Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: tegu not settling:(

  1. #1

    Default tegu not settling:(

    hi guys ive had my tegu about a month now...
    and hes still jumpy:(
    i tried wrapping him up in a tshirt and it worked once or twice for a few mins each time... but now he wont even let me rub him:(
    any suggestions?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Sweden
    Posts
    170

    Default

    What kind of tegu do you have? How old is he? It sounds like you are taking too big steps at a time which scares him. The trick is to take babysteps and slowly gain his trust. If you cant even touch him he is definitive not comfortable with you. How does he react then you are around the enclosure (without opening or touch him)?

  3. #3

    Default

    well i dunno how old he is but hes about 14 inches long maybe
    hes a columbian black and gold tegu
    erm when i just watch him he seems curious and watchs me alot
    which i think is a good sign..
    so u think just take it slow..
    what kinda steps could i do rite now?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Citrus Heights, CA
    Posts
    815

    Default

    Well, it's been said that the Columbians take longer to tame down than the Argentines, and even in adulthood can be on the skittish side. There are quite a few guides out there that have a lot of great tips on taming your tegu. One of them is from Rick, an Administrator on this site. He says:



    "There are many reasons why your tegu could be acting aggressive or timid, but the main reason is generally because it's intimidated or scared of you. There are several levels to a tegus 'tameness', from being able to tolerate human contact to actually craving contact with people. (Note: My tegu responds by name, taps the enclosure walls when it wants to be held, walks to my hand when its in the enclosure and nudges me, loves to cuddle against my head/neck while on the back of the couch, etc.)

    Keep in mind that 'tame' in no way indicates 'domesticated'. Tegus are not domesticated, but most can be tamed. There are cases where someone gets a tegu and can't tame it. This could be poor animal husbandry or maybe a stubborn tegu. It could also be that the tegu did become tame, but not tame enough for its keeper. I honestly feel that almost any tegu can be tamed to a point of tolerating being held and many can be tamed to a point to crave your contact. There are exceptions to every rule, but I believe with decent husbandry skills and lots of time and patience you will be happy with the results of taming your tegu.

    The first rule to taming a tegu is to NEVER get mad or upset with your tegu. It didn't ask to be your pet. You are taking a tegu with natural instincts and making it your pet. When the tegu doesn't respond the way you expect, just let the tegu have a break and try again later. Negative reinforcement will only manage to put your work further behind. Positive reinforcement is the correct method for taming your tegu. This can sometimes become a slow process, but it's worth it in the end.

    Now that I have hopefully gotten you into the proper mindset we will consider a good method to help you tame your tegu.

    The first thing you need to do is go out and buy a set of leather welding gloves. These are thick and go all the way up to the elbow. They will protect you from bites and dig marks. Your tegu may or may not become threatened enough to bite, but it's always best to show some precaution.

    Make sure you have some crickets, mealworms, roaches.. whatever your tegu enjoys to eat. Each time you finish a session you should give your tegu a treat if it is responding well to the step you are working on. Do not feed the tegu by hand. Place the treat in the tegus bowl. You don't want to associate your hand with food. You do want to associate your sessions and its cooperation with a snack, but not until you are done that session.

    Also grab a worn article of clothing (shirt, hat, etc) something you have worn recently that hasn't been washed. The idea is to have something with your scent on it. Make sure the item of clothing has no cologne or perfumes on it.

    Let me reinforce that the tegu can not bite through a decent pair of welders gloves so do not fear it. If at any point the tegu bites you, do NOT pull away.

    First this teaches the tegu that biting you does work to drive you away, second it may cause physical damage to the tegus mouth and jaws.

    Now, with that in mind, if your tegu is very aggressive you may want to put on one of the gloves. Using the protected hand, place the worn article of clothing into the tegus enclosure, near the basking area is often best and then place the unused welding glove onto of that. Never leave the articles unattended. They could cause a fire or choking hazard. Remove your protected hand and cover/close the enclosure. Let the tegu examine the articles in its domain for awhile then remove it. Do this several times for a couple days. This gets the tegu accustomed to your scent and to the glove. I would do this until the tegu feels comfortable to actually bask on the items.

