Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've parented male iguanas in the past, but for the first time in my life, I have a female iguana. She has been exhibiting some really strange behavior over the past few days and I need your suggestions.

I recently moved into a new apartment, having to leave behind my large terrarium. My poor little 3 year old had to live temporarily in a 50 gallon terrarium for a few weeks while I finished work on her new terrarium, an enclosure made with pvc and rubber coated chicken wire standing a little over 4 feet tall, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. (She is rather small for her age. Eventually, my boyfriend will be assisting me in making a much more suitable enclosure for her, preferably at least 6 feet tall and deeper/wider.)

Since she moved into her home, she has started nose rubbing quite a bit, an activity I have never seen from her before.

Over the past few days, her actions have really become bizarre. She will rush at the side of the cage, flying off of her shelf and bashing her nose against the cage, hurting herself. She has been VERY hungry and is eating at least two full bowls of greens each day, but appears skinny in her midsection. When we take her out to let her run around the bedroom for exercise, she gets a scared look in her eyes when we come to her slowly to put her back. We will carry her to the doorway and once she opens her eyes and realizes where she is, she will freak out for awhile and try to scratch you.

The past day or so, she has appeared very lethargic, sleeping a lot during the daytime and not moving much from her shelf.

Her basking spot is warm enough according to her thermometer and since the cage we have her in is not humidity friendly, we mist her at least 8-10 times daily and have a cat litter box full of water in the bottom of the cage.

Does anyone have any thoughts as to what would cause this sudden change in behavior?

Iguanas hate change.
So from a large terrarium it got crammed into a small 50gal. one, then onto another enclosure, in a new home.

It's mostly stress. However, the surge of appetite may be she's having eggs (they can still have unfertile eggs).

Let her adjust, don't force her, and allow her to free-roam (if possible). A visit to a vet to see what's going on phsyically wouldn't hurt either.

Good luck,

-IJ

p.s. the nose rubbing may be stopped if some sort of barrier is put so that the iguana cannot the the 'other side' and try to get out. Not 100% effective, but worth a try.

Thank you, those were all exactly the things I was thinking.

My boyfriend and I have decided to put up a barrier at the bottom of the cage where she does the majority of her nose rubbing and we're going to line the outside with vinyl to keep the humidity inside the cage a bit better.

The way that she has been rooting around at the bottom of the cage made me believe she might be searching for a nest. I'm going to make sure she gets some extra powdered calcium to help her along.

My boyfriend took her out for a long free roaming session in the bedroom earlier today and she has been acting normal ever since.

Thanks for the help!