Will she ever get used to me?

[gg259]

Hi everyone!

So I got my blue tongue skink last month and she still is a little baby. I am trying to get her used to me and have been trying for the last couple of weeks but nothing seems to be working. I dont expect her to be perfectly tame in a month but she shows absolutely no progress!!! Someone please help :/

[J_Couvy]

Don't get discouraged; it often takes more than a month for a skink to get to know it's owner. What species is she? Can you post some pics of her?

Also, what taming methods have you used with her so far and why do you think they have not been effective? How does she react when you try to interact with her? Sorry for all the questions, but they will help everyone get an idea of the best taming method for you.

[lucasrusinak]

in my experience, you need much more than a month before you will see any progress. I let mine settle for 2 weeks and only went in the cage to feed him, after that i tried to handle a little bit each day and usually used treats like different fruits or an occasional worm so he associated being out with something good. He is now a little over 2 years and is very tolerable to handling, not cuddly by any means but as friendly as I could ask for.
I didn't really see any considerable changes until maybe 6 months or so, probably more. It just takes patience, but as long as you keep at it it should tame fairly easily. Having it as a baby helps, I acquired my second skink second hand and while she is beautiful, she was not handled much in her past home. She is the same age as my other skink but since I've only had her for 7 months or so she still isn't incredibly tame. Never bites, just a bit flighty.

[gg259]

Don't get discouraged; it often takes more than a month for a skink to get to know it's owner. What species is she? Can you post some pics of her?

Also, what taming methods have you used with her so far and why do you think they have not been effective? How does she react when you try to interact with her? Sorry for all the questions, but they will help everyone get an idea of the best taming method for you.

She is a northern and ill post some pics later. usually I just take her out of her tank and put her on my lap for about 20 minutes. When she is out of her tank she is fine but the physical act of taking her out is where she is extremely flighty. When I try to pick her up she just puffs up but thats about it. She has never bitten me (other than the one time i forgot to wash my hands after handling her food). I sometimes give her blueberries when she is sitting with.

[alichamp]

My blotchy is now about 6 months old. He had settled in much better lately, the last month in particular. He comes out of his hide to wander around his enclosure more and see what's happening. Before that it seemed we hardly had a skink in there, always hiding. The change also has coincided with some major growth spurts so he is much bigger now - he is more teenager than baby.

He still huffs at us every single time we go to pick him up, even though we speak gently to let him know we are coming, we are gentle but firm to pick him up (no hesitating). However he's ok once he's out. We still only take him out once our twice a week for short periods.

Given yours is still very young, most things are probably threatening to him, maybe just have him out for shorter times, only 10 minutes at a time before putting him back.

[J_Couvy]

Good to hear that she's not nippy, just flighty I definitely agree with alichamp on the amount of time; I think 10 minutes would be less stressful to your girl then 20. I bribe my girl with treats to help get her out of her enclosure more. When I first got her, I would crinkle a bag of treats nearby when I saw her out and about in her enclosure; then I would give her some. Eventually she would come over whenever she heard the crinkling and I would then take her out and give her a few treats. Now, whenever she hears the crinkling she comes right over and will often climb out onto my hand (I think she also enjoys coming out now because she will come over and scratch at the glass sometimes even when I don't have teats).

You don't have to use my crinkling method but just giving her treats while being out and not hiding will likely make her more comfortable being out. Also, sometimes less handling is better if a skink is really nervous (though I'm not sure how often you currently handle her).

Letting her crawl around in a skink-proof, enclosed area now and then may help her as well; it sure did for my girl (it's also just great too add some variety and exercise to your skink's life )

[NickBrahz]

It took my scared Skink a good 3-6 months to fully settle in, which she does still huff at me and run away sometimes, she is out a lot more basking.

[Dood]

Skinks all have individual temperaments - the legend of "Jenga" the caramel Northern - viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19425&p=386378&hilit=Jenga#p386374

I have one of his offspring and s/he is certainly grumpier than my previous skink and I don't trust her 100% (more like 65% ) but still not as feisty as her sire

[Ruvik]

I have a Halmahera blue tongue skink and I got here at the end of June. I'm shocked to hear everyone telling me they are the hardest to care for. We had a rocky start with her not wanting to eat much, but with a change of diet and some hand feeding. My little one is now at ease with me picking her up. I bring her all over the place and let her go outside to get some natural sunlight. I was expecting to struggle with her with what everyone said about how she would act, but it's rare that she huffs at me anymore. She has never done a display for me and she has never bit me. She is pretty young. I'm not sure what her age is but she is very small at only 65Grams. When I first got her she was 42. She has gone through two perfect shed and even eats well while she is in shed. I think something you could try to do to build a better bond is to not be afraid to take your skink out. I also take mine out of her cage to hand feed her. I feel like the hand feeding has helped a lot with taming her.

[gg259]

I mean she is coming out more and more so that is good. I will definitely try shorter amounts of time. I am just happy she had such an amazing feeding response from the beginning so her flightyness is the only thing I need to get over for now thanks everyone

[alichamp]

Yeah gg sounds like things are going pretty well.