Getting used to being handled

[Vince]

Hey guys. My fiance and I have decided it’s time to get our AA used to being picked up and handled now. We’ve had her for about 2 months and she’s doing pretty well being used to us at this point. After the first month we moved her from her 40 gallon into her big enclosure and she went buck wild for about a week after that until she got settled in again.

She’s about 2 feet long at this point. She’ll let us pet on her, though sometimes she just gets this look like, “Okay that’s enough” and will move away from us, but she doesn’t run. It’s more like a slightly annoyed behavior.

We’ve been able to pick her up a couple of times since she’s been in the big enclosure. Usually it’s being in the right place at the right time as she’s walking and we’re able to get our hands under her.

I was thinking that we’d just work on picking her up and holding her with her feet an inch or two off the ground to start with for a few seconds at a time to start with.

Any suggestions on the best way to work through this next phase of taming? Anyone have a good way of picking them up when they’re laying flat out basking? Any and all feedback and suggestions would be welcome.

 

[naturboy87]

well this can be a verry inporten time in tameing your tegu becuz she will try to test you . the best way to pick her up is by the top of the tail sliding your hand under so that your arm is fully suporting her and her frunt arms and chest should sit right in your hand so that she can b cuntroled also placing the tail under the arm so that it is also sicured this will inshur that wen shr has a lil fit cuz she wonts down that u can cuntrole her also dont let her win just becus she is being a brat it will only encurege her to throw fits wen u handle her .

 

[TeguBuzz]

Take your tegu to your bathroom or a closed off room that doesn't have many crevices for your gu to squeeze under. Shut the door, put your gu on the floor, and sit in there for at least 30mins and let him/her free roam, chances re he/she will come over to you to give you a lick and check you out. I've done this with all my gu's do that every day or every other day and they'll eventually get used to you. Give em a pet, or try picking him/her up when you see things are going well.

 

[Vince]

Take your tegu to your bathroom or a closed off room that doesn't have many crevices for your gu to squeeze under. Shut the door, put your gu on the floor, and sit in there for at least 30mins and let him/her free roam, chances re he/she will come over to you to give you a lick and check you out. I've done this with all my gu's do that every day or every other day and they'll eventually get used to you. Give em a pet, or try picking him/her up when you see things are going well.

Yeah, I think she's pretty well used to us. We sit by her enclosure reading with the door open for 30 minutes to an hour every evening. She'll bask for a while and then get up and walk over to us (I keep my hand sitting in the enclosure) and licks me and nudges my hand or arm. It's the actual picking up that I'm not sure about and don't want to go backwards with her.

Kind of like what naturboy87 was talking about.

 

[Sirhc401]

The best way I find to do it is make yourself be a positive thing to your tegu. For example, our tegu likes to Freeroam in the bathroom and he knows he gets food. So it did not take long for him to go from "don't touch me" to climbing up on our arm to go where he wants to go. So try taking your tegu out and feed it somewhere else and let him/her Freeroam. They will start to see you as a gateway to food and more freedom. Hope this helps

 

[Vince]

The best way I find to do it is make yourself be a positive thing to your tegu. For example, our tegu likes to Freeroam in the bathroom and he knows he gets food. So it did not take long for him to go from "don't touch me" to climbing up on our arm to go where he wants to go. So try taking your tegu out and feed it somewhere else and let him/her Freeroam. They will start to see you as a gateway to food and more freedom. Hope this helps

That sounds like a good idea. We were making progress on picking her up in the 40 gallon, until we lifted her too high to move her over to the big enclosure and then she freaked out. I think we'll make sure there aren't any holes in the cabinets in the bathroom for her to get into and try feeding her in the bathroom starting tomorrow.

Will probably start by moving her into a tub to get her from the enclosure to the bathroom to start with to minimize her stress level to start with.

 

[naturboy87]

verry trew my tegu used to crap on my bed wen i left him at home becuz he alwase wonted to go every wer w me like a cat or dog. ther just so smart much moor then given credit for . i think that if she is aculy nudging you and licking you w no agreshion that she probly realy wonts to be held my blue tegu will often charge and even get a lil pepie just kuz he wonts up in my lap for sum scraches then will sit ther for about 45 min just to hang out no food no treets just wonts general atenchon and loves

 

[Vince]

Yeah, she seems to be okay with interacting with us, and even wants to do so. She just really wants to interact with us on her terms only

 

[naturboy87]

that is good then i would say sounds like she is realy starting to bond w you keep this gong the bond make it as strong as u can between you and your tegu and soon she will love and trust you thats wen it gets fun to have a tegu

 

[Vince]

Just wanted to update everyone and get some feedback.

Starting about a week ago, we decided we’d use a tub to transport Dani from her enclosure to the bathroom to feed her and let her free roam for a bit. The first night I laid the tub in her enclosure on its side. She looked at it and decided something was afoot and went into her hide. And there she stayed for the night as long as the door to the enclosure was open. So I left it in there overnight so she’d get used to it.

