simple taming trick

[napoleone]

You have to be assure that the temperature in the room is not cold. You just need to put a fiew lamps just outsdide the terrarium, sit down on the floor, with a cover under your butt and your back on the sofa with a cushion, a cover over your legs and point the lamps to your legs. Then turn off the lamps inside the terrarium and open the terrarrium doors. Your tegu will come outside to search for heat and it wil find it lying on your legs. In this position the tegu will also feel the heat of your body and get used to your scent. Take a book, your mobile phone and a tv controller (low tv volume). You can stay in that position for hours and spent relaxing tamin time

 

[Chris23039]

Might try this but would your legs not get uncomfortably hot after a while?

 

[napoleone]

Maybe in the summer, but not in the winter. The heat of the lamps goes aver the cover.

 

[Jstew]

I use a similar trick with my monitor. I sit in an empty room and she explores for a little but before realizing she has alot more fun climbing on my shoulders and head!

 

[napoleone]

Exactly. There is also the spring/summer version:
http://www.tegutalk.com/showthread.php?tid=11256
Lets be explicit, tegus love to climb and smell armpits (?).

 

[karljr2k4]

Will this work for hatchlings as well? or should i do something else?

 

[Logie_Bear]

Will this work for hatchlings as well? or should i do something else?[/quote

Just ensure the room you're sitting in is totally tegu-proofed! Those hatchlings can squeeze into some tiny spaces!

 

[karljr2k4]

so catching him is always a challenge. currently he is to small to escape his enclosure. he always runs into his hide. should i just pick up id hide and grab him, but i heard that's his safe zone so i should not mess with it

 

[Chris23039]

so catching him is always a challenge. currently he is to small to escape his enclosure. he always runs into his hide. should i just pick up id hide and grab him, but i heard that's his safe zone so i should not mess with it

I picked up my tegus hide once when he was younger, got very angry huffing, didn't go for a bit or anything but I never did it again

 

[karljr2k4]

I picked up my tegus hide once when he was younger, got very angry huffing, didn't go for a bit or anything but I never did it again

SO any tip on taming a hatch-ling when he thinks i am trying to eat him? he is cool when i finally catch him but catching him is the problem. can i just hand out with him by his enclosure or do i have to physically pick him up?oh and can i put something in there of mine so he gets use to my sent?

 

[Tannaros]

SO any tip on taming a hatch-ling when he thinks i am trying to eat him? he is cool when i finally catch him but catching him is the problem. can i just hand out with him by his enclosure or do i have to physically pick him up?oh and can i put something in there of mine so he gets use to my sent?

The action of "catching" him is generally harmful to your trust building process. You'd be better served allowing him to stay in his cage, but make it a habbit of somewhat frequently moving things around in his cage with your hands. This allows him to recognize you as not really a threat and at the same time get used to a giant monster poking about.

Many people use a t-shirt the've slept in and place that in the hide of the animal.

I personally like feeding by tongs. With most of my lizards this fairly quickly remedies the scared portion and elicits a much more curious stage. However, I should note I haven't really done this with tegus. They're much more clever than many of the other lizard species I keep and could prove a bit too good at associative patterning. If you do try this you may want brightly colored easily recognizable tongs - this way they differentiate the tongs from your hand.

 

[Logie_Bear]

The first week I had my hatching, I did the 'shirt trick' and used a t-shirt that had my scent in her hide, and I got her used to eating live crickets off the tongs. Only took a few days before I could lay my hand flat, and trick her into running up my arm for a cricket by leading her with the tongs. Once she was out, she was always pretty good about not running away and we started 'potty training' in the tub within week one.

 

[karljr2k4]

The first week I had my hatching, I did the 'shirt trick' and used a t-shirt that had my scent in her hide, and I got her used to eating live crickets off the tongs. Only took a few days before I could lay my hand flat, and trick her into running up my arm for a cricket by leading her with the tongs. Once she was out, she was always pretty good about not running away and we started 'potty training' in the tub within week one.

thank you both for your info! potty training in the bathtub. tell me more about that please!

 

[Logie_Bear]

I have found, with my gu, that if she hasn't been out basking for at least an hour she wont have to go the bathroom at all. So, once she's warmed up a bit, I take her out and into the bathroom. I run warm (but not at all HOT) water into the tub and fill it to about mid-belly height. For a lil hatchling, it wont be much water at all. The water stimulates a bowel movement for most tegu. Never leave them unsupervised in the tub tho. Last year a member had a baby gu drown in the tub left unsupervised (and if I remember the thread correctly the water was also too hot?). Anywho, this has been my routine everyday with my gal and I can count on one hand the number of 'accidents' we've had around the home in the past year.

 

[laurarfl]

We used a trick like this for taming our Colombian years and years ago. My daughter would read or watch TV with the lizard snuggling up under a blanket.

 

[karljr2k4]

so i have been trying the feeding him with tongs method. he will eat from the tongs! but he still does not like me. today he was upset i was not feeding him big enough crickets so he hopped out of his enclosure and i had to catch him.

 

[chitodadon]

Lol get roaches amd start feesing whole prey

from Samsung Galaxy S3

 

[karljr2k4]

whole prey? like pinkies? are roaches really that much better?

 

[chitodadon]

Fuzzies because pinkies don't have developed bones

from Samsung Galaxy S3