Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,
Just thought I post an update on how I'm getting on with frank my Egyptian uro. Well, about a week or so ago, I decided to try some work with him in his viv as I though it would be a gentler start for him being in his own environment. All I did was, I got some nasturtium flowers, and showed him one through the glass and then slowly opened the door and slowly moved over to him and stopped a few inches away, at first he seemed a bit tense and with a little encouragement he took the flower, and then if I remember correctly I did that a couple more times and unfortunately that was all the flowers that I could pick that day, so I shut the door and went to cut up some different foods to try as treats, all of which I tried but he wasn't bothered about them. But even though he didn't take anything else off me just showing him it through the glass and slowly moving it towards him and trying to encourage him to take it seemed to put him at ease a bit, and having the food there gave him something else to think about other than me. His body language seemed to change from tense to being fairly relaxt, legs and tail were relaxed like they often are when they are basking. This was very encouraging to me as if I remember correctly he used to whip when I opened the door even when he could see me. That is something I've have noticed actually, that he tail whips more when you open the door when he is in his hide even if you don't go near him, his previous owner also mentioned this when I mentioned what I had been doing with him. A day or two later I let him out for the first time (actually I did let him out briefly the next day after bringing him home), I boarded of part of my room so I could let him wonder without worrying where he would go. I didn't touch him at first I just let him wonder where he wanted to, he doesn't seem timid or anything when he's out and in fact after a while he came and crawled through my legs a few time and then on to my knee, at that point I though, we'll you came to me, so I stroked his back a little and he didn't seem to mind, then he went to wonder around again. I then decided as seen as he was ok with me stroking his back I decided to stroke his back a bit when he was roaming which he didn't seem to mind, then he was concerning me a bit as he nearly climbed where I didn't want him to go so I went to pick him up and he tail whiped at me although compared to how he does it in his viv it was half hearted, I then picked him up and put him in his viv, and he was absolutely fine with being picked up, didn't flinch, move or anything just let me put him in the viv and he was calmer even then my chuckwallas are as they can tend to wriggle a bit, so I was supprised about that. I asked his previous owner if he had always been so calm when picked up and he said that he had, so that is an amazing bonus for me as I would think picking them up could be one of the hardest things to get them used to. Any how I've had him out about three more times since, but not for too long as he seems to be good at nearly getting him self in to trouble as the second time I let him out he did what I wouldn't have thought he'd do in a million years, he crawled up the back of the radiator, so I was panicking a bit but I didn't want to grab his tail as you shouldn't any way but he is funny about his tail being touched so he would hate me for it, so I though keep calm because if you scare him he won't come back out, any way within a minute he came back down and I calmly picked him up and put him back in his viv. I then sorted the gaps around the radiator, that worked but then he got behind the pipes to the radiator, so again I picked him up and put him back. All is now sorted and he can't get anywhere he shouldn't, however he can get his head up behinde a lip that hangs down a couple of inches, it's not a gap or anything just where the radiator hangs down, any how all he did today when I let him out was try to scratch at the radiator to climb up it, I've since though of a better way to do it so he can't get near it and his attention should be more on me instead of trying to get up the back of the radiator lol. He does seem more comfortable around me, as today he crawled on my knee again and seemed a bit more bold as he also tried to crawl up my chest, he did this a few times and each time I picked him up and placed him back on my knee. Again he seemed ok with me picking him up so I stroked his back and he was ok with that too so I thought I try to stoke his head as my chuckwallas love that, and any way he whipped his tail a bit, again fairly half hearted so that is something else I've found out about him, that he doesn't seem to like his head to be touched. So I can't touch his head or his tail just yet, but I think he's showing improvement and definatley seems more comfortable around me so I think I'm just going to have to keep going as I am for a while, and pull back to just stroking his back a bit and then work on being able to touch his head and so on later on. So that’s about where I'm at with him at the moment, I think it's promising he has his pros and cons but the good parts of his behaviour makes it easier to work with the bad parts. Any way let me know what you think of my progress and any tips on how to proceed from now on, it's eiseir for me to access what he's like now and I'm sure you can tell from what I've said he's not as bad as I first though he was going to be, any thoughts on the behaviour I've described such as how bad you think it is and if you have managed to improve behaviour like this then I'd be very interested to hear from you. Only time will tell I guess, I'll let you know if/ when I notice any other improvement. Sorry for such a long post I hope it hasn't been to much of a bore lol, thanks for reading any way.
Cheers
Martin

Great to hear you are making progress martin!
-----
Cindy Steinle
PHFaust
Visit kingsnake on Facebook!
Follow Kingsnake on Twitter!

