Tame with age?

[DavidRosi]

Just a quick one, mainly aimed at the guys who have older Colombians.

Would you say your 'gu got more placid as they got older?

My little guy is a year old, so still a baby really and is happy to climb on me, have his chin rubbed until he falls asleep on my hand and the likes. The only thing he turns his nose up at is being held... This isn't a problem for me because I understand he's a free spirit and wants to be off exploring, not sat around for me !


Appreciated !

 

[m3s4]

From my experiences with older Colombians, yes they definitely calm down with age and size.

They're prone to be more skittish then other 'gus but as they continue to figure out "life", the things that once scared them no longer do, or seem to have much less impact on them.

Eventually he should calm down enough to hold, although not ALL Colombians ever fully appreciate being held and might only tolerate for brief amounts of time.

 

[laurarfl]

Yes, I would say mine became less skittish with age and size.

 

[DavidRosi]

Thanks for the replies; as I said before, my lad has come along so much in a short space of time, he shows no viv defensiveness and is happy to be stroked, climb on me and be around me... Just doesn't like to be held on to.

 

[got10]

tame with handling

 

[MadameButterfly]

Think of it from his point of view, see as a baby (young) tegu he is at the bottom of the food chain just above eggs and baby mice so he has to be fast and skittish because to him the whole world is a preadator, as he gets bigger that fear isn't there simply because he knows then there are not many animals that would take on a tegu the size of a jack russell..it's evolution at it's finest, as babys birds hunt them (which is why thy hate being picked up from above) so they grow really quickly so that no predator can actually carry them, they need speed when they are young but all they need is weight as the grow older because then their predators then become their potential prey

 

[napoleone]

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[spyder]

I honestly think I might own the most aggressive columbian tegu on the face of this earth... shows every sign of aggression to the max, has bitten me so many times drawing blood (and cuss words), hisses and smashes into his tank all day.

I have been holding him for hours at a time, and trying every trick in the book to get him to calm down ever since I got him.
no techniques have worked...
but I will definetly say that as he is getting bigger, he has been calming down a lot.
so screw the tricks... imo the only thing that will really calm down a tegu is aging lol