Behavior

[AxleSteele]

Hi all,

I just recently (friday) got my first bts. I seem to be having issues with my Indonesian bts. Hes huffs up and is very agitated every time anyone puts there hand in the tank and stares you down when your outside of it. He did eat overnight so im not worried about his health, its just the behavior.

Im assuming hes acting this way because of the new environment, i'm just unsure about how long he'll act this way. I dont want to rush trying to handle him and get him familiar with the lay of the land, but i dont want it to be like this forever as well. When do you think a good time to start trying to handle him would be. As i said, i just got him so i understand the reason hes being cautious and protective of himself. I also dont want to get bit (haha) I am a noobie so im not sure what to do. hes about 10 months old

Any advice i can get on this or any other things you guys think i should know would be very beneficial. thanks in advance.

[BTSspartan]

they need anywhere from a day to a week or 2 to acclimate to their new environment

[Coomassie]

You want to give ANY new reptile at least a week to settle in. Only go into the tank to change food and water or to scoop poo. Many indonesian varieties are wild caught making them much less tame to start with. IMO, give him two weeks to settle in and then start hanging around outside his tank so he gets used to you. After a few weeks of hanging around, you can start taking him out for 5 mins or so a day. Many skinks will not loose their cage aggression so he may always huff and puff at you when you try to take him out. My skink continued to huff at me until I put him in a front opening enclosure. The front opening enclosure lets him come out on his own. You just have to be patient with him, especially since he is a baby.

[BTSspartan]

mine was already very tame and only took 2 days to become comfortable with me but he was a rescue and his previous owner kept him tame but thats just me

[Susann]

I hope Fatal_S doesn't mind, but she recently posted excellent advice on how to best get along with a new BTS if you aren't used to handling them; I will re-post what she wrote.
Another thing you can do to get more info than what is in the Caresheet is to use the "search" function here on the forum.

Here's Fatal:

The settle-in-time is huge IMO. I wait until the animal seems comfortable and active and curious before I start handling them.

My new babies get a bit defensive when I open their bins right now. So once I open it I let them see that it's me and I wait for them to calm down and get curious before approaching. Anytime they get defensive, I stop and wait. If an animal is aggressive, I block them (back of hand, side of water bottle, anything they can't grab to bite) until they stop and calm down (repeat as needed). This even works on my Psycho (at least to the extent where it distracts him enough I can catch him).

Some reference:

- Curious - Looks interested. Tongue flicking. May slowly approach.
----- Allow them to approach and check you out. Move slowly and make sure they can see you approaching. You can try gently touching them and picking them up (make sure to support their legs quickly). You can offer snacks or take them somewhere to explore.

- Explorative - Moving around. Tongue flicking. Tasting things. May pee/poop from being active. May test-bite you/objects.
----- Let them explore secure areas or closely supervise them. They're apt to climb things, fall from things, and get into places they shouldn't be. You can let them try to bite things providing it's not dangerous. I let my babies test-bite me and they seem to realize I'm not good food. I usually block my adults from test-bites now.

- Defensive - Body puffs up. Body held sideways (shielding for protection). Flaring tongue out. Mouth gaping. May "hiss" with mouth open.
----- Wait. You can move around slowly and/or make some noise (I gently drum my fingers on the ground) but don't approach. Let them calm down and hopefully get curious.

- Aggressive - Charging with mouth open. Trying to attack you.
----- Block. Don't freak out and don't run off. They're trying to scare you away. Wait until they calm down before doing anything else like interacting or closing the tank.

- Evasive - Scared. Trying to hide. Can take off at high speeds. Can get defensive if you block them from hiding.
----- I usually let them hide if they're somewhere safe, and wait a moment before uncovering them and trying again. If they're in a constant defensive/evasive cycle, they'll get stressed, so if I can't get them to calm down much in the first few attempts I tend to back off and try again some other time.

- Relaxed - Staying still. Eyes may close. May "huff" if bothered. Can get defensive or evasive if startled.
----- This is good. Usually happens in the sun or when they've found somewhere warm/cozy. Let them be and enjoy having a relaxed animal. If you're approaching to interact, make some noise/movement nearby before touching them so they're awake, alert and know you're there.

- Stressed - Eyes wide. Rapid/heavy breathing. Lots of being defensive/evasive. May drool/pee/poop.
----- Time to back off and let them settle down. If they're in-tank, close up and leave them alone. If out-of-tank, put them in-tank or somewhere dark/cozy/safe. Go back to normal routine and try again once they've re-settled-in.

Other things to note:
- Accept the fact that you'll possibly be peed/pooped on, especially as you're getting to know each other. Carry a towel and when it happens, don't freak out. Clean up and continue on.
- Accept the fact that you may get bitten. Hopefully it's only a test or go-away bite, but they can in fact bite hard and hold on if they really want. It may hurt when you're bitten. If it happens, don't freak out. Wait it out and continue on.
- In both these cases, if you freak out or immediately put the animal away, it can actually cause a learned behavior. Being put away or having you leave is basically the animal version of 'winning'.

Also, knowing the weight of your animal and keeping track is probably the best way to know if they're healthy. If they lose a lot of weight, then you can worry about why. Otherwise, try not to worry. If they're eating/pooping/not losing weight, you're on the right track.

There's probably more, but this is what comes to mind as my advice. Good luck

Awesome, huh?!

[Fatal_S]

Lol, what I said. Thanks Susann

[AxleSteele]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I'll play it slow for the next little bit while he adjusts. I'll try to put some pictures up but he doesn't like me moving his little cave haha.

[xxmonitorlizardxx]

Since he is a gigas he is most-likely wild caught, so he will be stressed. Give hime a little while to calm down and get used to his environment. Since he is wild caught I would have a fecal exam done to test for parasites.