Help please/Getting discouraged....

[nightroses]

I dont know what I am doing wrong.... I am doing everything that you guys suggest for a new BTS and feeding correctly keeping my temps right and yet my lizard seems to hate me.. She/he dies not bite me but runs from me and seems really upset when I try to hold her/him. What do I do? Is this normal? Is it because she is an Indo baby? I just dont know... please give me suggestions...

[Susann]

You'll have to excuse me if this info is in a recent thread somewhere, but as I've been gone for a while;
how old is your skink?
how long have you had him/her?

[nightroses]

I dont know exactly how old but she/he is really young still only a little bit longer then my hand and I have only had her/him for about 2 months... maybe I am just trying to run before I walk?

[Katrina]

I dont know what I am doing wrong.... I am doing everything that you guys suggest for a new BTS and feeding correctly keeping my temps right and yet my lizard seems to hate me.. She/he dies not bite me but runs from me and seems really upset when I try to hold her/him. What do I do? Is this normal? Is it because she is an Indo baby? I just dont know... please give me suggestions...

Have you looked through here yet? Mel has some great advice on taming... viewforum.php?f=24

Please don't get discouraged, 2 months is still very new! A little baby indo may take longer to get used to you, remember he/she doesn't hate you. It is just terrified, you seem like a giant predator. It isn't a like / dislike thing, its just that instincts tell it to run from the large monster who might want to eat it. Read through the thread on taming, it may have some suggestions you haven't tried. And time and patience will do wonders.

How often are you handling it? For how long? Do you just reach in and grab it when you go to hold it?

[Susann]

I think you hit the nail on the head
So s/he is just a bitty baby still. Some of them take a while before they stop being petrified of you. And I want you to think of it that way, s/he is scared to death of you--s/he does not hate you!

I would suggest, (in addition to all the great advice in the Caresheet and FAQ)
take him/her (I would also decide on whether to call it a HE or a SHE and just stick with it until you have proof that you have it wrong ) out once a day. Just confidelntly reach in (once he has seen you and know you are there) and grab him out. They usually try to get away, and when they know they can't get away, they will huff up a storm. Ignore it, and just calmly hold him securely in your hands untill huffing stops. Slowly sit down and place your hands with him in them in your lap and just sit still and let him decide what to do; stay or explore. It'll most likely be one or the other.
USUALLY, once the initial petrification is over, they tend to be a bit calmer. The more times you reach out to grab him to put him back on your lap, the less he'll huff each time.
Once he is calmer, offer treats. End each session on as good a note as you can. Don't put him back right after he tried to bite (or SUCCEEDED to bite), don't put him back right after he flipped out and did a crock-roll and peed all over you. TRY to always end it on a good note. Give him a strawberry, and while he's looking for more, pick him up and put him back. That'll make him go: "Hey! I wanted MORE!", and he might remember after a few times, and not run away from you.

See what I mean?
But, take your cues from HIM. And no matter what, YOU have to stay CALM.

[nightroses]

Ok thank you guys and to answer katrinas questions yes I do just reach in and grab her(that is what I call her but didnt wanna seem stupid on here when I dont really know..) and I generally dont hold her to long because I do not want to stress her to much so maybe 10-15 min depending on how she is acting. and Susann she does not really huff at me she does other people but not me she just runs from me and when I hold her she just seems to want to get away.

[Susann]

Then, really the best thing to do is to have patience.
She is still VERY young, and will likely stay very active for a year or two, at least.... Jazz and Maddie are about 18 months old now, and barely to the point where they actually sometimes sit still for a little bit. My previous BTS was calm and cuddly from the day I got him at 7 mos. They are all different personalities. Some will always try to get away, but they do generally calm down with age. So, again, PATIENCE.

[Katrina]

Does she ever get up on her own to explore?

This might be different from what others would do, but what I would do is leave her completely alone until she gets up on her own. Even if she hides for days, just change the water, remove poop and offer food... but if she doesn't come out, so be it. Slowly she will start to feel safe in her home, if she chooses to hide she is perfectly safe there. So she will venture out a bit more.. maybe only briefly and will run when she sees or hears you. But over time, she will become a little more curious and a little less afraid. I'd wait until she is curious and just stares at you when you approach... always leaving her in her hides if she is there, so she always has a safe place. In my experience it will take a little while, but they will start to become less afraid just knowing that if they choose to hide they will be left alone.

