These notes were wrote throughout the days below, each opening of the door may have been quarter, half or in some instances an hour or more apart. The other benefits I've mentioned below I believe are due to the work I've been doing with Frank as I have noticed more of a difference for the better in him within that last week then I have noticed in the past few weeks. If you are interested in trying anything I've mentioned and want to know more about what I've been doing then please reply to this post.

Day 1:
In the morning I got a flower and showed it to Frank through the glass while he was in his hide, he looked interested and I slowly opened the door whilst keeping his attention on the flower, and moved it towards him, he took the flower and while he was eating it I partially opened and closed the door over and over just to make the noise like when I normally open it and I also said good boy a few times as I though it would be handy to try to get him to associate those words with a good thing as that should help later on, whilst at the same time associating the noise of the door with a good thing too. I did this three times in all and then didn't do anything else for the rest of the day, but he didn't tail whip whilst doing this. I was encouraged by this and thought I'd go further with it the next day.

Day 2:
Did the same as before, but did it throughout the day on a off, approx 1 hour was spent doing this throughout the entire day, I also sat near the viv for a little throughout the day, and sometimes opened the door and talked to him, and would occasionally close the door and open it and offer him a flower. Another interesting thing I noticed today was, that usually he goes in his hide at around 4pm and that’s it for the day, he stays in there till morning, but today he stayed out till 6pm. This was very unusual for him and he has never stayed out that long whilst I've had him. He didn't tail whip when I opened the door at all today, and the ultimate test was later on after 6pm when he went in his hide as if he was likely to tail whip it is when he is in his hide as both me and his previous owner noticed he dose it every time bar none when he is in his hide and your lucky if he doesn't do it when he's out through the day. I opened the door, no flower this time, and all he did was open his eye, NO TAIL WHIPPING! I did this about 4 times over the next few hours, and to my surprise still no tail whipping, and there were no flowers involved at this point. The ultimate test was going to be later on at about 10pm when it was dark and he had had chance to get to sleep. 10Pm came and I tried it thinking, if he's going to tail whip now is the time I would bet for sure he would do it, and to my astonishment he didn't tail whip at all. To make sure I wasn't going mad or this was just a fluke I though well I'd better try again, I did it two more times and STILL NO TAIL WHIPPING!. This was very very encouraging and it feels like a big break through.

Day 3:
Same as before, however this morning I though as scene as he stayed out longer yesterday I'd see if I could get him to come out earlier as he has never come out of is hide before about 10.30am at the earliest and normally 11am- 12pm. It was 9.45am and I did the flower routine and he seemed to remember as he really came at the glass quickly this time. There has been a slight hiccoughh today, as at about dinner time I was going to put his food bowl in, and this is a time when he would be very likely to tail whip, so I got a flower and did as mentioned, however this time he was in his hide facing the back wall with his head poking out and it was harder to get his attention, I though it had caught his eye a bit so I opened the door and moved it towards him and he didtaill whip although half hearted compared to normal as he used to give it a good crack against the side of his hide or the viv, so a slighthiccoughh although better than normal. As I didn't want to reinforce this behaviour, I withdrew the flower, shut the door and and waited a few seconds and then opened the door again and he didn't tail whip so I gave him the flower and put his food bowl in, and I scuffed the bowl on top of his hide to make a bit of a noise to reinforce that it's not a bad noise, at the same time making a noise with the door. Another good thing I have noticed today is his appetite seems a lot better, as he normally goes to his bowl, has a little bit and then that’ss it, but today he went for his food with a lot moreenthusiasm and has been to his bowl twice and also tried some iguana food for the first time, and as I'm writing this he has just tried a bazel leaf, so that's good that he seems more willing to try new foods, and he also took an iguana pellet from me off the tongs, that’s the first time he's taken anything off me other than the nasturtium flowers. Just tried again, he was in his hide I showed him a flower with no interest so I opened the door and he tail whipped as bad as he used to, so I shut the door and opened it again whilst still showing him the flower, and he tail whipped hard again, so I decided to keep opening and closing the door until he stopped and I did it a few times and on I think the fourth time he didn't do it so I did it once more and he still didn't do it so I've left it at that for now. Not sure how it's gone from one extreme to the other so quickly, could be because I've been busy with other things today and perhaps haven't devoted quite enough time, but I'll keep trying tonight and then have a good go at it tomorrow, it's worth keeping up with due to the many benefits I've seen in him. I've tried opening the door a couple more times, first time he didn't whip, then just now he whipped but it was a delayed reaction, as soon as he did it I immediately opened the door again and he did it again so I opened and closed it again, and I think he did it once more so again I opened the door and closed it then he didn't do it that time, I think that doing that should show him that every time he whips it actually makes me open the door again and stay there longer the exact opposite of what he wants, and when he stops that’s when I go away, so any way I've left him alone and I'll leave it at that for tonight and have a good go tomorrow and hope that I can have the excellent results of day 2.

