Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Doug, the new HYPO that I adopted (he's 3) still rattles his tail at me sometimes when I go to pick him up (he also goes into striking position at times, but has not struck). He's fine once I pick him up, but it bothers me that he's still so insecure. He had not been handled for over a year before I got him.

Is there anything I can do about this?

With time will he outgrow it with regular handling?

Any thoughts would be welcomed!

David

Should grow out of it through regular prolonged handling. If you want to speed it up I'd suggest longer handling sessions and depending on how regularly you're handling it maybe more often.

The only other thing I've done in the past that seemed to help in taming wild caught animals was to toss an piece of clothing I had been wearing(for the purpose) like a sshirt in the container so it gets accustomed to your smell as being non threatening. I by no means say this method has any scientific support but I have had WC animals go from biting frenzy the first day to tail rattling at most the second day when I left the article in overnight.

My suggestion though would just be to step up the calm handling.

No I'm not!!!, I don't even HAVE a tail!!!lol......anyway, I .....I mean...he should gradually reduce the rattling with continued holding(LOL),....some are just more prone to doing this than others, kind of like some snakes still eat while in "full blue" during shed cycle, while others will not eat AT ALL during shed.........keep up the good work!........Oh,....I read your other post about the tail tip portion of shed not comming off, and can't stress enough how important it is to make absolutely sure the eye caps(ocular scale) and tail tip come completely off. It can tighten and restrict bloodflow to the point of the tip literally falling off!!, and horrible swelling underneath the eye with fungus/bacteria that can lead to permanent blindness!..........now that you have a small "taste" of what this can do, I'm sure you'll check the sheds in the future for complete sloughing...........good luck with them!!...............................................Doug(human)
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!