riley.t
New Member
My Grandad just caught me a blue tongue lizard but im having some trouble taming it, i would appreciate some tips and advice.
trouble taming bluey
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Wally
Very Well-Known Member
I'm sure Grandad meant well but if you're after a bluey I'm sure you could find one for sale.
JasonL
Almost Legendary
First up you need a chair and a whip......
riley.t
New Member
k thanks ill let it go
mad_at_arms
Very Well-Known Member
Preferrably let it go where Grandad found it.
Since you have it already and are going to let it go, post some pics of it for us.
Since you have it already and are going to let it go, post some pics of it for us.
riley.t
New Member
k
JasonL
Almost Legendary
You can buy a captive bred one for around $10 - 20 bucks, plus license costs, come Jan there will be hundreds of them for sale... parasite free, wild ones on the other hand come with free parasites.
Wally
Very Well-Known Member
Don't forget hoops, defiantly need those.
GeckPhotographer
Very Well-Known Member
Some Bluetongues were recently posted on a well known classified site. Prices close to $40 for a common and $150 for a Blotched.
My advice based on my success in befriending a wild eastern water skink is
1) be very patient with the lizard and don't try to force things to happen
2) get the lizard use to you being around by spending a lot of time nearby and talking calmly to it , it'll get used to you be around and will get used to your voice
3) avoid handling the lizard until IT SHOWS IT IS READY, you'll know from the lizards body language and behaviour when that is (I believe)
4) give the lizard lots of really nice yummy lizard treats and make sure the lizard knows you are the one who is giving it the nice food treats , it'll come to associate you with something very pleasureable - this will help it accept your presence and to accept interaction with you.
5) in a few months try hand feeding the lizard with the treats that you know it really likes and looks forward, this will help build a trusting relationship.
6) I've learnt this from my experience with Lizzy - don't touch the lizard on it back or side of its body until it's cool with you touching it (by tickling it under the chin or on the side of it's head), and NEVER from above or behind - it'll react like you are a predator. Unless the lizard is used to physical contact with you it will be very stressful to it to be handled.
I found that Lizzy let me know when she was ready to let me inside her confort zone by one day becoming very very curious about me and coming really close to me of her own accord. She did the same to my wife recently too.
It took about 2 or 3 months to get Lizzy to stop running away and hiding from us when we entered the room,
It took another month or two for her to start accepting food treats from my open hand (mealworms did the trick with Lizzy) , a stationary outstretched open upside down hand is very non-threatening I think.
Another month and she was accepting roaches, crickets and mealworms from my fingers and she was cool with an occasional handsurf (she climbs onto my open hand to take a food treat of her own accord sometimes and often lingers and is quite relaxed about the occasional handsurf - I think she even enjoy it.
More recently (the last couple of months I've been permitted to tickle Lizzy under her chin when she's enjoying a nice mealworm, cricket or roach, she even assumes the position so I think she likes it. 12 months ago I never thought I'd have come some far with my relationship with Lizzy.
BTW - Lizzy comes and goes as she pleases, and she doesn't have an enclosure and not a captive or imprisoned. She likes to sleep under or inside our modular lounge.
She basks on the modem's transformer and if the air con is in heat mode, basks on top of the head of the lounge.
She is frequently seen outside too and rarely disgraces herself inside the house - I think she goes under the house to go to the toilet (and mark the boundary of her territory).
Everything Lizzy does and all interactions between Lizzy, my wife and I are Lizzy's choice. I've never forced her to do anything. As a result she and I have a great relationship now and I think she has come to like me.
She chooses to hours most days hanging out with me and often is so laid backl and reaxed that falls asleep only a couple of feet away and she is not concerned when I come within an inch of so from her.
If your lizard has been captured and is being handled against it's will you will need to back off and let the lizard settle into it's new home (enclosure and it's surroundings) , I think it'll take a little while for it to over it's fear of humans when ever it sees you and then starting to build trust and to get it to be comfortable with you around.
PS don't worry about the negative comments from the purists and breeders who wnt to make some money by getting you let your lizard go and buying another lizard.
Personally - I'd probably set up outside enclosure using bird wire that's big enough for your lizard run about in and which has somewhere for it to bask, and somewhere it can hide, and get it used to living in your yard and you being around, and it may choose to make your yard it's territory then and you can let it go in your garden when you've befriended it - it will probably hang around (at the very least for the food and treats).
Many suburban bluetongues become very tame and friendly with kind people who give them food treats and who are quiet when they are about and do nothing to scare the lizards.
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Tassie97
Very Well-Known Member
NO, let it go where it came from and let it live its life in the wild if you would like a pet lizard purchase a captive bred one .
mad_at_arms
Very Well-Known Member
Once again you try to relate every other form of lizard to a EWS.
This is a wild caught specimen that should be released to its original location.
Your input is less than helpful on this occasion.
Tassie97
Very Well-Known Member
lol he said eastern water dragon instead of skink lol :lol:
mad_at_arms
Very Well-Known Member
Ooo thats cold bro.
Wally
Very Well-Known Member
I'm not sure it's worth saying anything or not. I might be on ' the list '.
This instance sounded a little different to what you've got going on with your skink Ian. Letting something come and go, and making attempts to ' tame it ' may differ from what the OP was suggesting.
This instance sounded a little different to what you've got going on with your skink Ian. Letting something come and go, and making attempts to ' tame it ' may differ from what the OP was suggesting.
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