    Now that the tegu doesn't fear the glove and knows your scent, you can use pull up a chair near the enclosure so you can be as low as possible while working on the next stage of the taming process. Sit in the chair and reach into the enclosure with a gloved/protected hand. Just lay your hand near the basking area for 10 minutes or so. Do this several times over the next couple days. This will acclimate it to you and your arm sticking into the enclosure. Again, let me state that if you get bit you should hold still and don't jump away. We no not want to reinforce the idea to the tegu that it can hurt you or that you are scared. If the tegu bites your gloved hand and it doesn't hurt you and you do not pull away it will so get the idea and stop trying to bite.
    Once this is working and the tegu isn't so timid or aggressive you can do the same thing, but slowly move your hand closer and closer until you can touch it. It will more then likely move away, but just take your time and do this over and over for a few days. This step may take longer depending on the temperament of your tegu, but just keep the goal in mind. Slow and steady and you will earn the tegus trust.

    Once you can touch the tegu, place your gloved hand into the enclosure, palm up, and slide it under the tegu. Do not lift the tegu, just try to cradle it. Let it sit there. After doing this for awhile you can use your other protected hand to pet and stroke your tegu. Some tegus have areas they are less likely to allow you to touch right away, often the feet or leg area.

    The next step we move onto is removing the tegu from its enclosure. With a quiet house (no kids running around, no dogs barking, etc) clear off your couch. With protected hands you can lift and cradle the tegu in your arms allowing the tegu to hold your arm. This will make the tegu feel more secure. Sit on the couch and allow the tegu to settle in your lap. Don't force yourself on the tegu. Allow the tegu to just sit, you may need to hold the tegu to keep it there, but use only enough control to do this. We want the tegu to feel comfortable, not trapped. Let it sit there for only a few minutes then place it back into its enclosure. Do this a few times a day. Once you feel comfortable you can attempt removing the gloves. I would use the gloves while removing the tegu from the enclosure as this is the point where the tegu will feel most threatened, you can take the gloves off on the couch after the tegu is sitting calm.

    I hope this works for you as well as it has for others I have shared this with. Please be sure to contact me with your results. I enjoy hearing from you.

    You may use this information and post links to this site. All I ask is credit for my work.

    Rick
    theTegu.com"
    "Why do blessings always come in disguises? If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked."

    0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Spaz (aka "Monkey")
    1.0.0 Bearded Dragon; Leonidas (aka "Jaba" aka "Fatty)
    0.0.1 Ball Pythons; Lil' Bit

    0.1.0 Argentine B/W Tegu; Bozski - *rehome*
    1.0.0 Argentine A/A Tegu; Oscar - *rehome*
    1.0.0 Ball Python; Moose - *rehome*

    0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Knuckles (aka "Kitteh"), RIP
    0.0.1 Baby B/W Tegu; unnamed, RIP

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Citrus Heights, CA
    Posts
    815

    Default

    And Bobby Hill, the owner of Vanyard Herps (who quite a few of the members on this site have gotten their tegus from) has this to say on the matter:



    "Let me first say, put yourself in your tegu's position. He is small and you are very big. Big things eat small things. So in his mind he is thinking you want to eat him. To start with, you must build trust with your lizard.

    Here's some helpful hints: first off, the most important thing that people do wrong, is disturbing them when they are in their hide, never do this, this is their place of safety, that is one sure way to lose trust with your tegu. Next never (man handle) them, they seem to respond better if you are gentle. It is not going to happen over night. And just try to stay calm around him. If he thinks you are going to hurt him he will go into the fight or flight response. So just take your time, and he will realize you are not a threat and calm down.

    Keep this in the back of your mind. In the wild these little guys are prey, so when you handle him, remember this. He will come to know you as a friend and not a foe. If you are gentle and slow when handling them, they will feel more comfortable, and respond better when they are handled. It is very important to remember tegus will not respond to human contact if they are handled with the thought of making them do what you want.

