Advice on Taming an Aggresive Skink

[J_Couvy]

Hello. My name is Jewel and I am new to this forum, as well as new to owning a blue tongue skink. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on taming a very aggressive skink. I purchased Smaug (that's his name), a 1 1/2 year old blue tongue skink about a month ago from someone online and found out very quickly that he was not the friendliest. The seller had already informed me that he was "a bit nippy" however that was quite an understatement. He hisses and puffs up whenever I reach into his cage and has bitten me more than once. I had to buy a pair of thick gloves to handle him with so that I don't have to worry about getting bit. Whenever I reach into his cage, I make sure to put my hand in front of his face so he can see where I am. But as soon as I try to pet his head he hisses and bites at my gloves. While I have only just started using the gloves, I have tried this same method glove-free since I got him and he is still no friendlier. I also take him out of his cage often and have him sit on my lap. While he does not try to bite while he is outside of his cage, he hisses whenever he is touched and often tries to get away. It is also a struggle to hold him for more than 30 or so seconds before he starts thrashing (he has pooped on my more than once as a result).

I first thought that this was all due to the fact that he was a Tanimbar skink but, it turns out he is a caramel northern, which makes his bad attitude all the more confusing to me as I thought northerns were one of the friendlier species. I recently took him to the vet and found out he is healthy and I don't believe he was abused by his former owner so I don't know where is aggression is stemming from. The reason that I got a blue tongue in the first place was because I had heard that they were usually a very friendly reptile and that they were great for first time reptile owners. However Smaug has proven to be quite a handful. I don't want to even think about giving him up but I'm not sure what else I can do to tame him beside continuing to do what I'm doing. Hopefully someone on here can help me please! It would be greatly appreciated!

[Richard.C]

hi,welcome to the forum

one of the best ways of taming them,is actually just leaving them alone,it allows them to settle in faster,and learn you are nit a threat to them,they soon learn this and see u as not the big scary thing thats trying to catch them,but in fact the bringer of all things yummy

often they arent actually being aggressive,but in fact being nervous/timid to out right scared,hissing,huffing is there defence mechanisim,biting often when threat display isnt working

putting your hand in front of its face,and trying to pat it on the head when its not used to you is akin to poking a stick into a hornets nest,its going to cheese them off,even some tame ones wont like that

alot of northerns are pretty tame,but some do have quite a bit of attitude and will happily jusy bite you for what ever reason,be it they are just taste testing you,to letting you know bugger off,thankfully majority is just they think your movement may be food and they bite first ask questions later

i personally dont overly handle mine,and i actually dont mind fiesty ones,to me its just another personality trait,some do stay a smidgen timid the majority though are very calm and laid back

[Bluish]

Are you sure its a Northern? Someone in ontario was selling a "caramel northern" that was an irian jaya. I've worked with some animals that were initially aggressive or very flighty. When i feed them I hold the feeding tray. Their desire to eat overtakes their fear of your hands and they get used to your hands being near them. My feeling is a lot of the really aggressive ones have been mistreated or roughly handled by previous owners.
I rarely handle mine but the all seem to calm down after a year to 1 1/2 years. To a large extent it's not something you can rush without stressing them out.

[Fatal_S]

The skink in this case is one of my 2013 babies, and he was treated decently with the other owner too. He was a great baby - a bit shy at first but very energetic and outgoing once calm, so he definitely has it in him to be a sweet skink. Right now I'm blaming teenage hormones and general hardheadedness.

I'm sending my own tips and tricks, but anyone else with some would definitely be welcome

[Richard.C]

could also be ,if a male because hes full of testosterone as weather is warming and hes come of age,its not to uncommon for male northerns to become a bit hot headed each spring/summer and grabby but then to calm again when testosterone levels drop eith more consistenr ambient temps

hi mel,nice to see u posting and nice to hear its one of your bubs

[J_Couvy]

Thank you to everyone for all the advice. I am going to try minimal interaction with him for a few weeks to see if his mood improves at all. I will talk to him while outside his enclosure, give him treats and hold his food bowl while he eats, but I'm not going to try handling him at all. I am not sure if his attitude towards me will change however as he was just as aggressive with his previous owner (who had him since last December and handled him often). Either way, I will just keep trying and see how it goes. I can only hope that he will get better.

