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So I got a yearling black and white argentinean a few months back (around March I think) and I have a few questions. When I first got him (he was shipped from FL) he hid for a week or so under the substrate but I read that was normal so I didn't worry about it. During this time I was feeding him by leaving food in a bowl for a few hours. After that few weeks I still didn't see him a lot but the food started disappearing and he regularly messed up his water. After a few weeks of that he started coming out regularly and basking. He has never been aggressive but anytime that I try to pick him up he arches up and hisses a little. I also had a shirt in the tank with him. That was when I realized I was missing valuable socialization opportunities so I started feeding him with tongs. I have been unemployed for the last two months and we got in a habit of me feeding him every few days with the tongs. He is still grumpy but I feel confident that if I had to pick him up I could relatively easily. I should also mention that he always eats during the day sometime between noonish and 3pm. Well last week I got a new job and now I am gone from 8am to 5pm. I haven't seen him once in the past week. I keep changing his water and make sure his temp and all that is good. I don't want to go back to feeding him in a bowl cause I think he will slid right back to not wanting anything to do with me but I am afraid that since I don't get home until 5pm he isn't ever going to be out and wanting to eat. How do people that work full-time socialize these guys? I hate the idea that I am just not going to have time to be a good owner for him but I also don't want him to be an unhappy neglected lizard. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance.

<blockquote data-quote="Jocierk" data-source="post: 152846" data-attributes="member: 6959"><p>So I got a yearling black and white argentinean a few months back (around March I think) and I have a few questions. When I first got him (he was shipped from FL) he hid for a week or so under the substrate but I read that was normal so I didn't worry about it. During this time I was feeding him by leaving food in a bowl for a few hours. After that few weeks I still didn't see him a lot but the food started disappearing and he regularly messed up his water. After a few weeks of that he started coming out regularly and basking. He has never been aggressive but anytime that I try to pick him up he arches up and hisses a little. I also had a shirt in the tank with him. That was when I realized I was missing valuable socialization opportunities so I started feeding him with tongs. I have been unemployed for the last two months and we got in a habit of me feeding him every few days with the tongs. He is still grumpy but I feel confident that if I had to pick him up I could relatively easily. I should also mention that he always eats during the day sometime between noonish and 3pm. Well last week I got a new job and now I am gone from 8am to 5pm. I haven't seen him once in the past week. I keep changing his water and make sure his temp and all that is good. I don't want to go back to feeding him in a bowl cause I think he will slid right back to not wanting anything to do with me but I am afraid that since I don't get home until 5pm he isn't ever going to be out and wanting to eat. How do people that work full-time socialize these guys? I hate the idea that I am just not going to have time to be a good owner for him but I also don't want him to be an unhappy neglected lizard. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance.</p></blockquote><p></p>

[QUOTE="Jocierk, post: 152846, member: 6959"] So I got a yearling black and white argentinean a few months back (around March I think) and I have a few questions. When I first got him (he was shipped from FL) he hid for a week or so under the substrate but I read that was normal so I didn't worry about it. During this time I was feeding him by leaving food in a bowl for a few hours. After that few weeks I still didn't see him a lot but the food started disappearing and he regularly messed up his water. After a few weeks of that he started coming out regularly and basking. He has never been aggressive but anytime that I try to pick him up he arches up and hisses a little. I also had a shirt in the tank with him. That was when I realized I was missing valuable socialization opportunities so I started feeding him with tongs. I have been unemployed for the last two months and we got in a habit of me feeding him every few days with the tongs. He is still grumpy but I feel confident that if I had to pick him up I could relatively easily. I should also mention that he always eats during the day sometime between noonish and 3pm. Well last week I got a new job and now I am gone from 8am to 5pm. I haven't seen him once in the past week. I keep changing his water and make sure his temp and all that is good. I don't want to go back to feeding him in a bowl cause I think he will slid right back to not wanting anything to do with me but I am afraid that since I don't get home until 5pm he isn't ever going to be out and wanting to eat. How do people that work full-time socialize these guys? I hate the idea that I am just not going to have time to be a good owner for him but I also don't want him to be an unhappy neglected lizard. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much in advance. [/QUOTE]

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