Fear of hands

[bobbydesi]

I have a small yearling red, and he is semi-tame.
by that i mean he loves hanging out behind my back on the couch, on my arms, on my head , all over my body, but whenever i present my hands to him, he does this puffing motion that looks like he's hyperventilating. I occasionally hand feed him, maybe that might be a problem? he has no problem laying in my hand to be put somewhere, but if i touch/pet/put my hand near him, he gets skittish. I do the sweaty shirt trick which is probably why he likes crawling all over me, but I'd really like to build trust with him, and not have him fear my hands/touch. thanks in advance for any help

 

[ColdThirst]

Mine is older than that and I handle it every day and every time I go to touch or pick it up, it huffs and puffs and thats a sign that it's mad or does not like what your doing. IDK how to get mine to stop doing that but it is somthing I just ignore now bc no matter what I do, she still does it. It's also a girl.

 

[DaveDragon]

Does he huff only as you take him out?? Tegu's can be cage, they're defending their territory.

Tegu's are intelligent enough to realize when something is not a threat. He will learn you aren't a threat eventually. Does he see you often? Don't sit there and stare at him, just walk around the room once in a while without looking at him.

The old Tegu taming trick is to lock yourself in the bathroom with the Tegu on the floor and read a book, ignoring him. Eventually he's get curious and check you out. When he's curious enough you can slowly extend your hand. If your lucky he might walk onto it. If he ever nudges it that's a warning and your going to get bit. Slowly back off, never any sudden movements. I learned that one the hard way!

We got most of our Tegu's as adults, but we got one as a hatchling. We went through all of the aggressive hormonal stages. Then one day, at about 18 months old, she became totally tame. The day before she was lunging at me! She was great for the next 4 months before we sold her. Go figure!

 

[reptilerookie]

the same way dave tamed his tegu is the same way i tamed my water monitor and iguana u should try it out and see how it works for u it might not happen in one day though lol

 

[Jer723]

my tegu huffs a little when i take him out and may act skittish but for some reason my tegu is just crazy about me and ive only had him for a couple weeks, its so cool how they can get so attached. i take him out and after his little fit and hes climbing all over me within a minute and occasionally tries to hide in my shirt lol.

 

[DaveDragon]

my tegu huffs a little when i take him out and may act skittish but for some reason my tegu is just crazy about me and ive only had him for a couple weeks, its so cool how they can get so attached. i take him out and after his little fit and hes climbing all over me within a minute and occasionally tries to hide in my shirt lol.

It sounds like you're doing a great job! He was very mellow when we met him.

 

[Jer723]

thanks ive been holding him ALOT at least like 45 mins a day, i just dont want to stress him out too much

 

[VARNYARD]

The main thing is to take it slow and don't fight with him. Do not do anything that he could take as a threatning move.

 

[bobbydesi]

I'm going to try the bathroom trick a few times and post on the results thanks guys

 

[ColdThirst]

Ill try the bathroom thing to, I dont think mine will bite me but its wierd, it just hates to be picked up, if I'm laying on the floor it will crawl all over me and lick me and everything else, its just when i try and pick her up that she starts getting really mad. Ill see what comes from the bathroom thing.

 

[themedic]

both mine do it too, its funny how the tegu thinks that huffing and doing the stanky leg will scare me away, eventually like the members before me said the tegu will get used to your scent and before you know it i am sure the tegu will calm down.

 

[txrepgirl]

The good thing is that he is already so used to you. He will get over it about being scared of your hands. What kind of shirt trick did you use ? this is the one I use ( link below ). It worked with all six of our Tegus. Ones the Tegu is inside my shirt I lay down on the couch and watch TV. While he/she is in the shirt I have one of my arms inside the shirt. While the Tegu is sleeping on my stomach or my chest I put on hand on him/her and don't move. I just want them to get use to my hands. It works best when they just wake up because they are kind of cold than. They like the warmth of the body so they go to sleep fast. Most of the time they wonder around in there first and then find a comfy place to lay down.
The huffing and puffing could be that he smells something on your hands. My Leonidas realy never tried to bite me until we got two new Tegu babies and he can smell them on me. He tried to softly bite me two times then he stoped.

Shirt trick:

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Being chased. He just did this two times.

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Huffing and puffing:

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[themedic]

yo, mine were scared of my hands, the trick i found out is to not go into there house or cage if your trying to pet them, build a bench or something that attaches to there door, and put food in a bowl for them, when they smell the food they will come out to feed. if your tegu is anything like mine when they are eating they are 100% paying attention to eating and nothing else at this time you can pet there backs and they should run away or try to bite you.

My male was a pain in the ass, after 1 day of this training the next day I picked him up no problem and he didnt even look at my hands as I was petting him and picking him up, ofcourse I waited to after they ate to pick him up but it still worked.

The bench method also minimizes aggressive behavior as you are introducing them to the food, not the food to them.

Hope this HELPS!

 

[carcharios]

both mine do it too, its funny how the tegu thinks that huffing and doing the stanky leg will scare me away, eventually like the members before me said the tegu will get used to your scent and before you know it i am sure the tegu will calm down.

Well, I used to think the huffing and puffing was all just an act too because my female does it all the time when I first pick her up. And then we got Kimo and I thought his huffing and puffing was just an act too until he lunged 3 feet with his mouth wide open!

Hopefully, I'll get some free time with him this weekend though I'm not sure how I'm going to get him out of the enclosure considering that as soon as I open the door, he heads right towards me to attack.

 

[themedic]

My male did the same thing, beilive it or not its a bluff cause trust me when I say this, tegus are very smart. if he really wanted to mangle you he would follow through with an attack. mine used to lunge then he would stop as soon as he knew he would fall if he proceeded, since building a bench which you can see on my forum, he has stopped completely.

 

[carcharios]

themedic,
Where can I access your forum?

 

[themedic]

Carcharios,

This is the link to my post.

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[mastroj]

I have a chinese water dragon who is nuts and its a open front cage so trying to tame his is impossible without him getting away. I have had to tear stuff apart a few times to get him back. Since then I have pretty much backed off hoping he would come around on his own. Which, ofcourse he hasnt. I have only been able to hold him a few times because the cage set up is such a pain. I am thinking of trying the bathroom trick, but the only way to get him out of the cage is to put a tub below the cage and when he runs, hopefully he will land in the tub. Then I can bring him up to the bathroom and just hang out for a while with him. I ofcourse have to block off all the holes in the room though. Any other ideas? I have a shirt in there as of today, I hope it wil make a difference.

 

[DaveDragon]

Get another Tegu!

 

[AlbatrossTrevelyan]

I had a chinese water dragon as well... Those things FREAK out! HOLY!

He never tried to bite me, but he would lick me and then run up my arm off of my shoulder and then across the floor. He has bitten though, my ex Girlfriend... my snakes also showed aggression towards her, and no one else. Good judges of character, those reptilians.