#tegu talk

Something that frustrates me and deters me from using the bathtub taming technique with Toluca is the fact that I’m upstairs. The tub is downstairs, and that means I have to somehow secure Toluca well enough that I can transport him from point A to point B without him being able wiggle free (the moment I start moving when I’m holding him he freaks out) and it gets him REALLY UPSET (to the point where he gapes at me, the only time he ever does) when I have him held in a manner where he can’t just fly off and run away, which I understand since I’m a big scary hairless ape and he’s still in the mindset that everything is out to eat him. So I want him to be more comfortable with me and being out of his cage, but I can’t really do so unless I stress him out and then I just feel like I’m doing more damage than good and it’s really disheartening. I mean I wasn’t expecting him to end up being a dog or anything, but I also wasn’t expecting him to be this disdainful of me after having him for this long. And I know it’s supposed to be just a myth that Columbian tegus are more defensive than most other tegus, but had I known he was a Columbian and not an Argentine I never would have bought him. (Of course, my fault for assuming he was an argentine when simply labeled a “Black and White Tegu”)