[Richard.C]

keep us posted on how it goes,its always good for others to learn from to

[J_Couvy]

Just thought I'd give an update on how Smaug is doing. Unfortunately, he is still just as aggressive as he was when I wrote my original post. This Friday the 24th, it will have been two weeks since I left Smaug to his own devices to see if less handling would help his attitude. As suggested, I have not tried to pick him up or pet him and have just been talking to him outside of his tank, hand feeding him and holding his food bowl while he eats (actually, I did pick him up once, but it was only to move him out of his tank while I cleaned it and he was handled for no more than a few seconds). I know it's only been a short time but he still acts very aggressively if I even try to reach into his cage. I think it's less that he's scared and acting defensively and more that he is territorial of his enclosure, if that makes any sense. I say this because whenever I reach into his enclosure, even if he is on the opposite side of the tank, he quickly makes his way over and sometimes tries to bite me. It happens when I take out his water bowl to clean or when I spot clean his enclosure. I recently tried to spot clean a section of his enclosure and he came over and tried to bite my knuckles; fingers I get, since they may look like food to a skink but I thought it was pretty ballsy to try and bite my fist. Anyway, I am going to leave him for another 2 weeks and continue to monitor his progress. If he still hasn't changed after a month of being left by himself, should I just continue to leave him and not handle him at all? I know I've already asked for advice but if anyone has more, feel free to share. I would love to hear if anyone has ad a skink who is as bratty as mine and if/how they were able to tame them.

[wermy]

Like Richard said, skinks interpret movement as food and bite to see if it is. Especially since you are hand-feeding him, he will associate the sight of your hand with yummies and rush over ready to bite when he sees it. I always use a white plastic spoon to feed my lil guy, and he bum-rushes the spoon every time. He also comes flying out of his hide whenever my hand's in his cage, just to check if I'm holding the spoon.

Another possibility could be because it is spring where you are. It's likely that if he is indeed male, he's deep in mating fever and wants to bite everything that moves so he can hold it down and mate with it.

I would just go ahead and handle him anyway. I don't think he's being territorial or purposely aggressive, and maybe some time out from his cage to explore you and your home will help take the edge off his feistiness.

[J_Couvy]

I've heard lots of mixed opinions on hand feeding; some sources say do it, some say don't do it. I guess I'll try feeding him with a spoon. As for handling, I have tried handling him before (for about a month) and he hated it; he would try and bite whenever I went to grab him and once he was out, he hissed and tried to get away the whole time. His previous owner handled him often as well and he didn't improve with her either (and she treated him well and didn't mishandle him). I'll just keep trying I guess.

[Scotts1au]

Aggressive = defensive, you need to work on why it is being defensive.

[Richard.C]

Northern can be nutty Scott,a couple of mine will happily cruise over from other end of 6 foot cage and just chomp my hand,oddly they are very very mellow animals,never defensive,usually they will come to me when i go near cage,usually to see if i have food for them

Its usually when important not concentrating in them that i get surprised,lol

I do have one female that does charge over and get snappy,something that started when she produced her first litter last season and she has kept since,if anything she's gotten snappier ,usually fine once picked up though,some are just bold enough to be a bit bitey

Im sure Mel has such a male,i believe by the name of jenga if memory serves me correctly that is a bit of a wack job like this,could be defensive i guess,could be territorial,could just be an damped up males feeding response,my 2 big mellow male kunnanurra are my biggest culprits and breeding times the worst for it,which considering that's the time they least show interest in food kinda goes against it being a feeding response

[J_Couvy]

Jenga is quite a handful; I've seen videos of him doing "death rolls" like an alligator. And he just happens to be Smaug's father. His mother, Trouble, was not very friendly either. I think both of there feisty personalities may have rubbed off on him.

So, when it comes to taming, I know this will likely be very different for all skinks but, is there any semblance any of you guys can give me on how long the taming process may take? Like, are we talking 3-6 months, 6 months - 1 year, 1-2 years? Again, I know the taming process won't happen in a day but, I would just like to know how long I will have to work, and live with such a temperamental skink.