After a while she will be more curious and less afraid so you can slowly open the enclosure are allow her to sniff your hand. Again, this might take a while with some running and hiding at first... but after a while curiosity will overcome fear. Once she is sniffing your hand you can try offer bits of food or just leaving your hand in there for longer periods. After a while they become used to your smell and your hand, so you holding them briefly isn't nearly as scary as when they were sleeping in the dark and suddenly yanked out.

This takes a lot of time and patience but has worked really well for me.

[LarissaLurid]

Oh man, I just typed so much out and it randomly changed pages and erased. Ok here it goes again lol.

Your skink is still young. Taming will take months of time, and she will become more friendly and less scared all the time if you work on it every day.
I have a Merauke that I got when he was 6 weeks old, and is now 4 months old. Mine was never that scared of people, but has definitely still made a
lot of progress as he gets older and with spending lots of time with him each day. They are kind of closely related to Indo's so it's not just
because that's the subspecies you have. Each animal has it's own personality and different experiences before arriving to their owner.

Every day I would very slowly and quietly go over to the cage and sit next to it so your BTS can see you. Don't try to take her out from hiding or this
will make her feel unsafe and more scared. Just sit there and talk quietly to her for a long time each day and as you change the food and water. I've
always sat with my bts with every one of his meals too. This way he sees that I am only here to help and bring delicious foods and then I get to watch
him be all cute when he eats lol. Quietly talking to them the whole time helps though because it helps get them a lot more comfortable with you and
having you sit there and talk shows them you aren't there to run up and grab or eat them. When your bts is comfortable with this, I'd add slowly
opening the top of the cage (or front if that's how yours is) and just very slowly put my hand in. Not to close to your skink, not above, but infront and
a little to the side instead of straight ahead so they can see you perfectly. Just sit there with your hand in the tank so they can see it means no harm
while talking to them. DO it at the very least 10 min a day, but the more you do it the faster you'll see improvement. Once this happens for a while,
without you moving your hand at all in the enclosure, after a few days or weeks depending on how long it takes, slowly move your hand slightly closer to the
front side of your bts with your hand at ground level. Slowly put it close without touching your bts and do this for a while. After time you should be able to
pick her up. (Put your hands under the front legs and belly and the other hand under the tail and back legs so she feels most comfortable and won't whip around
and be scared)

Another tip that is easy is if you get a shirt, then wear a big sweatshirt over it and put your bts inside the sweatshirt to sit on your belly or something.
Inside the sweatshirt it'll be dark which is comforting and your skink won't have to see a bunch of things going on either. It'll also be nice and warm and
have your scent, which will make her realize your smell is related with dark, calm, warm, and softness lol. Also the movement and still holding her is happening so
that's not as scary to her either. I'd do this for at least a half hour (but I'm sure sitting on the couch, at the comp, or tv you could easily just have them sit there
much longer. Mine loves to curl up next to my arm and rest his head on me and watches the tv or what I'm doing on the computer lol!

Another tip is a warm bath. Make it shallow enough to stand in for her and make sure it's not too cold or hot. (It will probably get cold pretty fast though so be sure
to pay attention to that) A 5 to 10 minute warm soak seems to calm them down and then you can have them sit on the couch under a blanket with you even. My skink loves
to explore under blankets while on the couch.

Also if some of the things you hand feed, or if she seems like she might bite your hand accidentally get tongs, it will help too.

If you spend a lot of time every day with your skink, you'll definitely see a lot of improvement. Babies of a lot of animals aren't as social, then just become attached to
you over time if you spend a lot with them, I've found this with a lot of different animals. So as they get older and as you work on making them as comfortable as possible
then yours will become friendly. It's going to take months though so be patient. It'll definitely pay off. I spend all day with mine and I can definitely see how much
more social and calm he is and can't wait to see how much friendlier he'll get.