He has sticks to climb on and a sort of wood-chip/ish bedding. I put his food in a dish near his water dish. I know he's gotten water, and it seems he's gotten food.
>>
>>My questions are: When can I determine his gender?
>>
>>Does he have to be hand fed, or will he eat from the food dish?
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>>What can I do to tame him?
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>>Also, I'd like to mention the he seems to nap all the time. He won't adventure around in his cage, either. What can I do for him? I can only worry, it seems, because I don't to wake him up. However, when he is awake and I try anything with him he just tail whips me over and over again and moves further away from whatever side I'm initially on, and then he ignores me. So trying to hand feed him doesn't really work.

First suggestion, dump the bedding. Iguanas are NOTORIOUS for eating anything they fit in their mouth. Bedding impacts, and impactions are usually not caught in time to treat. And surgeries are expensive.

Second, I have never fed freeze dried veggies, so cant tell ya if that is working.

Third, never guess on heat. Get a nice temp gun (pro exotics sells a cheap one, you can start as low as 20 bucks and move up into the hundreds) and use that on the hot spot. That will give you an accurate reading.

Baby Iguanas, well all babies, are very skittish. They are not usually the most docile of things. If you have a tank that opens from the top, he is seeing the big bird from above coming to eat him. He will be aggressive. Front opening enclosures are the best. What you have now will only last a few months anyhow.

Sexing is done around 2 years. Before that it is just too hard.

I would strongly suggest against getting the iguana in the habit of hand feeding. If he will only eat from your hand, it will be hard to take a vacation for the next 20 or so years!

Lastly patience will help tame your iguana. Read through a bunch of old posts here. Lots of great suggestions from all, but right now you have a new animal that is scared witless and just needs to acclimate before you start working on it. Give him time on the eating and once he is eating well, get him into the vet for a check up and fecal exam. Then work on the taming.
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

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