed for about 30 minutes before I was able to trap him in one of my bags and put him back in his cage where I set some food for him because there was no way I was gonna bother him or stress him out anymore.

He hasn't been here for even a week, but I'm still worried that this experience is gonna make it impossible to make anymore progress. Does anyone have any tips? I don't like feeding him inside his cage, even with tongs. I would like to be able to pick him up but he is calm one second and then starts flipping everywhere the next. Should I continue to feed in his cage for a little while and maybe practice picking him up INSIDE his cage? He is so skittish, its hard to tell when he is calm

 

[chitodadon]

I'm new to tegu too but I learned let him be for a week or so just keep doing maintenance in the cage and stuff also leave a shirt with your sent in there for him

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[Diablo]

Re: RE: Bad Taming Experience..

I'm new to tegu too but I learned let him be for a week or so just keep doing maintenance in the cage and stuff also leave a shirt with your sent in there for him

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2

So just keep putting bowls of food in for him and just do the ignore sort of thing?

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[kim86]

Bring him to the bathroom and sit in the bathtub with him for an hour or more every day until he realizes you are his safe place. Then let him explore a small and safe room where he can't get under or into anything.

 

[TeguLouie]

give him time to relax and continue dong cage maintenance. your gu will trust you after a little while. yes he is stressed out right now but he will come back. basically you just have to keep working with him. i would suggest feeding him in a bin or in the bathtub until he is a little bigger. right now they frighten really easily.

true story: i took louie out and was letting him have free range time in my bathroom when he was about 3 months old. i didnt know it but there a a 2x2 inch hole in the underside of my bathroom cabinets that he climbed into before i could stop him and he was gone!! i put a lamp and some food by the opening like suggested and waited a few hours. he never came out(i sat in the room the whole time) so i began to worry so i got out my jig saw and started some remodeling trying to get to him. three holes and some prying later my wife was able to reach him and get him out(he was freezing!) after that we put him in his cage and i went back to feeding him in the tub and not handling him unless it was to get him out for feeding. it is a year and a half later and he is my best friend. we rebuilt the trust and now he has no problems coming to me.

yes youhad a setback but one mistake isnt going to scar him for life. he will trust you again it just takes time especially when they are that young.

 

[chitodadon]

Re: RE: Bad Taming Experience..

give him time to relax and continue dong cage maintenance. your gu will trust you after a little while. yes he is stressed out right now but he will come back. basically you just have to keep working with him. i would suggest feeding him in a bin or in the bathtub until he is a little bigger. right now they frighten really easily.

true story: i took louie out and was letting him have free range time in my bathroom when he was about 3 months old. i didnt know it but there a a 2x2 inch hole in the underside of my bathroom cabinets that he climbed into before i could stop him and he was gone!! i put a lamp and some food by the opening like suggested and waited a few hours. he never came out(i sat in the room the whole time) so i began to worry so i got out my jig saw and started some remodeling trying to get to him. three holes and some prying later my wife was able to reach him and get him out(he was freezing!) after that we put him in his cage and i went back to feeding him in the tub and not handling him unless it was to get him out for feeding. it is a year and a half later and he is my best friend. we rebuilt the trust and now he has no problems coming to me.

yes youhad a setback but one mistake isnt going to scar him for life. he will trust you again it just takes time especially when they are that young.

Yea set back to go foward

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[Diablo]

give him time to relax and continue dong cage maintenance. your gu will trust you after a little while. yes he is stressed out right now but he will come back. basically you just have to keep working with him. i would suggest feeding him in a bin or in the bathtub until he is a little bigger. right now they frighten really easily.

true story: i took louie out and was letting him have free range time in my bathroom when he was about 3 months old. i didnt know it but there a a 2x2 inch hole in the underside of my bathroom cabinets that he climbed into before i could stop him and he was gone!! i put a lamp and some food by the opening like suggested and waited a few hours. he never came out(i sat in the room the whole time) so i began to worry so i got out my jig saw and started some remodeling trying to get to him. three holes and some prying later my wife was able to reach him and get him out(he was freezing!) after that we put him in his cage and i went back to feeding him in the tub and not handling him unless it was to get him out for feeding. it is a year and a half later and he is my best friend. we rebuilt the trust and now he has no problems coming to me.

yes youhad a setback but one mistake isnt going to scar him for life. he will trust you again it just takes time especially when they are that young.

