Can You Train a Lizard? 

“Um ... But, I ... I’d still really like to play with shoes.” “I’m gonna play with those shoes” 🤣

Note: don’t make the target the same color as your hand.

Gus Gus: Hello, my human, have you come to give me scritches? Clint: *shows an orange circle* Gus Gus: G I V E T O M E T H E S A C R I F I C I A L O R A N G E

Yes, yes you can. My iguana was potty trained. Embarrassingly, I was on the local news because of it. They are smarter than people give them credit for.

I really like how this guy explains how these creatures work, illustrating their personalities without anthropomorphizing them in a way that's deleterious to their well-being. They do *think*, but not like us.

"The tall fleshy one approaches without the yellow food circle. He must wish to give me attention."

I always love seeing animals do that thing where they arch and lean into the pets. GusGus' immediate reaction to the petting is such a soothing sight. The eyes closing, the arching, the wiggles, it's just amazing

Target training has been such a big request its so cool that you got around for it! It proves how smart alot of big lizards are. Your gus gus is a clever boy

My boy is target trained and he only gets fed on one side of the enclosure. I come in on that side and clap the tongs that means food. I come in on the other side he comes up for scratches. It’s amazing how smart they are. It only took about two weeks to get him trained.

Finally! A person that knows and speaks the truth! Every time I mention getting a pet lizard/snake everyone's reaction is "They are dangerous! Don't!". Every time I see a shark video and comment on how the shark interracted with the diver calmly, everyone says "It was sizing him up, it was thinking about eating him!" and such. But then I point out how many people get attacked by dogs, especially stray packs, everyone acts as if it never happened. Indeed, every animal can be dangerous. Thanks for spreading the word.

I also accidentally target trained my blue tongue a little bit just by having a feeding routine. I'd always refill his water bowl before feeding him, and we only have one set up of cups in my house, so he learned the cup meant food.

I just realized that Gus Gus would be an absolute terror if he ever made it into the Simpson's universe.

Nobody: Shoe: *exists* Gus Gus: “Yeah, um, we’re gonna play with shoes today.”

Excellent video! I never understood exactly why people did target training, THIS MAKES SO MUCH SENSE!!!!!

I love this so much! Too often we refuse to recognise the intelligence of non human creatures. Even more so when they show signs we view as aggression. This is a great lesson for everyone to respect their lizards for the critters they are, while being able to interact safely. This made my day!

I like how the big, strong lizard happily gobbles up those leaves. And how he responds to scritches. Gus knows that Clint is his friend.

My partner convinced me that instead of a puppy we needed an Argentine Tegu with Clint videos. Now every time Clint states, "they are just like dogs." I look over at her and she is always trying to tail climbing something in her terrarium as the dog cheers her on from the outside -.-

Gusserton! The most satisfying lizard to pet. Those beaded scales and incredibly cool. Good job, Clintyy! This was fun!

Funnily enough, I accidentally trained my Ball Python as well with a feeding routine. He associates a green bowl with food, because I didn't want him to ingest substrate. Now whenever the green bowl is placed, he'll wait in front of it, patiently. hahahaha

"They are dangerous" Emily: I'mma hug it

"See, funny story, this one time my giant lizard got hold of a shoe at the police station..."

I can confirm that the going outside thing is true, my Olly was also aggressive the first time he went out side. He's a healthy weight, he's a red but nowhere as chunky as a certain famous red tegu (as well as not as chunky as his dad) When he's spayed out he looks a bit chunkier then gus gus but then he's standing he doesn't show it.

This whole story makes me feel bad because I recently figured out I probably won't be able to get a tegu unless Florida's laws change, because the specific field of herpetology I'm studying will probably mean moving to Florida eventually. Ironically when I move to Florida, I'd probably be studying invasive Tegus.

GusGus!!!!! He has such Epic Radness ! Thanks for the fan fav feature Clint. Now we all know what color tie NOT to send you 😳😋

Don’t you guys just love how he make his learning so much love and puts so much hard work into his videos so we enjoy them! Your Rad Clint!!

This is just like how Joseph Carter The Mink Man trained Raptor to target the purple tongs! Fascinating stuff!

