Socializing the lizard (with humans)

[ianinoz]

How did you get your lizard/s to be willing to socialize with you, your family and other important people ?

Naturally cautious and shy around people as lizards are.

 

[user 16324]

I only have experience with two dragons but with both lots of patience basically. i always would offer a food basically as a reward when i was able to at first just pat the dragons and then moved up to holding etc. then i would have mates do the same when they were over. they didnt mind really.

 

[ianinoz]

I only have experience with two dragons but with both lots of patience basically. i always would offer a food basically as a reward when i was able to at first just pat the dragons and then moved up to holding etc. then i would have mates do the same when they were over. they didnt mind really.

If you don't count a green tree frog that I was very fond of and used to handle a lot and the long necked turtle that I had for a couple of years of as a young boy and became very tame then my only other real experience with socialising a reptile is my experience with Lizzy.
Simillar to what you say, lots of patience, I've never forced Lizzy to do anything, it's aways been her choice - to accept food treats offered by me, to take treats from my open hand and from between my finger tips, to permit me to touch her (stroke her, tickle her).
I think she showed me she was ready for physical contact the first time she climbed onto the head of the loungechair right next to my head and I discovered her looking over my shoulder ( I put it down to being curious about what I was doing on the coffee table at the time), not long after that she was accepting physical contact and hand feeding by me, She did the exact same thing to my wife at last yesterdy afternoon ,and immediately accepted a food treat my wife offered her. It's my observation with Lizzy that she indicated she was ready to interact more closely and physically with us by her looking over the shoulder the first time for me and then for my wife.
She still doesn't like visitors and she hides from them and wont come back until they leave.

I believe talking to the lizard very calmy and in a quiet tone also helped us develop our now very good relationships with Lizzy and she learnt that we are not going to harm her by our never doing anything to alarm her or to invade her personal space.

How long after you started hand feeding you lizards before they accept being picked up ?

Lizzy has sometimes climbed completely onto my open hand to collect and eat a food treat and she has gone for brief hand surfing trips and these didn't seem to phase her, she was quite calm and remained calm when she crawled back off my hand when I put my hand and her back down gently.
I'd like eventually to be able to pick Lizzy up and handle her , but I'm in no hurry.

I don't know if she'll ever stick around (not hide) when my son or grandson are visiting .... I'm hoping she will eventually be able to be socialised with them (but my grandson is only 4 months old so if this takes a few years that's OK).

 

[crocdoc]

The great thing about water skinks is that they're a naturally 'ballsy' species, so even wild ones out in the bush can often be coaxed close up with a bit of food, especially if they live near a house or picnic area where they get frequent exposure.

What you're doing with the skink living in your house is pretty much how I get baby lace monitors used to people. Never invading their personal space, never picking them up but encouraging them to crawl onto my open hand. It takes a lot longer for lace monitors to gain that trust than it does for water skinks, which is why you rarely see small lace monitors in picnic areas. When my young lace monitors at home first get used to interacting with me they're still really cautious with strangers and, although they're always out in the open in their enclosure when it is just me here, will often hide when I have visitors. Eventually they get over that.

If you want this skink to get used to being picked up, keep doing the hand surfing thing and always feed the lizard when you put it back down, so it gets a reward. Getting it used to a hand coming from above to pick it up will take time, as that will seem very predatory to the lizard, so do it in tiny steps and always use food as a reward and you'll eventually get there.

 

[ianinoz]

I never knew lizards could be such great value as little friends and pets (and in Lizzy's case - little 4 legged scaley children) or they were so smart and so full of character.

 

[daniel1234]

Lizards are fun. I reckon it took my beardy a good 10 months before I noticed him getting excited by people coming near enclosure and would come to your hand when open. We handled him alot.

 

[user 16324]

when i first got my EWD it took about a month before he would feed from my hand and then i started feeding him with him on my hand. with picking up, if i go from behind and grasp him in such a way he feels threatened and cant move he will run off but if i slide my hand under his chest and pick him up that way so he is just sitting on my hand he is fine with it. im slowly progressing with him and my mates can pat him without food rewards which is progress

 

[ianinoz]

Lizzy's a bit small for me be able to slide my hand under her belly.

I do like it when she climbs completely onto my hand when I'm feeding her a treat, and like taking her for a little walk on my hand (as a handsurfer), I'm a bit scared that if she gets scared and jumps off she may hurt herself though (by breaking a leg or her back when she lands on the floor, fortunately most my rooms are carpeted so so that reduces the impact forces on her little body if that happens).

I think Lizzy enjoys the experience in that she's never jumped off or run away when I put her back down.

 

[JasonL]

Most Bearded Dragons and some other species of lizards soon associate humans with food as they are food orientated, others are not and may never calm down.