Chillin' Like a Villain

[Pirarucu]

Originally Posted by Jeepers

Stress would cause it to fall asleep?

Anyways, I'm not looking to tame it or make it docile, I'm fine with it being the way it is, but everyone needs to work with their reptiles on a daily basis after they've settled in for a while, otherwise you're going to wind up with a problem. If I never ever EVER worked with this crocodilian in my future years of owning it, I'd reckon the first time I did need to pick it up for whatever reason, I'd get the living crap bitten out of me, and it wouldn't be pretty at future sizes, I can guarantee you that. It'd be better for me to WORK WITH IT, and GET TO KNOW IT, than to be dealing with something I don't know crap about because I didn't take the time to learn its queues, its personality, etc. I wouldn't know jack crap about how mine, in particular, behaves, and that's BAD. For that reason, that's EXACTLY why everyone should work with their reptiles DAILY. Big or small, it doesn't matter.

I'd mentioned daily handling prior but did anyone complain about it? No. All they said was let it acclimate first then work with it daily, which is exactly what I'm doing.

Secondly, I don't like bearded dragons. I don't like them. I don't mind looking at them, but they do not appeal to me in the least.

Also, Cuvier's Dwarf Caimans have a nicer demeanor than others.

Stress will cause it to pretend to be asleep. Essentially it is giving up and pretending to be a bump on a log in the hopes that you won't eat it. You see it with monitors all the time when they are forcefully handled. I would recommend the same treatment you would give a monitor, which is to simply leave it alone and let it come to trust you on its own terms. Treat it like a feral cat. Forcefully handling it will just lead to a Nile Monitor Syndrome. Someone buys a Nile and forcibly handles it all the time as a baby, in the hopes that it won't turn mean. Sure enough, it soon realizes that it can't fight back and simply gives up, and the keeper is put under the impression that they have succeeded. Then the Nile gets bigger. Suddenly it has large teeth and claws, plus a bullwhip for a tail, and it realizes now it can fight back, and it does, since all the handling only built resentment towards its keeper. This probably happens with a lot of reptiles, the only reason many are "tame" is that they simply aren't big enough to fight back.

I am friends with a man who owns a Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, who simply put it in a large cage and left it alone. It is a very tractable animal most of the time.




I do not forcibly handle any of my animals, except if I need them out to clean the cage. If my snakes display any sign of not wanting to come out, I leave them be. Excepting cleaning and such, I only handle my snakes maybe once every other month. They are very calm animals, and are not at all defensive. My retic will come out of the cage on his own to explore, and will go back in when he wants. So no, you do not have to force your animals to like you, and you certainly don't have to handle them every day. In my experience, you really have better results if you don't.