My Tegu craps on me like clockwork =0(

[babyyitslove]

My Tegu and I have a routine. He's an early riser, so he's already in his basking spot waiting for me to click the light on for him when I wake up. Usually around 7am my daughter wakes up, on my way to the kitchen to make her bottle I swing by the reptile room and click lights on for everyone. I get my daughter settled and head to the kitchen to prepare the Tegu's meal.
He watches me carefully as I enter the room and prep his bowl inside his feed box.
I remove the lid from his enclosure and he sits very still,... his breathing becomes labored as I approach him, but when I gently grasp him with my hand, his whole body goes limp. I proceed to stroke him on his head and under his chin, calmly talking to him about what's for breakfast for the day. He begins to revert back to his squirmy old self and then BAM! *SQUIRRRRRRRRT*… He shits all over me.


This happens EVERY SINGLE TIME and half the time it happens in the feed box, the other half happens all over me. Its like he waits for me... saves it for me.

Im just hoping this is a term of endearment and not his way of rebelling since he's been such a great sport.

 

[hoosier]

Hate to say but its not out of love lol Sounds like he is not quite used to you yet. he goes limp to "play dead" and the poos when that doesnt work. i had a sav monitor that did that to me a few times. if i remember right you only have had him for a week right? i would say leave him be for a while and let him get used to his surroundings and everything for a week or so before you handle him again. they get stressed pretty easily and T.teguixin are not known to be the most handleable species to begin with. i say give him some time and space for a bit and start handleing him in small doses, maybe just put your hand in the cage to start with and slowly graduate up

 

[babyyitslove]

I can do without handling him for the hell of it, but he'll have to meet me at least once a day for feeding. We have him eating in a feed box outside of the enclosure to minimize food associated cage aggression. His feeding response is amazingly calm as opposed to his first two feedings where he attacked his bowl of food and scared the **** out of me.
He now just senses it out and calmly muches it.
After we get him a little better associated with feeding time, we'll work on HIM coming to US.

 

[katoeLAZARO]

Mine did that when I manhandled him lol it really sucks but now that I don't he doesn't poop on me rather craps on my her -___- lol my savannah use to do the same. I hate that so much :l

 

[babyyitslove]

He has already designated a special 'piss off and leave me alone' spot, and we have that agreement with one another. I pile his economic earth higher in that corner and keep it nice and tidy for him.

We can't let him run around the reptile room much during the day. The gate on the doorway isn't secure for him yet, as he's small enough to fit through the spaces between the bars. To allow him to free roam that room, my husband or I would have to guard that doorway while the other watched after the Tegu. With two kids running around during the day, only one of us can tend to reptiles at a time. By the time the kids are in bed, so is the Tegu lol.

 

[james.w]

It is a defense mechanism, he's telling you to leave him alone.

 

[babyyitslove]

It really sucks that's he's using his defense mechanisms toward me, but im thankful that there is no aggression with it. As much as he's 'played dead' and **** on me, id think he would've already resorted to trying to bite a finger off. At least there is a small peace of mind.

 

[katoeLAZARO]

You can get a plank of wood to put infront of the bard door lol easy and cheap and yeah I get you it sounds like a hand full

 

[hoosier]

It really sucks that's he's using his defense mechanisms toward me, but im thankful that there is no aggression with it. As much as he's 'played dead' and **** on me, id think he would've already resorted to trying to bite a finger off. At least there is a small peace of mind.

he sees you as a predator. they would rather play dead and crap than risk injury by trying to attack something that much larger than itsself. agression may be a last resort, especially if he is that small. rushing the handeling, even just to move to a feed container, could stress them out and stress the "trust factor" and strain its establishment but as stated before most columbians are not partial to handeling anyway. imagine your his size and a large hand is coming to pick you up. the word "friend" wouldnt be the first word to come to mind. more like "holy crap whats that?! is it going to eat me?!"

someone correct me if im wrong but i would say feed in the cage for a week or so until it gets settled in so the stress of you picking him up and moving him isnt a daily occurance. i know how hard it is to refrain from holding it being its your new pet but you have to establish that "hey you seem not to be a threat nor will you eat me" relationship and by grabing him and moving him when he is already under the stresses of a new environment wont speed that process up.

