Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My friend has a female Mali Uromastyx that is slightly aggressive. She's only bitten twice, but she tail whips a lot and causes deep scratches. My friend's had her for about 2 months in a good setup with a good diet. This is my friends first herp, so far, she's not getting a very good experience. How can she stop the tail whipping?
-----
Hmmmm....goats eh?

First things first. I bet she was real exighted when she got her first herp...let alone a URO!!! and she probably handled it way too early, you see for the first 2 weeks (I'd say minimum) you DO NOT pick the uro up AT ALL! feed it in the morning when it'sa just waking up or still sleeping. this is so it can get used to it's new enviroment....then introduce it to the "hand of god"...(your hand) give it food every time the hand is in...this will make that hand a positive experiance to the uro, and in turn will build trust to your hand...also it will match your hand scent with the scent you leave on the food bowl and food every day...he/she will then recogzie you...this helps when you pick them up finnaly. I would say give it 3 weeks minimum before you pick her up. then when you do so...make sure no one else is around...also uro's are attracted to natural sunlight...if it sees light flooding though a patio door..it might bolt on you. You want it to be as calm as possible...the less you grap/hold it the more "frisky" it will get....do it open palm and allways have a hand in front of it.... Then after practice handling a uro, you can anticipate its moves and can let them run around a bit (without bolting on you) ....Nywayz...you might also have a wild caught uro...start from scratch with him/her do not pick it up...make the hand a positive experiance...refer to the begining...I hope this helps, cause i have managed to tame all 3 of my uros, some more than others though....
~Chris~

I'm suspecting that it was wild caught. I told her to wait at least a week before handling it, and she did wait. I thought a week was enough, but I guess I was wrong I would try my hand at calming it down, but I have no idea how uros move and act. Thanks for the advice.
-----
Hmmmm....goats eh?

One thing I use to do with my Iguana was cut off his light and heat rock and let him get cool. After a minute or two I would pic him up and try to get him use to me.