Target training is great, used it with both pigs and a Shetland who was particularly food aggressive.

Omg Clint you just solved a huge mystery for me!! My bearded dragon pumpkin never showed any aggression, even when force fed antibiotics, in his first 8 months with me. Then in may I opened my window for the first time. When I tried to interact with him he went full on black beard and inflated body. I never guessed it was how different I looked to him. Wow!!

Well, I think I may need to target train my skink now. But weirdly not because they are food aggressive. I have a WATER aggressive skink.

My local reptile store often has a black/white tegu roaming the store. Its a small building with no isles so he can see him from the register. One summer he had the store door open. And while I was looking around I watched this tegu just.... roam out side. (Owner was witch a customer) I am not remotely scared of lizards, but like dogs I don't just walk up and start petting dogs I don't know with out the owner's consent. The owner by then had went into the back for something so I walked out side, picked up or tried to and dragged him back into the store. Closed the door and let the owner know. He thanked me but that was it. His tegu's had always been so sweet, his son brought in a Red tegu and I got to hold him and I wanted to cry. Such an awesome animal. More so when you train them.

My tokay gecko trained me to feed her by coming over me when I was sitting near her tank, moving back and forth to get my attention, and licking her lips. If she wasn't hungry, she would often just hang out next to me because she liked me or something.

I recently started tap training my cranky male blood python (I got him at about 1.5 years old), and it's working excellently! Reptiles are a lot smarter than many give them credit for.

I have my Argentinean Tegus trained acoustically. I can reach in grab food bowl, pat them, etc they won't go for their food until I've taped their bowl or plate 4 times on the edge. They'll also immediately stop eating if my hand touches their bowl or plate. Neither of them are obese, I used small amounts of fruit treats (fresh blueberries typically)for training and rewarding good behavior. This also helped them learn when dinner was served as both of them are free roaming in my house with a couple of rooms blocked off they can hear me tap the food dish and will return to their enclosure.

It's so interesting how he interacts with you and loves scratches. Very intelligent animal.

I am so honored that i get to see Tegus in their Natural Habitat, it's simpilly amazing. (Im from south Brazil BTW)

no words can describe the joy of hearing you open with "well hi there! this is gus gus!"

So how do you go about giving him a whole bowl of food with the Target training?

Gus gus is sooo rad. I really like how tame and tolerant he is. It must be a lot of work to make him this freindly.

Since you breed pythons and keep boas, do you think you'll ever do a video about IBD and the importance of testing for viruses generally? I recently had an IBD scare with my children's python which thankfully turned out to not be the case, but I think it does deserve more attention.

Googling, reptiles are typically tetrachromats. So two colors that appear identical to our trichromat vision could appear distinct to them.

I really like stories about gus gus. It kind of makes me imagine an adorable tegu playing with toys

Gus is so handsome, even training your smaller lizards is a good idea for things like escapes , easier to get them back

I never realized they ran on two legs before. I'd LOVE to see that! Also good to be reminded that even sweet Gus Gus can have his moments. Always respect these animals and the power they possess. Love Gus Gus.

WOW - I knew the reactions would be different but they were INSANELY different. Absolutely brilliant. Amazing. Thank you Clint!

It's amazing how he just leans into the scratches just like a dog or cat.

Gus is such a good, sweet boy. 💖

My pet Commom Snapping Turtle is also Target Trained like this. When I want him to come to me so I can remove him from his tank for interaction, I will hold a bright blue square of fabric up against the glass & he will frantically ‘run’ to me to get out!! & He also understands it is not a feeding time, so he will not approach aggressively (aka, a Bitey Boi like he would normally be!) I put a round yellow plastic disk against the glass, he zooms over with the feeding response like Gus-Gus here! another awesome video, Clint!

I’ve used target training for years. It’s especially beneficial when training birds, like large parrots. Consistency is key. It is THE most important part of target training. Target training allows for safe feeding, handling and moving your animal to the place you would like it to go. It’s also excellent for “hand shy” (which is actually a fear of hands) animals. Great video!!🐍❤️🐍

That's some enthusiastic biting for a leaf. You don't often see things so determined to eat a leaf.

