My angry retic hatchling

Hey Everyone,

I bought a dwarf tiger retic over a month ago, and even with consistent handling he is still barely able to be handled. I have been hook training, and the second the hook touches him he strikes at it and at me. Once I get him out of the cage he calms down a bit, but strikes at anything that moves in front of his face.

Ive tamed down burms in the past, but this little guy is giving me a run for my money. Any thoughts or suggestions? Im hoping that with time, as he grows this will end.

Everything that I have read and seen sounds like you are on track. Meaning that it will take time. My local Tic breeder has told me that the youngsters will calm down even though they are pretty rowdy.

You may want to PM Reptileexperts for pointers if he doesn't catch this thread. As you probably know, he's a big Tic guy.

Dwarfs and SD's are known for having a stronger food response than the mainland retics. Perhaps he's just hungry? How often is he getting fed? If he does get you, is it a tag and grab/wrap, or is he being defensive?

I have a two year old male SD that is normally chill, but while feeders are thawing and for about 24 hours after being fed he is a super-foody terror and will repeatedly hit the front glass of his enclosure if you approach it.

OTOH if your wee one is just being defensive, the only way I know to break him of it is like I did for my nippy BRB babies: let them just keeping tagging you until they realize that it doesn't make you go away, and they eventually give up and stop doing it.