Taming my tegu.

[ExplicitViper]

I just bought her 2 days ago. Today was my first time i stuck my hand in the tank. The first time i did it, she just hissed at me and let me pet her for about 15 min. I did it again, same thing, hissed at me and i still petted her for about 15 min. While doing so i would stop and let her smell/lick my hand. The third time she i did it, she hissed at me and while i was petting her, she bit me. I knew i had it coming. She is about 2 years old, from what the guy told me, and i was wondering how i should go about taming her. I have been told to pic her up. But right now i dont know how i need to pick her up. The only videos i have seen are little tegu's or tame tegu's. I have read the Taming the Beast thread and i dont want to let her roam around right now. So, for right now she is in a 75 gal. tank.

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there is the thread which has pictures of her. this is my first tegu, so any advice would be great :-D

 

[ExplicitViper]

and i posted this in the wrong section, i thought i was under taming tegu's. sorry for that.

 

[rrcoolj]

Personally I would give her some time to get accustomed to things. She is still new and everything is new to her so give her some time. Im guessing it will take longer and a little more work to tame a adult or subadult than a baby. You will need patience and consistency. I would not start with holding just yet unless you are transferring her to a feeding "ben". Be slow with her. I like to sit infront of my tegu and watch tv or something so he knows i am no threat. Hopefully I helped you out a little im sure someone else will chime in here.

 

[AWD247]

I agree with what was said above, also, didnt you say you think shes pregnant? you might wanna leave her alone then for awhile.

 

[Jefroka]

Agreed she looks very pregnant. My advice is the same, sit back and let her feel safe with you. What I do is let mine come to me. Mine crawls up my arm and onto my shoulder, just about everyday, when I then bring him into another room to his feeding bin. He then climbs down and feeds. Afterwards, he climbs back up.

All this took time and patience mind you, you can't rush bonding, she has to feel you're not a threat, so you will have to hang out with her.

First thing I would do if I were you and had the resources is get a different enclosure or build one with doors on the front, it'll make things move along much faster.

With an aquarium, you are going in from above, like prey animals would. Tegus don't like this.

With an enclosure that has doors, you can sit right in front with the door open and she can come to you.

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Best of luck to you.


...Jefroka

 

[rrcoolj]

All great advice... Remember even the most tame tegu in the world didn't start out tame it will take some work.

 

[ExplicitViper]

yea, im working on building an enclosure with doors. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Toby_H]

If the tegu feels uncomfortable in her environment, she will constantly be a bit stressed... which will keep her guard up all the time... which will not be conducive to taming...

The tank seems a bit small for her to me... I would expect her to calm down once she is in the larger cage...

While I completely agree and understand, you do not want to be battling your Tegu during free roaming... I;'ve also found that the more I let my girl free roam, the more affectionate she is.

Just to mention, I've never had a gravid Tegu... but my girl is often as fat as your and is aroudn the same size (mine is 31")...