Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would like some info from people who got bitten by large iguanas,how can you protect your self and how does it feel?
I know how to handle him properly and how to break the ice of the first few moments but I know I am going to be bitten sometime,I think is going to be soon..

I haven't had a serious bite from a large iguana yet, but when my 3 1/2' female thought I was hand feeding her when I was actually petting her head, she "nipped" me. I say "nipped" because she didn't hold on and it was a very quick bite. It didn't look like she did anything from where my gf was standing, but it felt like somebody hit my finger with a hammer and her little razors cut my finger pretty good. Now I have heard that a full grown male iguana could be capable of removing a finger, and I am almost positive that there was a post awhile back with either a report of the incident or a post from the woman that it happened too. So all in all, it hurts, it bleeds, and you really don't want to get bitten. I saw that you said you know it's going to happen...if you know it is going to happen then you are probably crossing the line with your handling as far as your ig is concerned. Be cautious and you shouldn't have to worry about getting a serious bite. Everyone gets "nipped" which does hurt, but serious bites are rare as long as you are careful. -Joe Decareau
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0.1 Green Iguana (Sisco)
0.1 Rose Hair T (Sweets)
1.1.4 Hairless Rats (Socrates, The Three Stooges and Left Eye)
3.2 Ball Pythons (Stratos, She-Ra, Skeletor(0.1 oops on the name!), Sy-Cloone, Stinkor)
1.0 Striped Cal. King (Snuggles)

Not to scare you, but here's my story...I was bitten exactly one year ago to the day. My iguana was in breeding season, I went to remove him from his shelf to put him in the tub, and wasn't paying attention to my hand.
He nailed me in my right thumb. The sensation was more or less like a pressure, then it turned warm. It bled immediately, covering the sink with blood. I went to the emergency room thinking it will be a couple of stitches. 10 hours later and I had just gotten out of surgery. According to the doctor, he had severed the tendon on the left side of my thumb, and his teeth stopped once they were inside my joint.
I was placed in a cast for a month, and to this day, my thumb is wrecked.
The moral is that iguanas should not be taken lightly. Here is a pic of the damage as well. This was after the first cast was removed, a few days after surgery: