Making peace with my tegu.
I know there are people out there on both sides of the argument, but this post is for people like myself who know that tegus and many other reptiles have feelings, recognise their owners, show affection etc. If you don't believe this that is fine, but this post isn't for that debate.
My tegu had a recurrent bout of stomatitis, which has been treated and cured. It has been almost a year since. Before that, he would come to me, if I sat on the floor nearby, and rest his head on my leg , cuddle up to me if I held him etc. During the treatment, I had to give him medicine everyday by restraining him, opening his mouth, as well as disinfecting the area where the vet had to debride the stomatitis during which I had to prop his mouth open with this thing the vet gave me, twice a day. He hated it. That is expected. But he no longer likes me and while he isn't aggressive or anything, he doesn't come to me anymore, and will just pretend to sleep when he sees me. I know he is pretending because if I stay there he will open his eyes and quickly close them again if he sees I sm still there. I would then leave and watch him from behind the couch and almost immediately he would get up and roam. Sometimes he is walking about and I get in the room he sees me and lays down on the spot and closes his eyes till I leave. The only times he would not ignore me is when I have food. If he ignores me long enough but I don't leave, he would go and hide. Sometimes I touch him and he would shove me off with a tail whip or sudden movement.
The vet recommended just leaving him alone and time will make him forget. While I don't usually ask vets for socializing advice, this made sense. So I left him alone, only feeding, changing water, cleaning etc. and an occasional stroke on the back. It's been almost a year now, but he still hates me it seems.
If he has to hate me, that is fine, as long as he is healthy. But I really hope there is some way I can rebuild this relationship.
Something good that came out of this is that it got me thinking, and I now have a much better relationship with my father, whom was also over protective like myself to my animals, as I understand his perspective of things. Right or wrong, he did the things he did because he cared about me. I spent my entire late teens until my mid thirties fighting with him, until now. I visit him at least twice a week now and we watch movies together.