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tame the sav !

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bs111888

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i got a sav yesterday he is about 1 foot 3 inches long head to tail i do not know how old he is . but he seems like he wants to kill me ... i do get to pet him when hell let me but other times he puffes and opens hes mouth and i have held him once this morning and he seemed to enjoy being petted but when i tryed to put him back in his cage he whent into attack mode again :uzi: ..is this normal ? and what should i do to make him more tame and keep him that way ? any advice is greatly appreciated
 
That is perfectly normal. He is afraid and huffing and puffing and even biting is the only way he knows to "defend" himself from his perceived threat (you).

You're going to have to get some gloves (if you need them) and hold the little guy a lot until he realizes that you're not going to hurt him. You can trim his toenails and that will help a lot (if you haven't already) and keep you from getting all scratched up.

Post some pics of the little guy. I have seen some huge ones that were so sweet and some that would just as soon bite you as look at you.
 
these are the little devil himself ...hes not s scary when hes sleeping and he does like his neck scratched
 

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Yea, they are like angels when they sleep.

I have had mine for over a year now. When I first got him he was squat and fat like a little puppy. He's is a little bigger than yours now. He is a very simple creature. And I still get treated to the puffing and huffing and hissing and tail slaps. I am no longer shat upon or "flashed" however. So that is a good thing.
 
I've actually found that it's better NOT to handle your new monitor until you earn its trust completely. This comes through feeding it, changing its water, misting it, etc... and not bothering (i.e. handling) it for quite some time, or at least minimally. I understand this is hard to do... you want your monitor to bond to you as soon as possible, however, I've found that with Varanids (and we work with several species) delayed gratification on your part is best. Let the monitor begin to trust you and no longer see you as the enormous predatory threat that you are to it (after all, you are 20X + its size and for all it knows you want to eat it), then you can begin handling it. From personal experience, this has worked wonders even with flightly monitors such as those from the Mangrove complex (which we focus intently on). A trusting or semi-tame monitor (at worst) will be your reward. Good luck and I wish you the best with your new Savannah! They can certainly be terrific animals to work with.
 
savanna monitor biting

handling is the best way to get him used to you, but if you are still having reservations about the bite ( ive been bitten once by a savanna and once by a water monitor..trust take the hit off the savanna. my water almost took my finger off and its still numb 3 months later(just to let you know i did have him cornered, trying to pull him out from behind something, so thats why he bite.) you can try bitter apple spray ( you can find it it in the dog section at any pet store)put a glove on and spray it around the section of your hand he can turn his head and bite. he chomps on that and hell think twice. it works really good on my nile monitors. i have four niles and it stopped them from bitting me (the one took longer because he looked for a spot that wasnt covered in the spray and bite me there).
 
bitter apple for niles

first i will say that every lizard is diffrent. if you get a nile stright from the store and he is not trying to bite you, he is FULL of parasites. there is no one who breeds niles on a regular basis to cut down on this. all of them are imports. now once you treat the parasite problem, time to move to the biting . I have used bitter apple for all for of my niles and it worked wonders. they will not bite me ( granted they still tail whip and scratch and the occassional goanna shower) it only took about a month for each nile to get over the bitting (except one who learned to smell for a place that wasnt covered and then chomp. he took a month and a half). keep in mind i have had them from hatchlings and handle almost everyday. why does it work? think about how monitors use thier toungh to sense thier surroundings. now if that sense is the most senstive one and it comes into something bitter they are going to think twice.
 
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