    Tegus are very curious; it is best to use this to your advantage when getting them to become calm pets. The more you fight with them, the more they will fight back. I use a method I refer to as ignoring them to tame them. I have used this many times with great success, this has also worked on the older untamed adults. Letting them come to you can use this method. I have walk in enclosures, I use this by spending time inside them working or reading books. I just do not act like the tegu is even in there, they see me, but I am not trying to invade their space. They will learn that I am no threat and come over to investigate me, it is like the old saying: (curiosity kills the cat). They find out that I am not a predator looking for a meal, nor any kind of threat to them. They will come to learn I am a friend and not a foe. You can use this same method in your home, you need to make sure there is nothing that you tegu can harm itself on, this needs to be a tegu safe area. When your tegu comes to you to investigate you, do not make sudden moves or try to grab him. Just reach down and pet him the first few times, I would not even try to pick him up the first few times. When you do pick him up, think of them as your puppy, when you pick him up, do not grab him behind the neck or around the belly, just reach under him. Hold him with a light grip. Also, the first few times you do pick him up, do not raise him high off the floor, give him a chance to move from your hands and he will learn he is not restrained. You want him to choose to have your contact. He will never learn this if he is man handled; he will also remember the fights. Tegus are the same as a puppy, they don't like to be grabbed either. Instead reach under them with a loose hand and be gentle. Also when handling them. Let them move through your loose hands, just keep putting one hand in front of the other until he calms down and stops moving. Just remember, the more you grab them and try to restrict them, or chase them, the longer it will take for him to trust you and become tame. The more interaction you have with him, the better. But this does not mean the contact you are making with him is making him do what you want, remember force will be responded to with fight of flight. Just try to handle him with a very slow hand, in a calm manner.

    Another point that I want to make is tegus can become very food aggressive. They can and will associate you with food. They will bite the hand that feeds them; this is not done in an aggressive manner. My advice to this is never feed them in their cage. Never let them see you feed them. The best way to cure this problem is to not feed them in their cage. Put the food in a separate cage, and then take the tegu from his cage to the food. This helps in many ways. You are putting him with the food, not bringing the food to him. This keeps the food aggression to a minimum. Also by doing this, you are handling him twice a day, once to take him to the food, and another when you return him to his cage. It also helps to keep from getting impactions. If you keep him on sub straights, and remove him to feed him, then you could feed him on newspaper. Then there would never be a chance for him to ingest the sub straights. Also, never feed live mice and rats, this only increases the strong instincts to chase something that moves. I will also add, dead rodents do not bite, bites from these animals can cause damage to your tegus."




    Hope this helps!!
    "Why do blessings always come in disguises? If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked."

    0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Spaz (aka "Monkey")
    1.0.0 Bearded Dragon; Leonidas (aka "Jaba" aka "Fatty)
    0.0.1 Ball Pythons; Lil' Bit

    0.1.0 Argentine B/W Tegu; Bozski - *rehome*
    1.0.0 Argentine A/A Tegu; Oscar - *rehome*
    1.0.0 Ball Python; Moose - *rehome*

    0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Knuckles (aka "Kitteh"), RIP
    0.0.1 Baby B/W Tegu; unnamed, RIP

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Central FL
    Posts
    4,349

    Default

    Let's find out what you are doing now. What is your handling routine like and your daily routine with your tegu?
    Laura R (FL)
    1.0.0 Colombian Tegu
    1.4.0 Argentine B&W Tegu
    1.2.0 Red Tegu
    1.2.0 B/WxRed Tegu
    1.0.0 Green Ameiva (yet another teiid)
    7 other lizards
    1 little gator
    3 FL box turtle
    1 Sulcata tortoise
    16 snakes
    5 fuzzy pets
    4 little frogs
    a bunch of creepy bugs
    and a partridge in a pear tree

  7. #7

    Default

    erm well atm i dont really have one...
    just kinda watch him for maybe a half an hour each day
    kinda watchin for advice before i drive him into hidin again

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Citrus Heights, CA
    Posts
    815

    Default

    Well, something to consider is that, although highly intelligent, tegus are not like kittens and puppies, where you can jump right into playing with them and coddling them and they love you immediately. They need more structure, patience, consistency, and TIME to become relaxed around you. But if you don't have any kind of a routine where you're handling him every day, chances are he *might* not warm up to you. Go back and read through the info from Rick and Bobby that I posted, and try their suggestions. And keep us posted!
    "Why do blessings always come in disguises? If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked."

    0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Spaz (aka "Monkey")
    1.0.0 Bearded Dragon; Leonidas (aka "Jaba" aka "Fatty)
    0.0.1 Ball Pythons; Lil' Bit

    0.1.0 Argentine B/W Tegu; Bozski - *rehome*
    1.0.0 Argentine A/A Tegu; Oscar - *rehome*
    1.0.0 Ball Python; Moose - *rehome*

    0.1.0 Bearded Dragon; Knuckles (aka "Kitteh"), RIP
    0.0.1 Baby B/W Tegu; unnamed, RIP

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •