Stressed and scared BTS

[splashy07]

Blotchies in your backyard!!!!! I hate you guys!!!!

[NickBrahz]

All i get in my backyards is Easterns.

[Adam S]

You say you've had him almost a year - was he a baby when you got him?

No, he is about 7 years old now, 6 when i got him. he is captive breed.

He doesn't bite, and you can hand feed him, but he's "not calm" when he's out - what do you mean?

well, when he's in the viv, he is stressed and afraid. he hisses at me and tries to bite me. eventually he will back of and hide. when he's out of the viv, he tries to find somewhere to hide (i know it's natural ) but he is more calm than in the viv, still seems stressed.

Is his enclosure set up in a separate room that is generally quiet or in an area in the house where there is lots of people traffic? Having him in the latter area may help him over time get used to the hustle and bustle around him - as long as it is not too chaotic.

his viv is in my room. there's nice and quiet.

Here is a link to the FAQ on how to tame a BTS. While I'm not sure that your BTS is not tame, perhaps something here will help: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=20375

thank you, i have read it, and found it very interesting. gave me some good ideas

[Adam S]

A while back I had gotten a baby Halmahera for a friend. Adorable little baby scared to death. Wanted to have a sweet, tame baby for when she came to pick it up, so every time I went near the tank and he retreated I'd offer a treat. Seems they are very fond of insects at that age, and I breed my own dubias, so he got offered one every time I went in or near the cage. One week's time he was running out of his hide to see what I had every time I went into the room. Just a simple, no stress easy approach to gaining the trust of a reptile. This method has worked for me many times with many reptiles. Now is the sweetest, and rarely hides at all. I'm sure it's not the cure-all for every reptile, but thought it was worth mentioning.

Sounds great! i'm defiantly trying that! it would be amazing if i could tame him in such a nice way

[Adam S]

Here's a picture of him BTW: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... tif_t=like

[3yazy3]

For hides, I would try just using hollow logs and pointing one end at an angle but facing the front of the viv, so that you can see the bluey and the bluey can see you but it still has some shelter.

[J_Couvy]

I'm not sure if your bts is still nipping at you but, I would suggest not hand feeding him. I know there is much debate on whether or not hand feeding is a good idea so, I will just say that in my own personal experience hand feeding can often lead to biting. I noticed that my girl was rather nippy when I would hand feed her so, I started feeding her with a small pair of feeding tweezers instead. It helped her associate the tweezers, rather than my fingers with food and she rarely tries to bite me now (though she attacks the tweezers something fierce).

Again, this is just my personal experience and lots of people on this forum are able to hand feed their skinks with no problems. Just figured I would throw my opinion out there.

[NickBrahz]

My girl also attacks the tweezers in a frenzy everytime she sees them, even if im not holding food or the food is sitting on her head or infront of her, shes more interested in trying to eat the tweezers.
To add onto what you say Couvy, i don't hand feed often as then they will get used to hand feeding only and may refuse to eat of a dish and if your busy you may not have time to sit there and feed them by hand and they may miss out on food.
Also if you have to go away for a bit the person looking after may not be willing to feed them by hand, to me hand feeding can make feeding complicated for no reason, they hand feeding a treat now and then will do no harm, in my personal opinion of course.