Baby Bluey Taming

[winkydinks]

Hello,

New member here, and I've got a question/need some help with something.

So I bought a helmahara close to two months ago. He is still very young and small, but growing well. What hasn't changed however, is his temperament. After two months, his behavior resembles the way he acted on day 1. Very skiddish, gapes and huffs at me when my hand is near, and generally just seems terrified. Everything else is fine. He is a voracious eater, readily drinks water, and is having clean sheds.

I've tried every tip I've found online. Frequent gentle holding hasn't worked (even when I pick him up with my hand on his level), leaving him alone for prolonged periods hasn't worked, sitting by the cage is useless as he just runs into his hide and doesn't come out until I'm long gone. I've also tried hand feeding. He eagerly goes after whatever I have, but bites my fingers if I use them, or ends up with the thongs in his mouth if I use them.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Is it normal for these guys to exhibit little to no temperemental improvement in two months? I know it can take a while, but the fact he hasn't really calmed down at all over this period has me a bit concerned.

[kingofnobbys]

Very likely the skink is wild caught ( unfortunately ) and it's learnt to fear humans, you will have to be very patient with it and let it take things at it's own pace , you need to earn it's trust . This might take a month or two depending on how traumatized it was previously.

Try placing your open up turned hand where he can see it with some very tempting slow moving but wriggly live insects on the palm of the hand.

This is what I do to befriend wild local wild skinks and dragons and frogs. It takes a few tries but a hungry wild lizard will find the insect irresistible and will eventually overcome it's fear to come and take it from the hand.

A few times and he'll be starting to learn he can trust you and will become more willing to interact with you.

The worse thing you can do is pursue it around the tank with your hands from above ( I assume you have one of silly converted glass open topped tanks so popular in the USA for keeping reptiles in ). All it will see is a looming figure towering over it - VERY SCARY for a very skittish lizard - predators do this in the wild , and it will see your hands are horrible terrifying 5 headed snakes chasing it . The result is you end up reinforcing it's fear and distrust of you.
If the skink backs off , take the hint and leave it be , don't chase it or try to forceably grab it.

Off it food bribes and treats , food is a great tool to use to tame a wild / skittish lizard and in my experience ALWAYS works.

Also pick times when it's sleepy and relaxed late in the day when it's been basking or napping in a corner or amongst it's bedding to try to get it out for a nurse , and I find if you place a tea-towel or something like that over the skink while it's on you (to cover it) this will help calm the skink down , let it discover your body is a nice temperature , this will help it start associating interaction with you with pleasure. Eventually you will find the skink will become more curious about you than scared of you.

[hurricanejen]

Like King of Nobbys said, patience.

Another thing I've noticed is that the larger skinks get, the mellower they get. Give it time, patience, and again like kingofnobbys said, make sure not to chase it from above.

I personally wouldn't try hand feeding, as enthusiastic and hungry young skinks tend to bite hard, but if you've got the time, you can offer food only while you're around. Whatever it'll eat while you're right there in sight is what it gets. If you've only got one, you can hang out for 10, 15 minutes while it eats, just being visible and nearby, then remove the dish. After a while, move to using tongs to feed insects, etc.

It takes a while to teach them that you're okay, and a month or two minimum should be expected. Once they get to be about half grown to 3/4 grown, they also seem to realize that they're hitting a size that most things won't eat them anyway, and calm down a bit.

Good luck!

[kkrell]

I’d say if it’s wild caught or not, needs more time- some people in here say it took theirs six months to mellow out and start tolerating them. When I first got my northern I was so worried he wasn’t going to warm up to me but I have been seeing progress and although can still get spooked of me, he’s much more tolerating of my popping in to say hi and taking him out to hold and roam around on my bed.

What kind of enclosure do you have? Front opening doors are best so the overhead looming hand doesn’t frighten them. Keep him in a quiet low traffic area but frequently sit by the tank and talk so they can get used to your voice. Be slow moving around him- otherwise he will spook. When I feed mine, right from the start I always stand right there and talk while he eats. To get him out of hiding I usually offer super worms or Dubias because he can’t resist. Try luering him out and then dropping them in a feeding bowl so he doesn’t chomp the tongs.

Like others said, he might just need to literally grow into his confidence- small skinks are terrified of being eaten mine was very elusive, huffy and hissy and lunged at me a lot the first month and a half. He got ahold of my finger once- I think it was good for both of us- he realized I’m not food and it took away the mystery of “do bites hurt?” For me! He has since calmed down a ton, just takes persistence and time, some take longer, keep doing what you’re doing

[kingofnobbys]

I was lucky I think in that my two easterns George and Mildred were very tame as babies , the breeder had been handling them and their siblings from berth and my pair at 2 months old literally crawled straight over to check me out and straight onto my hand as if to say " pick me ! pick me ! " , and loved snuggles in my open cupped hand and on my tubby/chest in the crook of my elbow.

My rescued skinks ( mostly eastern water skinks ) have all became very tame and relaxed within a week or two. Maybe it's just my way with them , all the local kids call me " lizard whisperer" as I seem to have a knack for getting wild dragons and skinks and frogs and birds to trust me and take food from my fingers.