Tego’s are amazing. They’re so smart. They’re so intelligent. I love your videos. They’re so helpful. Thank you.

This was a very valuable video for me. I've seen target training used before, but explained not as extensive as this, and in this case, you can see the difference in Gus Gus's reaction really clearly. Plus it's always a treat to see him, haha. I would like to get a larger lizard someday, and as far as larger lizards go... Well, at the moment a Tegu sure seems the most interesting to me. Knowing how to interact with one safely will be important.

What a good handsome boy!! I love tegus so much. I doubt I’ll ever own one, but gosh, they’re such amazing creatures. Gus Gus and Ally (Snake Discovery’s tegu) are two of my favorite animals to see on RU-vid.

My wife did her dissertation on getting D. tinctorious in the mood by using a blue light that was only ever on when potential mates were about to be introduced. I've adapted that to feeding snakes. If you have a colored light that you only use when you're giving them food, you can: 1) Make it much safer to open the enclosure at other times. 2) Make it much more likely that your snake will eat what you give them.

I had to pause this video to go and find footage of a tegu running on hind legs. What. The. Heck?! Phenomenal!

Brilliant! I plan to do this with my snake. I've managed it with my dog- She knows a lot of English words as her cues or targets for various activities and one vital one is "DINNER"! That and "Snuggle" are her favorites.

I've seen Emily and Ed's Ally and assumed they are all so docile and harmless. You've just changed everything I thought I knew about tegus... not that I was going to get one, but still. They are so cool, one of my favorite lizards for sure!

So cool! I can't wait to train my own lizards when I get the chance. Eventually I want to see if they can be audio trained, so that I could play a specific note and they would connect that with feeding time and another with just regular interaction. My plan is to use the "feeding note" before showing the target every time, and then eventually see if they respond to just the note.

I'm so lucky that my Tegu is INSANELY picky when it comes to food. It's probably the only reason he stays fit, tbh. He only eats a couple times a week, cause he's that good of a boi.

Always a treat to see Gus Gus, the biggest bestest boy!

Sometimes the lizard trains you! Our blue tongue knows that its pointless to beg my partner for food, but that I am likely to cave in. His tank has full view of our kitchen and he has learned that the best time to beg for food is when I'm there. I've seen him watch me cooking good smelling meat and suddenly going around his tank flicking his tongue in the air in great interest. He then asks me to let him out of his tank (scratching the door) to which I immediately oblige. Follows me straight back into the kitchen. Then starts following me around non-stop with his head looking straight up at me the whole time (which is how he begs). We have also seen him follow my bf a bit (when he went by with a nice bowl of meaty stew), stop in his tracks to observe him while he eats. Then do a 180 and walk towards me (who has no food yet) and start begging ME instead. That scaly sausage sure knows what hands feed him!

I have a 16 acre homestead. I have plenty for what ever I need for it to flourish. Gus Gus is the reason why I am getting a tegu.

A friend and I both accidentally did something similar with or respective bearded dragons. My late bearded Luna wasn't particularly food motivated, but one day when she was actually hungry, she started chewing on one of her fleece blankets, probably in an attempt to inform us that she was hungry. My mom managed to wiggle the blanket out of her throat, then gave her some food. A few weeks later, she got hungry again, chewed the blanket again, and got fed again. After that she'd just start chomping blankets whenever she got hungry, and on a few occasions carefully nibbled at wrinkles of my mom's shirt (she was very careful to make sure she didn't accidentally nip my mom in the process.) She also started to bite a stuffed animal one time, but my mom scolded her, so she didn't do that again (she still got fed though, but I guess that wasn't worth being scolded over.) On a related note, bearded dragon spit is incredibly hard once it dries, and is takes a decent amount to get out of a blanket if there's much in it. Meanwhile my friend's beardie Bernadine is always given food a a white glass plate. Because that's where her food always is, if she gets hungry, she'll go stand on it and stare pointedly at anyone who enters the room until she's fed. And when I say stand, I mean STAND. I guess she realized she's short, because she will hold her legs as straight underneath her as possible to raise her body as high off the ground as she can to in what seems to be an attempt to make it easier to notice her. It looks so silly though, because that's not how bearded normally stand...

