The "cage" needs to be 8x4x4 foot. In our little house that's ... over a quarter of one room. Eh. We can swing it. Um ....... hmm ... where exactly do we put our library that is already takes up one entire wall? And the substrate, that wasn't just "not cheap", it was heavy!!!! 10 bags of the stuff. Add that to lumber .... omg .... how much is that going to weigh?? We can only put it on the second floor of the home. This is a 40+ year old home and it was built, in TN. You know. Land of the 'whats a permit or building code'? Will the floor collapse? I am panicked. Some experienced owners say its not going to be any different than two fatties sleeping on a king size bed each night. The floor doesn't collapse because of a bed right? But that still is not the same as this massive cage. The 'fatties' will always be there in "the bed". And the rest of the room has to hold the rest of the furniture we have no where to put as well. A fish lover told me, "eh, just keep a level in the room and keep watch." ::insert image of my jaw dropping::
The "cage" needs to be 8x4x4 foot. In our little house that's ... over a quarter of one room. Eh. We can swing it. Um ....... hmm ... where exactly do we put our library that is already takes up one entire wall? And the substrate, that wasn't just "not cheap", it was heavy!!!! 10 bags of the stuff. Add that to lumber .... omg .... how much is that going to weigh?? We can only put it on the second floor of the home. This is a 40+ year old home and it was built, in TN. You know. Land of the 'whats a permit or building code'? Will the floor collapse? I am panicked. Some experienced owners say its not going to be any different than two fatties sleeping on a king size bed each night. The floor doesn't collapse because of a bed right? But that still is not the same as this massive cage. The 'fatties' will always be there in "the bed". And the rest of the room has to hold the rest of the furniture we have no where to put as well. A fish lover told me, "eh, just keep a level in the room and keep watch." ::insert image of my jaw dropping::
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Reptiles don't have the part of the brain that allows for any type of feeling or connection in this world. They can't tell one person from another, if they can tell you are a person at all and not a tree. That's how I was raised. That is what college taught me in neurology class. I never questioned it. There it was in front me ... reptile brain ... hmm... yup.... no "part" of the brain for that there. Really now .... Nice little factoid: Tegus are perhaps the most intelligent reptile on earth. Pfft. How smart can that be? I mean what does a lizard do? Spit its tongue out, walk, eat, sleep, poop and flee right? Wrong. Intelligence is difficult to measure. Because we are in our infancy in creating tools that can measure it. When measuring other beings intelligence we are ... well just morons. We used to think of elephants as unthinking big cows. Today we know they problem solve, are extremely emotional, have a highly organized social system and have communicative abilities. We know it runs even deeper than that ... but alas, we are finally humble enough to admit "we" have not been able to measure or give evidence of that because "we" ... are morons. Every year that I walk this earth we discover more and more about animal intelligence. We finally have been able to make some attempts to measure avian intelligence. But only in problem solving. The other areas, we have just tapped. Some crows are genius problem solvers. Cockatoos are brilliant and they have undeniable deep emotion despite us thinking they "didn't have that part of the brain". And African Grays are incredible communicators and are now proven to know "language" and not to just mimic people. But we draw a blank on reptiles. Because .... we are morons. I've owned many snakes and lizards. But nothing remotely like this tegu. I feel as if I'm dealing with a headstrong parrot on steroids. The way Kaiju cocks her head to look at me ... its not as deep or as long as a large parrot, but its piercing and it connects. The problem solving is mind blowing. They say that a ferrets problem solving abilities are nearly that of the smallest primates. From what I've seen a few short weeks is that a tegu may be nearly on that level. "Nearly". And in only certain ways. But still ... it really took me off guard to see that. We have been working on taming. The first video below shows one of her mile stones in making friends and greeting me. The second one ... is the first time she came to me when called and proved she preferred to be with me over all of the interesting things in the room and light. Someday, we will humble ourselves and admit we are morons. We won't deny a being is intelligent or feeling just because our ridiculous, puny, inferior "tests" tell us so. In the meantime, as a tegu owner, it would be fun to be able to put my animal to the limits ... open her up to possibilities and see what she can do. But I won't need grants and tax money for that. I have a house filled with endless options and opportunities here for her. See spot run. On one hand the whole taming process seemed very encouraging. Kaiju made and continues to make progress and big steps every single day. On the other hand here we are coming into 2 months and I'm just now able to carry her short distances and hold her outside her normal room, but I can do so only briefly before she thrashes to get away. I have no idea how long this process usually takes. I know if I ask someone with experience they will say, "Every tegu is different." And I'll stare back and just let out a big, "ugh". I know there is no definitive answer, but I wish I knew if I was doing well. If Kaiju has a friendly temperament or not, or is a bit coy. Do I need to do something other than what Im doing? When can I just enjoy having her out? When can I try to take her outside? Will she even let me teach her to wear a harness? When this frustrated, I'm glad I have my cuddly pet rock. Helius the bearded dragon. The two beings are opposites. So