Zimmer
New member
So. When we first brought Puff home at the beginning of September, he was crazy :yikes: Like, scared for his life, super fast, always hiding baby lizard that thinks I'm going to eat him.
After we brought him home and realized this, we started "boot camp". Every time I feed, I set my hand in his general vicinity for a couple minutes. At first, this was quite a distance away for just maybe 30 seconds. Got lots of defensive stance and tail waggling at first. Took a long time to get past that point without really freaking him out! I didn't want to risk dropping his tail or getting bit so I didn't push him, ever.
Eventually he came to me, even got a couple licks in. I was just able to start touching him and laying my hand in his path a couple weeks ago but he was still pretty sketchy. :sad:
Tonight, we are a day behind feeding because my bug shipment got delayed by a day. He is sitting on top of his hide, hands on the glass, looking at me like "lady, where's my roaches?" He NEVER does that. I decided he looked receptive, so I just kinda set my hand down right near him like normal for a second, and then took the next step and went for the scoop. He did great!!!! I held him for the first time, ever, for like 3 minutes, and then set him down before he started scrambling. Then gave him his last 2 dubia roaches for a reward of good behavior.
He is supposed to be my daughter's pet, and she has yet to be able to really enjoy him beyond watching him eat bugs, so this was a HUGE breakthrough for us!!! YAAAY! :cheer:
After we brought him home and realized this, we started "boot camp". Every time I feed, I set my hand in his general vicinity for a couple minutes. At first, this was quite a distance away for just maybe 30 seconds. Got lots of defensive stance and tail waggling at first. Took a long time to get past that point without really freaking him out! I didn't want to risk dropping his tail or getting bit so I didn't push him, ever.
Eventually he came to me, even got a couple licks in. I was just able to start touching him and laying my hand in his path a couple weeks ago but he was still pretty sketchy. :sad:
Tonight, we are a day behind feeding because my bug shipment got delayed by a day. He is sitting on top of his hide, hands on the glass, looking at me like "lady, where's my roaches?" He NEVER does that. I decided he looked receptive, so I just kinda set my hand down right near him like normal for a second, and then took the next step and went for the scoop. He did great!!!! I held him for the first time, ever, for like 3 minutes, and then set him down before he started scrambling. Then gave him his last 2 dubia roaches for a reward of good behavior.
He is supposed to be my daughter's pet, and she has yet to be able to really enjoy him beyond watching him eat bugs, so this was a HUGE breakthrough for us!!! YAAAY! :cheer: