Tokay "Taming"

[contracteryin]

So, lately I've been trying to get Katsu more use to me. He's perfectly fine with my hand near him (for a while) and he's only bitten me once (if you'd like to call it that) along with plenty of warning barks and a handful of warning bites.
I'd say it's going pretty well :biggrin: The only thing is the top for his change makes it near impossible to get him out, so that'll have to wait till I get a different slighty-taller and bigger cage (it's 25" at the moment, 18" wide. Hopefully I also won't have to move stuff as much with it as well).
But progress is progress!

My sister managed to get a few shots of him during the process. Otherwise he's always hiding. The one in the coconut bark is a different day though, but I thought it was a good picture, and the one with him sticking his head out was last night, sorry it's so blurry (bad lighting).
He REALLY likes his food.

Thank you again Michael :biggrin: He's a wonderful Tokay in every sense of the word.

 

[zuper8]

I love your Tokay!! I have owned my first for 6 months now. I can say that if you patiently move slowly and gradually enough (like, almost imperceptible motion), it will pay off in the end... they will learn to trust you much more quickly and be much more reliable and relaxed when being handled. That's what's worked for me anyways!

 

[Aimless]

very nice! I love how dark he is, in the fired pic.

I've had my juvenile about a month. the first week I never saw him at all. the second and third weeks, I'd catch a glimpse as he darted into hiding. this last week, sometime he lingers for a bit to watch me and doesn't seem to be in as much of a hurry to run away. I think he's starting to figure out that I'm the bug source.

so you get close enough for him to bite you, routinely? I would have thought that would be pushing it a little, but then I've never tamed one from a youngster. I was planning to go very, very slowly and not even attempt to touch him for a long time, leaving the initiative to him. my friend Emily's Tokay tamed down pretty well this way, although it did take a long time and a lot of patience.

is it better to provoke/let them to bite, so they realize biting's ineffective? that works pretty well with testy baby pythons but I was thinking it might be a bit aggressive in working with a Tokay?

 

[Riverside Reptiles]

I don't touch mine at all unless it's necessary. It's not like they WANT to be tame. Mine all know that I'm the bug guy. And some of them are more shy than others. Most of them will come out to see if I have food as soon as I open the enclosure door. And the majority of them will come right up to the roach cup and grab roaches out of it with me still holding the cup. But I really don't feel the need to "pet" them. I can get them out and work with them as needed. Otherwise, I let them do their own thing.