If he tail whipped you very hard, put him back in his cage. He associate behavior like that with being put in the cage instead of getting free time to roam around, exploring. Try letting him out the same time everyday or the days you do let him out. You will see him come out of his hide the same time everyday, expecting to be let out. And congratulation by the way!

Yeah that makes sense as I can tell he loves to come out, because when I put him back in he scratches at the glass like crazy to come back out and looks at me in a begging sort of way (you can tell a lot from their eyes I find). Some people don't seem to think you can tell what a lizard is thinking but you can with some things and getting excited about comeing out is one of them lol. The thing is when he has tail whipped when he's been out it hasn't been that hard really, just half hearted, so as you said should I just put him back if it is really forceful or should I just put him back whenever he does it half hearted or not?.

I seemed to discover a good way to stop him tail whipping when I have to open the door on a morning to get his food dish out, I picked a flower and showed him it through the glass whilst he was still in his hide, and he came straight up to the glass, I then opened the door and slowly moved it towards him and he took it, I did this a couple more times and then removed his bowl while he was munching away lol, and he didn't whip at all, normally he would whip his tail hard when in his hide. I'm hoping that I might be able to build on this and do it every morning, and hopefully he will get so used to it that he will forget about the tail whipping, as it will be like conditioning his brain to think in a different way when he hears the door open. I've also decided to use my tongs for hand feeding, for most of it any way, not because he lunges or anything just because during my research on reptile behaviour and training/ taming I've read a few things where people said they got rid of the bad behaviour by hand feeding but then after a while the lizard would lunge at their hand, and I know from experience with the ackie monitor I had, that he used to get excited when he saw the tongs and didn't when he saw my hand so thats what I'm doing as I would be really cheezed off if I replaced one bad behaviour with another after all the time it will take and so on. The problem is my nasturtiums are only going to keep flowering for so long, so once they stop I have no idea of what to use as a treat, and if I do continue to make progress it would be a real shame if things slipped back just because he wouldn't take anything else. Do you think he might start taking more different things off me once he gets more used to me?

Any way thanks for your advice and encouragement and also thanks to PHFaust for your encouragement.
Martin

Make sure you set a basking for him outside of his cage. this way he can heat up if he wants, and you can let him more often.

Yeah no worries, his viv is on the floor so all I do is open the doors and put the doors in the middle so he can get in and out at either end, so he can come and go as he wants. I've had him out again today, and it didn't go as well as before, he was out for longer as I've come up with a better way to block the radiator off so that's good, but when he went through my legs I didn't even touch him and he had a bit of a skit with his tail, and then later on he climed on my knee and I was stroking him and he was trying to climp up my chest so I put my hand there so he would climb on that but again he had a bit of a skit, so I did as you said and put him back in his viv. So thats not good really and feels like a step backwards, to be honest though, I wasn't feeling too good when I got him out but thought I should make the effort, but maybe I would have been better of waiting till tomorrow. Any way I'll just have to try again and see what he's like.
Cheers
Martin

Yeah, it's better to make a routine out of it, so he doesn't get as stressed out.... Do it same days and times! YOu have to remember these are lizards, so they don't understand languages or have intuition like dogs and some of the smarter mammals. you have to be persistant and try to keep the routine going. It may take a year, or over a year, for him to fully acclimate to you.

About the basking spot.... Sometime their instinct and curiosity gets the best of them, and don't do what they are supposed to do just like people do. Just like we don't always drink water when we are thirsty and become dehydrated, or always eat the right food. It's better to have a basking spot outside where he can easily access it. Uromastyx require very high temperature for proper metabolism and to digest the food. Hope this helps!

You know sometime reptiles do tail whip...even the tame one. i thought you might like to know.

Don't be afraid to put him back...! Reptiles don't have emotion like we do, so you're not really hurting his feelings! [chuckle]

I guess I'm just not used to it as my chuckwallas are really tame apart from my wild caught pair, and the tame ones never really seem to tail whip or anything and they are really friendly, so I guess I'm just spoiled with them lol and just need to get used to that side of his behaviour.

Cheers
Martin