What an incredible difference in his behavior when you put the target up. That's awesome to watch

This is so true and works!!! My dragons react with an orange feeding bowl or feeder tongs tapping the front trim of their enclosures!

I love how he arches up when you give him pets. I have a leopard gecko and he does the same thing!

I just so happen to have the camera paused on a closeup of gus gus sort of archly staring at the camera and I must say, he is such a handsome boy.

That is true for many animal species. It makes them easier to train if they are strongly food orientated.

Gus Gus is so magnificent! love how he turns around like a cat or dog with that "Oooooooh that felt good don't stop!" look in his eyes after scratches.

I tried target training, but my tegu thought my hand was the target lol. So, I got my tegu and sav colored kid plates, and the only time they eat is off of their plates. Same concept, but I just get charged less lol

It's impressive how for a long time people tought lizards or reptiles in general are stupid, but the more i see about training lizards, the more they look to me even smarter than dogs. Dogs are active and responsive, but compared to horses which are more silent... they are pretty slow in learning new things or exercises. The main difference between dogs and horses is usually how quickly they associate reinforcement to the cue, and how subtle a cue can be. If a tegu really needs just 2 tries to learn an association with the new target it makes it really smart, more than a dog. It impress me how can we still have to learn about their intelligence.

I trained my savanah monitor with sound instead of a visual cue. So i could call him. Worked a treat. I miss my savanah. He was such a gentle dude 😢

any video with that much Gus Gus is a win in my book. You can tell he wants attention when you put your hand up,but knows immediately what the target is. That he does it that seamlessly is pretty amazing. While i have no animals right now,when i can,i really want a tegu. And yes,he is part of the reason.

Bro thank you so much! I’m finally allowed to get a ball python and it’s mostly because of your videos. I decided on a 9 month old hypo/pastel and I’m getting it in 2 weeks!

Definitely going to remember this when I get my future tegu

Amazing method to know about. I've had troubles with my tegu associating my hand with food. Time for target training!

My tegus are puppy pad trained and tap trained. If I tap the cage or the ground , they know they get to come out. Luckily for me, I’ve never had much of an issue with the feeding reaction. Other than my girl, whos so good motivated when it comes to chicks and mice but it’s not me I’m worried about. I’m more nervous with her trying to take my boys food. I also brought mine outside early cause I wanted to raise stuff in the natural sunlight and I’ve never had an issue vs my water dragon lost her mind as you said. She’s almost 13 years old and I’ve been bitten twice with both times due to bringing her outside. Now I have my tegus outside full time for a few months now and I haven’t lost a beat of tame ness. Sometimes, I think they’ve even gotten better. Since they don’t see me as much, they immediately come and greet me and have to sit on me lol Great video Clint!

I did train my Argus monitors not to attack me by not opening the door to give them food until they calmed down and moved away from the door. They used to launch themselves at my face or try and bite my hands when they were little. I would let them see the food but not let them reach it until they relaxed. By not opening the door first thing and letting them move off the prey response, you could visibly see their brain click on and think when their attacks did nothing. I feel like target training is a lot more universal for use with different species, as Argus monitors are very unique in regards to thinking behavior from my experience. Most reptiles will just bruise their noses.

So smart. Gus Gus is one of my favorites of yours.

I have a month old Tegu, and I cannot wait to target train her like this!

Yes! This was great. On a smaller scale, I target trained my betta with the handle of a white plastic spoon because he sucks at finding his food. And swimming

There's another youtuber named Lori Torrini who is target training snakes to do all sorts of things. She can ask the snakes to move to a position and, for the crazier ones, signals them away from her towards the food they're going berserk for.

Gus is so precious! I love tegus so much. He deserves ALL the scritches.

My fish would do this. Every time I would wave hello it meant food. If there was no wave they would sometimes wave to me. Fun video.

Love this video!! I'd love to see a video on reptiles and play, btw. ☺️

I love seeing GusGus. A black & white tegu is my dream reptile and I hope to get one someday and do this target training w it. 😊❤🖤 im tempted to try this w my beardie. She's VERY food motivated lol.

