Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if savannas start out mean as a whole and you have to work them out of it or if certain ones have a worse temperment than others. I have one that is still small (about6", but it is mean. It bites, whips its tail escretes, and hisses when ever you even come close to it. My Golden Tegu is even better than this guy and I was told tegus are evil by nature. Any thoughts?

My experience is much less than the rest of the resident experts on this site, but I'm in the midst of something similar, so I might be of help...first off, consider yourself lucky to have this "problem." You'd be in worse shape if your savannah just sat there.
Assuming all the rest of the caging conditions are right - does your monitor have adequate hide spots? If he feels constantly exposed and threatened, he'll be constantly stressed, which is a health concern as well as he'll never grow to tolerate you.
Yes, most if not all sav's are nasty when they are young. I've had mine for 7 months now, and only in the last couple months has he become more "outgoing" (ie doesn't run and hide when I walk into the room, or totally freak when I handle him.)
I'd say, for the time being, let him hide. Let him get used to seeing you. Dragging him out every 5 minutes will not solve your problem. There are varying opinions on how to get your monitor to get more used to you (down the road), so do some more research. This will take time - and sometimes the best you can hope for is a monitor that will just barely tolerate you. Nothing more, sorry to say it.
Hope this was of some help.
T

You asked in the other forum roughly the same question and I thought it would be more appropriate to answer in here. I am no expert. I have only had my first savannas for about 11 months now and my second for about 2. My larger one was owned by the lady at the “pet store” since he was a baby, wild caught. They worked with him and he liked to hiss a lot, when my boyfriend brought him home I was not happy. I used to not like reptiles. He worked with him a little bit every day. I did not touch our Loki for the first 6 months, and then I was forced to get him out of his water dish. He had been in it all night. After that I slowly started picking him up. I spend at least an hour a day with him, holding, interacting, and laying on the floor. Now he will sleep on me for hours, walks around the room when I am cleaning. He has me trained, but he does not hiss, bite, or even move when I try to pick him up or carry him around.
Now the baby, I call him Demon because that is what he is. We rescued him from someone who was not feeding him, holding him or caring for him. When we first got him he would attack me when ever I tried to get in his cage. When I would pick him up he would bite me, so now I use a glove, I have yet to be bitten on skin and plan to keep it that way. After talking with some of the guys in here it came to my attention that he may need to be fed more, so I upped his mice count and he has not bitten at me yet. Also I did not pick him up for about 2 weeks or a little longer just so he could get used to me and see that I was not out to hurt him or steal anything out of his enclosure. Last night was the first time I had picked him up; he squirmed a little at first the rested on my chest for 30 minutes, and never hissed. So I have no idea what to expect, it is just about their bath time (I let them soak and swim around then they get to run around on the floor). This will be the first time for the baby in a few weeks so I will let you know how it goes.
Just keep working with them and I would not expect anything great to happen until they are at least a year. Most people on here have their monitors to watch, which is their choice, but I love being able to interact with mine, so just do not give up, you need to work with them everyday. As the person said give him a rest for a couple of weeks, and only take him out once a day for now for a short period of time and work your way up. My Demon used to just hide himself in his substrate, now he walks around and climbs up his levels. Just give him time. Hopefully this gives you a little hope, just remeber they are wild animals, and you are a predator to them until they learn they can trust you.

Christina

I've noticed that the monitor likes me less than my boyfriend. I also noticed that she is more aggresssive in her cage. I assume this is from being territorial. I told me boyfriend he could work eith the monitor and I'll work with our golden tegu. I will try to add pics of him, he is a beauty. (can't seem to send pic - can anyone tell me how to add pics to my posts?)

here is the pic

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------Misty-------

That is neat that she prefers him over you. My big guy seems to like me better while the little one which I have no idea what sex it is likes my boyfriend more. Well good luck. That Tegu bite looks like it hurts. I have yet to be bitten on the skin.

Christina