Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've aquired a Gold Tegu that is about 20" total and dashes around its cage when approached. Holding it is another matter altogether. I've heard repeatedly that Gold and Blacks are not good for taming down but thought I'd check here to see if anyone has had any luck with theirs. It's quite a beautiful specimen and would be a shame if it continued with this temperment. Any ideas on getting it to tame a bit? Mike

i wouldnt try to hold it yet. at first, do stuff around the cage for large periods of time; taxes, for instance. then, when it stops trying to escape when it sees you, start trying to scratch its neck, etc. When he is finally ok with this, start picking him up and holding him for long periods of time. its the only way. trust me...
ian

i personally think that any lizard can be tamed. what i did to tame ziggy when i first got him was hold his food in my hand on the other side of the cage. forcing him to come over to me. then id let him eat it. after a while he didnt try to get away as much. so id always try to pick him up. he still dashed but id get him some times. when i picked him up tho, hed sit there with his mouth wide open. i collect models called warhammer, (dout u herd of it) and when he opened his mouth id take a big pewter pice of metal and set it in his mouth. hed bite down on it hard and then let go cuz he hated the taste. after awhile he knew that when he tried to bite hed get a bad tasitng piece of pewter in his mouth. now ziggy is so tame hell sit with me for hours!! if u dont have pewter models use a 50 cent piece. i sed that sometimes to. just make sure they can swallow it. if they can even come close to swallowing it dont use it. sry for rambling on so long. so i hope this post helps
-----
i own
1 bearded dragon-Rocko
1 paraguay red tegu-Badger
1 argintine black and white tegu-Ziggy
1 leopard geko-Zeke
soon-2 chinese water dragon a male and a female

First and foremost, I would wholeheartedly recommend you NOT stick anything hard in your lizard's mouth to bite down on.That's a good way to break teeth and possibly cause stomatitis.I also would not recommend hand-feeding either. That's a good way to get a hand full of Tegu teeth (yes, I've made this painful mistake). This is not the way to gain your animal's trust, IMO. I do agree with Ian in that time, persistence and patience does the trick. I've only owned one Colombian and it took quite some time for her to calm down. I'm talkin almost a year before she would stop biting, crapping and whipping me. I tried not to force it, but rather just let her get used to my presence over time and handled her only briefly and when necessary (cage cleaning, helping with sheds, etc). That coupled with her eventual adult size (around 3') I believe, contributed to her eventual status as "lap lizard". The big thing is to hang out with it in a non-threatening way - approach the cage slowly when it's out and keep your movements slow so as not to spook the animal. If it doesn't run away and hide, just sit quietly and observe. Let the animal see and smell you and realize that your just another part of a non-threatening environment. Once you can walk into the room without your lizard running away, work on getting a hand in the cage and just leaving it there. This along with short, gentle handling sessions should begin to lay the foundation for creating the trust between your lizard and you. Good luck!
Billy

>>i personally think that any lizard can be tamed. what i did to tame ziggy when i first got him was hold his food in my hand on the other side of the cage. forcing him to come over to me. then id let him eat it. after a while he didnt try to get away as much. so id always try to pick him up. he still dashed but id get him some times. when i picked him up tho, hed sit there with his mouth wide open. i collect models called warhammer, (dout u herd of it) and when he opened his mouth id take a big pewter pice of metal and set it in his mouth. hed bite down on it hard and then let go cuz he hated the taste. after awhile he knew that when he tried to bite hed get a bad tasitng piece of pewter in his mouth. now ziggy is so tame hell sit with me for hours!! if u dont have pewter models use a 50 cent piece. i sed that sometimes to. just make sure they can swallow it. if they can even come close to swallowing it dont use it. sry for rambling on so long. so i hope this post helps
>>-----
>>i own
>>1 bearded dragon-Rocko
>>1 paraguay red tegu-Badger
>>1 argintine black and white tegu-Ziggy
>>1 leopard geko-Zeke
>>soon-2 chinese water dragon a male and a female

I whole-heartedly agree with Billy. Time and patience will win out. If you're willing to put the time in (and it could and probably will take months) then it will be sooo worth it in the long run. You'll have an animal that honestly trusts you.

Definitely stay away from putting anything in their mouth. It could be damaging to their mouth and if any of the metal flaked off, it could be potentially lethal. I've only been bitten by my colombian once in over a year and a half and I did absolutely nothing to him when he would gape. I just used common sense and waited for him to calm down. Good luck!

Lindsay

first off, patience would be the best course of action, taking only baby steps to get the tegu to trust you. i would strongly caution against the metal thing, as others have said. if you for some reason feel you need to incorporate negative conditioning, dip your fingers in vinegar so that if bitten, the tegu will have a bad taste in his mouth and no damage for his teeth. also, if he ever latches on to you and won't let go, try and get a little vinegar into its mouth to get it to release you. if all else fails... just buy some thick gloves so that the bites won't hurt, and handle him until he gets used to it and stops biting you.
-----
if nothing else, i at least amuse myself!