far, extreme .. opposites. Neither extreme is "fun". So I'm patiently waiting for Kaiju to tame down all the way and most of all settle down enough that she can wander the house, I can carry her, or take her outside. Patiently waiting. While Heli stares at me from his basking spot. My pet rock. I am terrible at naming animals. It seems if they don't "tell" me what their name is from the first day, I will struggle forever. And even then, sometimes I'll end up just settling with something I'm not crazy over. We got this tegu April 12th I, I think it was. And did not name her until the first week of June. Reptiles can be difficult to name. You are actually naming the species more than the personality sometimes because they don't have facial expression or vocalize. I could think of a hundred wonderful reptile/lizard names. Gorgeous ones. But this girl is to be our scaley dog. It had to be very personal and comfortable to say. For a while we called her Princess Pissy Pants because she is far more of a handful than we thought a tegu would be. I think she is still a bit more of a handful than most. Finally I found it. Kaiju. It is Japanese for large, strange creature. It can apply to Godzilla for example. When she is "bad" however .. she remains Princess Pissy Pants. What is all this talk about being a "handful" or being "pissy" or even bad? Its a lizard for gosh sakes. And on top of that, the internet labels them as docile and affectionate. Youtube videos show these guys slowly wandering about the house. So what the heck did I come home with?? Even when she was smaller in body than my bearded dragon, she was so strong, she put my sons blood python to shame. We found out that first day, that if she didn't want to be picked up or held, it wasn't happening. Holy canolies. Did I mention she is strong? What about fast? Yes baby and yearling tegus move like lightening. So there was that to contend with. Lastly, she can press herself into crevices and hide so skillfully it makes my ferret look like an amateur. So tight in fact, you can't see her breath. And you can't pull her out because there is no room for fingers to grab her. Did I mention she is strong? Look at that mouth. Those jaws. And teeth. Oh boy if she wanted to do some damage, I shutter to think what would happen. If she even has an inkling she wants to go somewhere ... those claws dig in even before you think to hold her back. She shredded me during her first weeks as I wasn't used to how to hold a young tegu. I wasn't able to avoid scratches. And if I was stupid enough to "argue" with her, my forearms were torn to shreds. Even though I"m better at it, so is she. And so I look like a cutter. Oh and by the way look out for that tail. This ain't no iguana where you can anticipate a whip or catch it. This is an all out Bruce Lee kinda tail whipping. Bruce Lee could strike out and close your eye lids before you could blink. True story. No doubt in my mind, this animal could take out my eye ... before I could blink. Danger, danger. Something I surely was not prepared for, is the fact that she can be a danger to herself. She can leap up vertically the entire length of her body, tail included, and scale anything. She has claws that are slippery on hard surfaces. Yet she can somehow jump straight up a wall, grip a two inch slick ledge and climb. The problem with this, is they are not arboreal animals. These guys are terrestrial . They are to remain .. on the ground. Kaiju has yet to understand that. And so every chance she gets, she tries to climb, and when she climbs, she inevitably falls to the floor with a great thud. My heart stops every time. I hope she catches the clue bus soon. Kaiju seems to be as intelligent as some small parrots. I'm shocked how much she is like some birds. It's really neat. What's not so neat is she has the curiosity of a ferret combined with nearly the intelligence of a parrot. This gets her into horrible situations. So far, I've yet to let her out of the bathroom or to let her wander past her temporary cage very far. I expected the high intelligence and the problem solving. But not the curiosity and determination of a tegu. I definitely was in no way prepared for the stubbornness, willfulness and independence of a tegu. "They come when you call them", they said. "They like to cuddle, and chill", they said. "They love wandering about the home", they said. "They are great fun, companions", they said. Well not at first. Not if you are new to these animals and certainly not if you get an older one that hasn't lived as a pet in a home. I ... am a ferret and dog person. A horse person. A "comere boy," and scoop em up and kiss em even if they don't want to kind of person. A bend to my will ... kind of person. This is why, although I do well with tame birds and love them, I don't consider myself a bird person. They are willful to a degree, brilliant, and independent. A tegu's personality is like a large parrot on steroids. Yah, there is no "comere boy", scoop em up, hold them against their will, kiss kiss kiss" IF they don't want to. No way. No how. And so I now must accept this fact. I must regard this animal as an intelligent individual. A companion, not a 'pet'. I am not a tame you kinda gal. I have no patience. I wanna play with you and hang out with you and do it now ... kinda gal. Yeah well, that's out the window for right now with this tegu. But something surprising has happened. I have done well with taming her. Very, very well. She makes leaps and bounds every single day. And because of that immediate feedback and constant progress (although excruciatingly slow), it keeps me encouraged. It's the incentive I must have. Because I've rarely tamed a wild animal, or a bird, I never experienced the reward of it all or the unique bonding. It's tremendously rewarding. And nothing could have prepared me for that either. I"m still scared... still scared she may not tame all the way to my liking however. But I'll have time to accept that if its to be ... hopefully. |
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June 2015
AuthorRebecca Stout aka Wolfy Categories |