My only problem is getting him out to even get him to the bathroom...how exactly do you do that if he runs from you and flips out if you try and hold him? Or if he is hiding and I don't exactly have three hours to wait for him to get out, I know I should never dig him out of his hide but he is in there quite a lot

 

[ReptileGuy]

Next time he is out ONLY put one hand in there and just keep it there until he comes up to your hand or goes back into his hide. If he DOES come to your hand don't pick him up until you do this for a couple of days. This will get him to re-gain the trust and after doing this for a few days slowly and calmly pick him up. Then take him to the bathtub and let him explore for 1-2 hours. Bring a book or your laptop (if your comp isn't a desktop of course ) and just let him do his thing hope I helped

 

[Diablo]

Next time he is out ONLY put one hand in there and just keep it there until he comes up to your hand or goes back into his hide. If he DOES come to your hand don't pick him up until you do this for a couple of days. This will get him to re-gain the trust and after doing this for a few days slowly and calmly pick him up. Then take him to the bathtub and let him explore for 1-2 hours. Bring a book or your laptop (if your comp isn't a desktop of course ) and just let him do his thing hope I helped

I'll try this out! Thanks

 

[ReptileGuy]

Next time he is out ONLY put one hand in there and just keep it there until he comes up to your hand or goes back into his hide. If he DOES come to your hand don't pick him up until you do this for a couple of days. This will get him to re-gain the trust and after doing this for a few days slowly and calmly pick him up. Then take him to the bathtub and let him explore for 1-2 hours. Bring a book or your laptop (if your comp isn't a desktop of course ) and just let him do his thing hope I helped

I'll try this out! Thanks

No problem. Hope things work out for your gu'! This is what I did with Steve and now after 2 weeks after he is done exploring he will crawl into my shirt, and take a nap

 

[HeatherN]

diablo, i had the exact same experience (first week, flipped out, cat and mouse under the bed) and i thought it would scar him forever. i was pretty bummed. my cage wasnt in a position where i could keep my hand in without contorting in some fashion, so instead i would sit and talk on the phone in front of his cage. maybe a half a week later, i took him out (slowly) and used a towel/shirt to keep him more comfortable with me taking him to the bathroom. i tried the sitting with him thing, but different people/tegus have different things work for them. my bathroom wasnt ideal, as he would just hide under this little overhang and never come out. he would get very upset when i tried to take him out.

my tegu turned out to be the type that tames down better with direct handling, as opposed to the "ignore" method. whatever ends up working best, try to read your tegu and watch him interact with his environment. i used Tarots own aversion to climbing over my hand as a tool to keep him on my bed. he used to directly go to hide or jump off everytime i moved, but now i can practically thrash about with little reaction from him.

i still have a long way to go with tarot, and have had many setbacks, but we seem to remember those longer than they do.

 

[Diablo]

diablo, i had the exact same experience (first week, flipped out, cat and mouse under the bed) and i thought it would scar him forever. i was pretty bummed. my cage wasnt in a position where i could keep my hand in without contorting in some fashion, so instead i would sit and talk on the phone in front of his cage. maybe a half a week later, i took him out (slowly) and used a towel/shirt to keep him more comfortable with me taking him to the bathroom. i tried the sitting with him thing, but different people/tegus have different things work for them. my bathroom wasnt ideal, as he would just hide under this little overhang and never come out. he would get very upset when i tried to take him out.

my tegu turned out to be the type that tames down better with direct handling, as opposed to the "ignore" method. whatever ends up working best, try to read your tegu and watch him interact with his environment. i used Tarots own aversion to climbing over my hand as a tool to keep him on my bed. he used to directly go to hide or jump off everytime i moved, but now i can practically thrash about with little reaction from him.

i still have a long way to go with tarot, and have had many setbacks, but we seem to remember those longer than they do.

Well I haven't seem him poop in a couple of days and I'm getting really worried that he is impacted so after feeding him today I went in slowly to try and pick him up and give him a little soak to try and get him to poop. It ended with him diving under his water dish and hiding, so I put a big water dish inside his enclosure so that maybe it takes up enough room and almost forces him to soak for a little. It's small enough and filled with enough water that he can soak but not drown and can get out. Anyone ever dealt with impaction? He is peeing just fine I just haven't found poop for a couple of days. I use play sand and top soil as a substrate

 

[HeatherN]

my tegu regularly doesnt poop for several days just because he likes to be lazy. movement can "get the show on the road" and stimulate a bowel movement almost as quickly as warm water in some situations. i know whether i take tarot out for a walk or a soak, he gets it done eventually. i also thinks he sometimes "holds it" until he gets out so as not to spoil his cage. ive taken him out after half a week of not pooping and he just walks for 2 mins, then lets it allllll out.

point is, you dont necessarily HAVE to soak him, nor is it for sure compaction unless youve seen him pushing to no avail. i wouldnt go much longer without giving him somewhere to walk (the larger the better, but try not to have any hidey holes!) or soaking him.