Dr. Laidlaw, that’s amazing. I am currently trying to bell train my year old BCI.

My Indonesian blue tongue skink is smart too. When it's feeding time I use a certain call for him, "Skiiiiinky! Are you hungry? Want food?" Then I turn off his heat lamp (which is on top of his lid), and show him his food dish. He reacts immediately. If I don't turn off the lamp, or call him, or have the food dish, he doesn't get all excited. In fact he will eyeball the lamp, and if it goes off but he doesn't see his special dish, and I haven't called him, then he knows something else is going to happen, like his water being changed. So I guess he has learned voice cues, a signal (lamp going off), and the dish as a target for a series of events that leads up to feeding time. Such a good little lizard!

Great video. I have trained mine that if I hold my hand up flat (like stop) it is not yet feeding time and he is to receive some love then he gets his plate. I will start using a target with my Burt so there is more separation from by body parts :). Would love to see more content on training tegus.

Clint, I love y’all, BUT that super strong first note that introduces your video channel SCARES the UNHOLY BEJESUS OUT OF ME EVERY TIME!!😂😂

My black and white Argentine Tegu, Lilly, did the T-Rex run. She saw a mouse in our kitchen. It was both terrifying and terrific to see. So much cheaper then pest control lol.

Somehow I had to imagine 'police', 'target training', 'dog' and 'tegu' together. If police keeps water balloons with yellow paint, they can throw them at criminals and sick their trained tegu's on them. The criminals would be too terrified by the rex run to react. Would also work for civilians at home to defend against burglars. (I'm kidding of course)

This is like what Snake Discovery does with Rex right? 😁

My beardie would go nuts for anything yellow and act like gusgus with the target thing. The reason being both his favourite foods were yellow. one was tubs of waxworms and the other was dandilion flowers.

I have a red tegu called Basil ..I got the pick of the bunch . He's soft and loves a cuddle .. He's harness trained and gentle and only 20 mths old ... He's going to be a big guy ...

Had the same incident happen with my tegu the first couple times I took him outside. I never realized it was the UV light, I always thought it was me putting them in a lower position and trying to pick them up from above. This lead to me laying on the ground to pick him back up. Once he had sniffed me he would calm down, but for a while every time I took him out, it was a battle.

Speaking of tegu bite strength, when mine was a baby.... maybe 6 months. My tegu and I hadn't established a relationship yet and my tegu bit me. Man... ignoring the razer sharp teeth the bite force! It felt literally like somebody had taken a pair of pliers or vice-grips and grabbed onto my hand as hard as you can! Mind you, this is a tegu that is maybe 1/8th of it's full size. Felt almost like getting hit by a hammer. I am SO glad we have a good relationship and my tegu is smart enough to differentiate between me and food. Some times when I feed him whole-prey I can hear him cracking through the bones. I am positive he could take off a finger if he wanted to.

I had my iguana trained not through visual but audio as I taught him me saying breakfast meant getting fed, also had him potty trained as me and the family let him free roam around the house.

Thank you again for a great video Mr.Rad

I taught my bearded dragon that if I say "Dennis, Food" in a sing song voice, that the thing im offering him in my hand is food for him to eat. Sometimes he does get a bit keen when we go to pet him, so I just show him both sides of my hand to show him there isnt any food for him. He will sit near his bowl when he's hungry. Ive also somehow trained him not to poop inside his enclosure. He has just always hated the smell of his own poo, and I always made sure to clean it out quickly so he wouldnt get used to the smell, also by keeping him very clean he has become very precious about being clean himself. At first he would start going to the bathroom on the window cill, but once Id built him an outdoor enclosure he decided that was the best spot, especially since pooping on the window means end of window time cos stinky. He can be a very smart boy who just has some real bad derp moments lol

Accidentally did this with my leopard gecko, I don’t have to worry about him biting me, but whenever he sees his food bowl he RUNS to the front of the enclosure. He is a very curious lil lizard so he still saunters to the front when I open the doors, just not nearly as enthusiastically