Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
I've had this tokay for a little over a year now but never got around to working with him until the other day. For a while he was hard to feed, refused just about everything and would eat once or twice a week if I was lucky. Now he's become a feeding machine.
Anyhow, he hopped right onto my gloved hand and then made a beeline towards my head, stopping along the way for a snack. (and yes he drew blood)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ay/misc023.jpg
After holding on for about 20 minutes he finally let go and when I went to pick him up to put him back in the cage he grabbed some desert
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2.../misc031-1.jpg
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Evil little demon you got there!
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Heh heh,
Gotta love that tokay spirit. :taz:
dr del
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Oh, that lil guy just loves you to death! lol
Tokays are my favorite looking lizards. They may not always be the sweetest things, but they can skate by on looks alone.
20 minutes?! Good luck to you with this guy!
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
i gots one of those too....hes not eating a lot, but hes definitly growing and not uber skinny.... i took him out by hand the other day to clean his cage (had gloves on) and he bit my hand and made a weird sound... I dont think im gonna try to handle him w.o gloves....mostly gonna leave him alone i think
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
send that little devil off to Kevin McCurley the tokay whisperer!!!
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
waltah!
Oh, that lil guy just loves you to death! lol
Tokays are my favorite looking lizards. They may not always be the sweetest things, but they can skate by on looks alone.
20 minutes?! Good luck to you with this guy!
That picture was from a few days ago, Saturday. He's actually started to calm down a bit now. Had him out yesterday and he only held on for about 15 minutes (to my gloved hand) before letting go. And tonight I didn't take him out but he didn't go ballistic when I was messing around with stuff in his tank. Eventually he'll be as "gentle as a kitten" :8:
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
I tamed one down once, but it was a 6-8 incher. He couldn't draw blood but man did he bite ALOT :taz: It wasn't mine but an animal at my work, so I could only work with it 3 days per week and all I did really was pick him up once, clean his cage, then put him back. It still settled down in a few weeks before we sold it and I think the gaps between handling may have helped him feel more secure. It's kind of like a chameleon where they just come to you when they feel like it. Hang in there for now man, that's gotta hurt :8:
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tyler_Royality
send that little prick off to Kevin McCurley the tokay whisperer!!!
That's actually where I got him. From the $25 males in Zoo Creatures lol
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Wow! Vicious...lol. Looks worse than my 5.5 foot BP bite. Good luck with that lil' guy. He is pretty, though.
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Somehow he still looks cute even when he's chomping down on you :P
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Here's some pictures from about 20 minutes ago. He's come a long way compared to what he was when I started this thread.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...misc2095-1.jpg
Sorry the pictures aren't better. Was taking with the wrong hand and the camera was upside down in order not to block the lens.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...misc2096-2.jpg
And here's his new girlfriend I got the other day. I'm not sure how prolific tokay's are when it comes to breeding, but they're sure practicing a lot.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...misc2092-1.jpg
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
wow thats a drastic improvement...how much time a day did you spend hand training him? I wanna try with my Tokay...read an article in "Reptiles" magazine that got me really interested in doing that :D
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
LaFilleClochette
wow thats a drastic improvement...how much time a day did you spend hand training him? I wanna try with my Tokay...read an article in "Reptiles" magazine that got me really interested in doing that :D
I've started handling them both about 15 to 20 minutes every other day. Each 15 to 20 minutes. He'll still nail me if I try to restrain him. If I let him run around as he likes on me he doesn't mind. Picking him up to take him out and getting a hold of him to put him back has left me with a few bloody knuckles. The female just runs like hell but rarely bites.
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
If you ever get a chance to meet with Kevin, he LOVES to talk tokays, and he has a way with them, for sure. When he was showing us how he tames them, he actually gently strokes them under their tail and they seem to calm right down. He was just reaching into the cages, picking up tokays left and right and none of them were biting him. He really IS the tokay whisperer!
Re: Hand training a Tokay - and he needs it
Quote:
Originally Posted by
rabernet
If you ever get a chance to meet with Kevin, he LOVES to talk tokays, and he has a way with them, for sure. When he was showing us how he tames them, he actually gently strokes them under their tail and they seem to calm right down. He was just reaching into the cages, picking up tokays left and right and none of them were biting him. He really IS the tokay whisperer!
Actually if you're talking about Kevin McCurley of NERD that's where I got both of mine. They're "just" normals but it was after taking one of their tours and Kevin showed up and started gushing over the tokays I decided I had to look into them. Didn't really talk to him other than a few brief questions/answers but his passion for them had me convinced.
