Taming method for very scared skink?

[jacob1245]

I got my 2 and a half month old northern about 10 days ago. From the first day she has been eating great and exploring so I thought after a few days I would lay my hand down to see if she would go on it. Well when she saw my hand she immediately came up to it and bit me. I don't think she thought I was food, afterwards she started hissing at me. Everytime I go in to get her water, turn off lights, or do other things in her cage she will run out of her hide and try to attack me without warning.

I feel like it's kinda of weird she's so defensive/ aggressive considering she's not wild caught. So far for handling I have been putting my hand in and grabbing her when she comes out. I hold her in my hands for about 5 minutes and she pretty much immediately stops hissing and just chills. Also when I feed her I keep my hand in the plate I put in and she eats right next to it just fine. Is this the best way to go about it, or should I try the method of trying to wait it out and be patient?

It's just a little hard to take care of her though with how much she wants to bite me so I want to know the fastest taming method for her lol. I have to grab her just to change her water, she won't let me put it in otherwise.

[tbcorbett]

In my opinion, maybe it's probably not a good idea to put your hand right next to her food/IN her food dish when she eats, she might be associating your hand with food 'cause she's smelling it/looking at it right by her face as she gobbles up food? I read especially that hand feeding (which isn't what you're doing but your hand is still right next to her as she eats) can actually cause some skinks to get really bitey ><

She sounds so fiesty!! I think as long as you're not reacting when she bites, and keep that behavior up (not reacting and then immediately handling her to show her she doesn't get her way just 'cause she huffs and puffs and bites), she will realize eventually that biting does nothing and will stop. She might just be a slow learner, and I don't think there's a way I could suggest to you that would be a 'fast' way to tame her. I think taming in general takes a good while, and since your baby sounds so spunky it might take a bit longer too D :

But that's just my thoughts, someone else with a lot more experience than me might be able to help you out better!

[IvanDanko]

Good post TB

Jacob id also add if you search back over the last few pages of the forum this is a very common repeat topic. There's some good information in previous posts - but essentially as TB said there are no shortcuts to taming and in your skinks case there might be alot of dedicated work needed to slowly get it used to you.

Check out this video by TC Houston I shared just yesterday on another post - basically a video to help with your exact problem, atleast the handling component: https://youtu.be/5qfY4laUwdo