The next night we were able to move her over to the tub with a bit of thrashing on her part. Uprighted the tub and took her into the bathroom and we were able to get her out. She seemed to do alright. A little apprehensive, but she settled down and ate.

After that, she started fighting harder when we went to put her in the tub, so I started leading her into the tub with food and then would gently scoop her in and gently upright the tub. By the time we were done with our hour in the bathroom, she was pretty good about letting us pick her up to get her back in the tub and did fine letting us pick her up to put her back in the enclosure. Not fighting or thrashing at all. She was even comfortable enough to climb up in my lap while sitting in the bathroom and would lay in my lap and doze.

Then this week happened. Monday I went to put her in her tub leading her with food and I’m afraid these animals are too smart. She’d take a step towards the food, tongue flicking, stop, look at the tub, then back off. She’d figured out my trick and was having none of it. I went to pick her up and she thrashed, whipped and shot away from my hands and tunneled into her hide REALLY fast. About all I could get a hold of was the base of her tail, and as soon as it registered how much of her was down in the hide I released immediately so as not to do her any hard.

Last night I tried again with the tub and picking her up and she thrashed and ran from me and hissed rather loudly. So I let her be and just read next to her enclosure with the door open. She spent that time in her cool side hide watching me from a distance.

So for now I’m back to feeding her in her enclosure and will continue to sit next to her enclosure for an hour at night.

After she was doing so well interacting with me in the bathroom, I’m really frustrated at this setback.

 

[naturboy87]

All i can say is she is starting to win and she knowes it . take charge be alfa .

 

[TeguBuzz]

I suggest feeding within the enclosure. That's what I do and I experience no cage aggression. Let her associate coming out of the cage as a positive experience for bonding or bathing, free roaming, etc. I have fed all my animals in their enclosures and do the same with Sobek and my previous gu's.

 

[Vince]

I suggest feeding within the enclosure. That's what I do and I experience no cage aggression. Let her associate coming out of the cage as a positive experience for bonding or bathing, free roaming, etc. I have fed all my animals in their enclosures and do the same with Sobek and my previous gu's.

Well, we feed her in the enclosure, but I have to put the food in before she gets out of her burrow. She DID start to get aggressive, charging at me when I opened the door. Putting the food in before she came out took care of that. The problem is getting her out to have the roaming time and bathing at this point. After the hissing and huffing and puffing yesterday, I just went in to change her water just now and she immediately moved to the back of the enclosure, keeping a watchful eye on me and ensuring that she stays out of reach.

Starting to wonder if Naturboy might be right :s

 

[Sirhc401]

You have a dilemma on your hands. I can see what you are trying to do and I'm not sure the tub will work best because as you have seen they are very smart and will want to find a way to get the food without doing what you want.
You don't need to be alfa and for heavens sake do not "show them who is boss" I see some ppl who think this is a good way to tame. No!! It is a good way to make them fear you. However, your tegu is not going to like being handled at first. When we first got Odin, we fed him in his enclosure for a week and did not touch him. When we first started handling we went ahead and picked him up against his will. BUT, if he started freaking out way to much we put him down, and we never restrained him. We kind of just let him stand on our hands and put him against us to prevent him from backing up. We were never forceful, approach with calm energy, trust me, they are animals and can feel your intentions in your approach. After pick up immediately we took Odin to his food and had him eat out of a dish while he was in our hands. After that we moved on to the shirt trick as well, put a shirt with your scent on it in the enclosure.

We did this before freeroaming and it worked fine. But it defers for different tegus as they have different personalities. Just try something different, your girl must not like the current approach.

 

[Vince]

You have a dilemma on your hands. I can see what you are trying to do and I'm not sure the tub will work best because as you have seen they are very smart and will want to find a way to get the food without doing what you want.
You don't need to be alfa and for heavens sake do not "show them who is boss" I see some ppl who think this is a good way to tame. No!! It is a good way to make them fear you. However, your tegu is not going to like being handled at first. When we first got Odin, we fed him in his enclosure for a week and did not touch him. When we first started handling we went ahead and picked him up against his will. BUT, if he started freaking out way to much we put him down, and we never restrained him. We kind of just let him stand on our hands and put him against us to prevent him from backing up. We were never forceful, approach with calm energy, trust me, they are animals and can feel your intentions in your approach. After pick up immediately we took Odin to his food and had him eat out of a dish while he was in our hands. After that we moved on to the shirt trick as well, put a shirt with your scent on it in the enclosure.

We did this before freeroaming and it worked fine. But it defers for different tegus as they have different personalities. Just try something different, your girl must not like the current approach.

Yeah, she's a challenge. We've had her about 2 and a half months. Seems like once we start making progress, something happens and sets us back again. The first was moving her to her new enclosure. Seemed like we had to start from scratch again after that. Then this. She finally came out last night as I set next to her enclosure last night. Never came over to me, but allowed me to give her back a quick rub without moving away from me.

Going to attempt to attach an image here from when we were in the bathroom...

As you can see, she's getting big. My feeling is the sooner we can get her used to being picked up, the better