Day 4:
So far so good, came out at approx 10am today, quite early for him, he took a few iguana pellets from me today and also tried some avocado which he loved, he also took the avocado off the tongs. I've been opening the door lot's today and talking to him and so on as described before, with no tail whipping so far. Have tried opening the door when he went in his hide, no tail whipping just opens eyes, did this about 4 times. Tried again whilst in hide, he did tail whip a bit this time, so opened the door straight away and did it once more and he stopped so I shut it and backed off. Tried again and he didn't do it. Tried again just now and got his attention with some semi dried mango (which I've found he loves as much as flowers) so I opened the door and gave him some and slid the door back and forth whilst he was eating it, than did this about 4 times, shut the door after giving the mango, show him some more mango, open the door, give him it, move the door back and forth and repeat the process, and he's now come out to bask. Tried again once with lights still on and then an hour or so later with lights off and no tail whipping, so that’ss really good, a few hicoughs today but better than yesterday and at least I can endtoday’ss training/ taming on apositive..

Day 5:
Not bad so far, I've done the same routine, he did really well the first few times, however there was a bit of a hiccough, not because of the door opening though as I'd already opened the door but I moved the food towards him when his eyes were closed and touched his face with it, this made him jump a bit and he whipped slightly, so that one is my fault really but at least it wasn't because I opened the door. I've been doing the usual with good results, and just now I wanted to put his food dish in, I showed him the dish through the glass, didn't look bothered at all and couldn't care less lol, then I opened the door and moved it towards him and then put it under his nose to see what was in it, he looked slightly interested but wasn't that bothered so I just put his dish down, and he was totally relaxed and couldn't care less throughout this, so I closed the door and opened it again and gave him a flower to reinforce this good behaviour, again making a noise with the door and his bowl. I felt really good about this as normally every time I needed to open the door to put anything in and so on I'd feel a bit tense as it makes you feel bad as it is obviously bothering him if he tail whips when you do it, but this just showed me that I'm doing the right thing as he was relaxed, I was relaxed and it was just nice to put the bowl in with no fuss or bad feelings from him or me, and that is the whole point of me doing this, so I'm feeling really good about it at this point. It's 7.55pm and I've just tried again whilst he is in his hide and no tail whipping, so that means that apart from the slight hiccough this morning it's been pretty much as good as day 2, no tail whipping. I've decided to leave it at that for today and I might not do it beyond 7pm or 8pm each day now as I think he has got the point and in reality it is highly unlikely I would ever need to go in his viv after that time, so its just disturbing him for no reason now, although I still think it was necessary during the first few days as I think you need to do it as much as possible to really make sure they get the point, but now as long as I can keep it so he doesn't do it through the day that will be great.

Day 6:
Very good day again I've just tried the door again for the last time today and no tail whipping at all when in his hide or out. I haven't done it quite as intensively today and with less treats, and he seems fairly relaxed about it all now, I think if I keep doing it at the same pace as today that should be fine for another week or so and then I can reduce it further to the point where it will be perfectly normal for him not to tail whip whenever the door opens, and I think it is safe to say he has got the point now, but I don't think it would be good just to stop now, it needs to be carried on at least at a lower level for a few more weeks. This will be the last entry in to this diary as I think I've achieved what I wanted to and there may be the odd hiccough here and there but hopefully as long as I keep going with it a bit longer the tail whipping won't resurface again.

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