Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok so my sav has developed his strong love for rodents. And for the most part all I give him is fuzzies and crickets but mainly fuzzies. The other day I was getting ready to pu the fuzzy in the cage and this lil monster bolts over to me and literaaly jumped and took it out of my hand(glove on of course) no clue he could move that fast. Today I opened his cage to refil his water bowl and he flew over to my hand again and begin sniffing it like crazy. Please don't tell me what I think has happenned and he thinks my hand is his food source cause this usually means his gonna bite the hell out of it soon..damn damn...Well at least he is starting to trust me..I think

Guess again! Hes not starting to trust you, hes starting to see you as a foodsource - That is why I dont feed my sav by hand. Always use tongs. Even the scent of rodents on your hand should make it snap at your fingers. Mine will!

My sav is also quite acrobatic, he often takes the crickets in mid-air, as I drop in his tank... now thats cool

>>ok so my sav has developed his strong love for rodents. And for the most part all I give him is fuzzies and crickets but mainly fuzzies. The other day I was getting ready to pu the fuzzy in the cage and this lil monster bolts over to me and literaaly jumped and took it out of my hand(glove on of course) no clue he could move that fast. Today I opened his cage to refil his water bowl and he flew over to my hand again and begin sniffing it like crazy. Please don't tell me what I think has happenned and he thinks my hand is his food source cause this usually means his gonna bite the hell out of it soon..damn damn...Well at least he is starting to trust me..I think
-----
C-X

Your monitor is seeing your hand as a food source. That is why most keepers use feeding tongs. Expect to get bit many times if you continue to feed by hand.
Everything your monitor is doing is normal. You may not want to listen to my opinion though. I'm a huge rule breaker when it comes to my monitors and I take a lot of risks.
Thanks
-----
Christine :>~

You get my last e-mail?

Michelle

The last one I got was that the party had been postponed and where to go herping. Was that the one?
-----
Christine :>~

It just knows that you are going to put the food in for it.My 5' Blackthroat jumped up and pulled frog legs out of my hand before I could drop them.That's how i know that she is truely hungry,she runs over fast when I open the cage.If she doesn't,then it's not a feeding dayI let her determine that for me.Today she ate 2 rats in under a minute,so tomorrow is her day off.She has NEVER tried to bite the hand that feeds her,she knows my scent from her food(just wash your hands good)

My blackthroat would eat me if it had the chance. Not that hes mean, but he doesnt differintiate fingers from rats in the SLIGHTEST. NEVER mess with a hungry blackthroat!

She gets so much exercise that she can eat a rat daily and still look slim and trimIt keeps her from eating my cat

Yup, mines a wee baby, and eats 1-2 rats a day.(sometimes more) He was hatched in March and is over 3ft. I let him out daily to explore my living room and torment the cats He actually has taken a liking to one...tolerates her really. He lets her sniff him and doesnt even get huffy. The rest of em he cant stand.

Sounds like your going to have a giant on your hands.My girl didn't grow very fast until she hit 6-7 months old (2' long),then she shot up to almost 5' at 16 months and still growing.Enjoy

I let my monitors upstairs a lot they are usually real good. The cats are always trying to play with the lizards though. One time the monitor got fed up and tried to scare the cat. It didn't work. I don't let that cat hang out with us anymore, or at least for a while. Don't worry the cat didn't get hurt in any way. If it did, I would be living on the street.

np

My fiancees brothers cat is brave enough. All 3 of my sisters run for the hills.

From what Ive seen they grow out of it...for the most part. A couple of my babies would leap repeatedly towards my hand/ fingers pretty much any time I would get into their enclosure. As soon as they realized that they were FINGERS and NOT mice they would usually freak out, and high tail it to the other end. I do have one that is down right mean. From the time he hatched he would rush me mouth open. He doesnt rush me anymore, but if I reach in towards him he'll attack. In contrast, one of his clutch mates is an ABSOLUTE sweetheart. He NEVER even puffs or hisses. I can pick him up, carry him around, hold him in my lap...everything, and hes calm as can be. He is also the biggest and fastest growing of the five. You can just look in his eyes and see nothing but calmness. Not to mention his coloration is absolutely stunning. I took a pic a couple days ago, and Ill have it up tomorrow afternoon.

-Michelle

My opinion:

They are smart enough that the tongs or gloved hands directly are only part of the association. The keeper (if present) will be part of the association whether you feed them with your bare toes or a 10' pole. While they can be very dumb at times, I think they are very good at making all sorts of associations with what results in food.

I personally think associating you with food is a GOOD thing and a necessary part in removing the wacko out of a w.c..

I'd take an agressive eater over a passive eater any day, it is much easier to see when things aren't quite working out.

--Robert

np

I was feeding all my crosses for a while by hand dumb dumb. Anyway they got comfortable with me and now jump out of the cage mouths open and chasing me down! So what I do is toss them the mice and believe it or not 80% of the time they catch it. Sometimes when they do jump out and chase me I just throw mice all over the basement so they can run around and get them. When I am not feeding or they realize I don't have food they are as tame as puppies. I don't put the f/t mice on the cage floor because the dirt sticks to it and I don't think they like it and it's not as fun.they are so cool. Sometimes I trust them and sometimes I am running from them!

Right before feeding, and before the creature sees the food click one of those clicker toys a couple of times. The monitor will come to associate the noise with food, rather than associating you opening the cage with feeding time. It usually doesn't take a monitor very long to figure this out, though savannahs may prove a little slower than others with a greater aptitudte for learning. Hope this helps. It really works!

Guy

You know, the study he did with canines. He used a bell though.

Good thinking to try it with reptiles!