Hi everyone,
Just thought I post an update on how I'm getting on with frank my Egyptian uro. Well, about a week or so ago, I decided to try some work with him in his viv as I though it would be a gentler start for him being in his own environment. All I did was, I got some nasturtium flowers, and showed him one through the glass and then slowly opened the door and slowly moved over to him and stopped a few inches away, at first he seemed a bit tense and with a little encouragement he took the flower, and then if I remember correctly I did that a couple more times and unfortunately that was all the flowers that I could pick that day, so I shut the door and went to cut up some different foods to try as treats, all of which I tried but he wasn't bothered about them. But even though he didn't take anything else off me just showing him it through the glass and slowly moving it towards him and trying to encourage him to take it seemed to put him at ease a bit, and having the food there gave him something else to think about other than me. His body language seemed to change from tense to being fairly relaxt, legs and tail were relaxed like they often are when they are basking. This was very encouraging to me as if I remember correctly he used to whip when I opened the door even when he could see me. That is something I've have noticed actually, that he tail whips more when you open the door when he is in his hide even if you don't go near him, his previous owner also mentioned this when I mentioned what I had been doing with him. A day or two later I let him out for the first time (actually I did let him out briefly the next day after bringing him home), I boarded of part of my room so I could let him wonder without worrying where he would go. I didn't touch him at first I just let him wonder where he wanted to, he doesn't seem timid or anything when he's out and in fact after a while he came and crawled through my legs a few time and then on to my knee, at that point I though, we'll you came to me, so I stroked his back a little and he didn't seem to mind, then he went to wonder around again. I then decided as seen as he was ok with me stroking his back I decided to stroke his back a bit when he was roaming which he didn't seem to mind, then he was concerning me a bit as he nearly climbed where I didn't want him to go so I went to pick him up and he tail whiped at me although compared to how he does it in his viv it was half hearted, I then picked him up and put him in his viv, and he was absolutely fine with being picked up, didn't flinch, move or anything just let me put him in the viv and he was calmer even then my chuckwallas are as they can tend to wriggle a bit, so I was supprised about that. I asked his previous owner if he had always been so calm when picked up and he said that he had, so that is an amazing bonus for me as I would think picking them up could be one of the hardest things to get them used to. Any how I've had him out about three more times since, but not for too long as he seems to be good at nearly getting him self in to trouble as the second time I let him out he did what I wouldn't have thought he'd do in a million years, he crawled up the back of the radiator, so I was panicking a bit but I didn't want to grab his tail as you shouldn't any way but he is funny about his tail being touched so he would hate me for it, so I though keep calm because if you scare him he won't come back out, any way within a minute he came back down and I calmly picked him up and put him back in his viv. I then sorted the gaps around the radiator, that worked but then he got behind the pipes to the radiator, so again I picked him up and put him back. All is now sorted and he can't get anywhere he shouldn't, however he can get his head up behinde a lip that hangs down a couple of inches, it's not a gap or anything just where the radiator hangs down, any how all he did today when I let him out was try to scratch at the radiator to climb up it, I've since though of a better way to do it so he can't get near it and his attention should be more on me instead of trying to get up the back of the radiator lol. He does seem more comfortable around me, as today he crawled on my knee again and seemed a bit more bold as he also tried to crawl up my chest, he did this a few times and each time I picked him up and placed him back on my knee. Again he seemed ok with me picking him up so I stroked his back and he was ok with that too so I thought I try to stoke his head as my chuckwallas love that, and any way he whipped his tail a bit, again fairly half hearted so that is something else I've found out about him, that he doesn't seem to like his head to be touched. So I can't touch his head or his tail just yet, but I think he's showing improvement and definatley seems more comfortable around me so I think I'm just going to have to keep going as I am for a while, and pull back to just stroking his back a bit and then work on being able to touch his head and so on later on. So that’s about where I'm at with him at the moment, I think it's promising he has his pros and cons but the good parts of his behaviour makes it easier to work with the bad parts. Any way let me know what you think of my progress and any tips on how to proceed from now on, it's eiseir for me to access what he's like now and I'm sure you can tell from what I've said he's not as bad as I first though he was going to be, any thoughts on the behaviour I've described such as how bad you think it is and if you have managed to improve behaviour like this then I'd be very interested to hear from you. Only time will tell I guess, I'll let you know if/ when I notice any other improvement. Sorry for such a long post I hope it hasn't been to much of a bore lol, thanks for reading any way.
Cheers
Martin

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