 

[turtlepunk]

yeah I would suggest feeding inside the enclosure for the first couple of weeks as well. Ive been doing that with my new extreme and it works pretty well. I tried the feeding box once...nope he didn't like it at all and he just seemed way too stressed. he's starting to be a little more tolerate of me now. He allowed me to pick him up without a problem =) maybe in a couple more weeks Ill go back to the outside feeding bin.

 

[babyyitslove]

So I cleared out a spot in his enclosure for his food bowl and tossed it in there with this morning's leftovers.
How should I do this? Prep the food in the morning, put it in, and leave it for how long?

 

[hoosier]

if he is asleep i would just put food in the bowl and put it in the enclosure. that way he doesnt associate you with food. just distract him and put it in if he is awake. i leave mine in all day (im not home most of the day due to work and classes). he usually eats it all anyway. then when he goes down for the night i take the bowl out and clean it.

 

[babyyitslove]

if he is asleep i would just put food in the bowl and put it in the enclosure. that way he doesnt associate you with food. just distract him and put it in if he is awake. i leave mine in all day (im not home most of the day due to work and classes). he usually eats it all anyway. then when he goes down for the night i take the bowl out and clean it.

Sounds good! When he buries himself for the night ill take it out.
Its going to be hard to distract him in the mornings because he's wide awake and basking when I get up, watching my every move!

 

[hoosier]

after a few weeks i would say to start handling in very short durrations. keep your hand in the enclosure, put a shirt with your sent on it etc so he can get used to you being around. let him come to you. climb on your arm, check you out and when that happens maybe take him out and just be calm with him. dont grab him with a restraining pressure or anything because that my invoke that fear response again. after a while he sould get more and more used to it. a lizard leash may be a good investment also since you said the wholes in the fense are pretty big but i would wait on that because leash training is a different ballgame entirely lol

 

[babyyitslove]

He really is a sweet heart once we get passed the squirming and labored breathing. He eventually relaxes for a few minutes and tolerates us. But im looking to eliminate the initial reaction as a whole. The way HE feels is more important to me than being able to handle him when I want to. I have three tokays, and one of the three just does NOT want to be tamed. And that's ok. We've accepted that. We still love him dearly. We have so many reptiles that if I need a fix on handling, we've got tons to choose from.

I can handle him all I want right now, but only at the expense of how HE feels. No bueno.

 

[ClockworkCarrion]

ok, that original post made me giggle, love the description of the poop assault lol, painted a very vivid picture. it also made me very happy that mine doesnt do that! except my ***** green iguana does it :/ luckily she is still a baby so the poop isnt an epic amount yet.

 

[jdpFL]

My ball python does that. Guess he just gets so relaxed. Ew. Reptile poo is some foul stuff.

 

[babyyitslove]

Foul is an understatement. I've never smelt a poo that almost made me pass out until i started keeping reptiles. Smells like rotten death.

 

[ClockworkCarrion]

you got that right! i especially hate that first step into a pet store that mainly carries reptiles, always has a rank smell that slaps me in the face. i wish they would burn some incense like our local asian market does.... a little goes a long way.

 

[jtpowers]

I would not automatically agree with the conclusory statement that it is a defensive response and I would with all respect to other input NOT agree that you should start feeding him in his enclosure for a while "until" he calms down.

Tegus often see food/soak time as a time to relieve themselves as well. Mine will do it without fail after his meal and into about ten minutes of his warm water soak. Tegus, like many smaller predators who are themselves less than "apex" status on the food chain, don't preferentially defecate immediately next to their burrow or enclosure; it would advertise their presence even more. Water seems to be a preferred defecation point, though. Your interaction with him right at feeding time may be the equivalent of a two year old potty trainee being taken into the bathroom and then waiting a few minutes too long. He'll get there eventually, but it is likely he associates you with potty time as much as he does meal time. Maybe a towel in your arms and don't linger for neck rubs when you first pick him up, just be gentle but a little quicker in the transition without being rushed?

If you start feeding in the enclosure "until" he calms down, you may well see the return of that previous charging, cage/food aggression he came to you with. Personally, I wouldn't choose that path and it may be more confusing to him than helpful. No, of course you don't want to stress him unnecessarily...but ALL habituation involves some stress, including shipping, enclosure cleaning, water changes, feeding, you name it. As long as you are conscientious about it and pay attention to minimizing that stress as best you can, you will be doing the right thing. In my opinion, restarting cage feedings to avoid stress will only set you up for more stress dealing with it later.