Baby savannah aggression issues
 

Hello,

I got my young savvy about a month ago and she started off pretty well, letting me handle her. But I realize now that was just because she was terrified to the point of paralysis. I gave her her space to get used to her new environment and than slowly started to ease my way in. Aka putting my hand in her enclosure, talking to her etc. I have read that water is a good way to get them to become more comfortable with me, but then I’ve read to leave them be and with age they will be more manageable. Please help. I walk into my reptile room and she perks up and hisses. What can I do?

Nothing, just leave her/him be for now, hands off.

No grabing or restraining, its probably the worst thing you can do at this point. it can screw the animal up, and cause to much stress, the whole idea is to build trust with the lizard, a bond between animal and keeper.

Number 1 is to make sure your husbandry is good, basking spot temps, ambient temps humidity, hide spots, etc etc.

any questions, ill do my best.

Thank you for replying, I’m so worried she’s going to get big and not be able to be handled.

Savs are kinda terrors til they get past being teenagers. Then they calm down a lot into adulthood.

What age would be good to start introducing me? How should I bigin? She seems a lot more calm now that I put her in a 2ft by4 ft environment

Shortly after they stop having a strong reaction to entering the room, you can perhaps try to put your hand in the cage, and try to pet him/her in the cage. But once they reach a total length of 1ft to 1.5ft I would handle them daily.
What I had done with mine may not have been the best method but it was a little more direct. I would pick mine up daily at about 8 inches long, and use my two hands as a treadmill until he tired out or calmed down.
If they go to the bathroom on you, that means you have to keep them out even longer, otherwise it becomes a conditioned response that when they want left alone thats all they have to do.
When you pick your animal up the lower you keep your hand to the ground the better, like most ground animals they have an genetic instinct to fear things that come from above, like a response to a bird overhead or other predator.
But I think most people will agree that you should let them get used to your routine, and keeping them in a busy part of the house is perhaps a good way to start socializing a savannah monitor. Letting them get used to human traffic before you start touching them in the cage. Giving them warms baths, about 15 minutes at a time once or twice a week might be something a sub adult monitor will enjoy. Leave the water shallow enough that they can touch the bottom and feel secure.
The baby savannah monitors less than 1ft) there isn't much you can do without causing a lot of stress to the animal, once they get juvenile 1ft to 1.5 foot long you can probably get them out more often, and for longer periods of time. Whenever my young(less than 1ft) savannah would try to bite me, I would offer it my fingernail, and once he realized he was bitting something hard he would let go.
Keep in mind I wasn't as knowledgable as I am now, and thinking back on this I could have caused him to break a tooth, which might lead to an infection in his mouth. After they get a foot longer you don't want to take a hit off of one, their jaw muscles are incredible, and they like to twist their head which causes their teeth to become like a serrated knife, and their bites almost always cause a small infection in my hand.