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Iguana being aggressive

greentreechild Oct 27, 2006 01:23 PM

Well i just bought 2 Iguanas and they are about 16-17 inches long! well one of the is aggressive! Every time a walk past the cage it will start to whip its tail! Is this the normal way for iguanas to act? The one on the left is the aggressive one!


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Replies (3)

IGUANA JOE Oct 27, 2006 04:24 PM

Ok, first of all...

... why two?
Two iguanas = 2x cage size; 2x food; 2x work.

The cage itself is part of the reason.
For starters, it offers no hiding spot, no climbing area, nor anything that can remotely stimulate a bit of natural behavior.
So you definately need to improve it quite a bit.

Second, the aggressive one is sharing the place with a second iguana, which means they will compete for food, for basking spot (if any, not visible in the pic), for space. Everything.
Which means one will emerge as dominant over the other, which can cause stress to the lesser one, etc etc.

Third, it is normal for newly acquired/adopted iguanas to feel stressed and freaked out in their new surroundings. A week or two at least will be necessary to get used to the enclosure, the daily routines, your presence, noises, etc.

Which also means, no handling. First step is becoming a neutral presence, once that is established, you can start slowly attempting some interaction.

Those two will soon enough outgrow that enclosure, which means you will later either have to house them in two properly sized enclosures, or a very very large one, that will offer different basking and feeding areas, as well as hiding areas.

As you can see, iguanas are not easy, hehehe.

Definately check out the Melissa Kaplan website on iguanas for loads of (free) information. Her book, as well as James T Hatfield's are excellent.

Oh, and do remember to have them checked out by a vet (de-worming, fecal sample, etc).

Let us know their progress.

-IJ

jammiereptiles Oct 27, 2006 11:17 PM

Well just as a warning not saying ur iggys will do the same but my iggys did get along at all the larger 1 would nock the litt 1 down and launch at it and bite its it was realy sad i had to remove them but truly iggys dont get along toget there but if u mosh make sure there is eoght rooma dn pleanty of plants to hide i but know by putting them together u take the risk of 1 of them getting killed or stressing them out from being together and stress can cuz a mean iggy and loss of wieght andf my stop eatting. But i did have 2 and it didnt end well i now have 1 iggy whi's a total jerk lol well good luck w everything but truly thats a lot of wrk and scratches and bites it gets worse till u get to the breakthoght which i havent yet lol i enyjoy my tegu much more dosent bite !
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Linda G Oct 31, 2006 12:28 PM

I think it may help for you to do alot more research on igs
than I believe you have done. I have two igs and would NEVER
house them together. One will most likely be dominant and
either kill or stress out the other. I don't think you have
a clear idea of how big these guys get. You are going to need
two huge enclosures and all the fixings for each. Lots of
money and space, not to mention the vet bills for both.

I would separate them now and either give them their own
set-up or find a home for one of them. Get
rid of the shavings you have in the enclosure. Igs are known
to become impacted from accidently swallowing it.

Please do your homework on these guys. I don't mean to sound
like a know it all but having had igs for several years I
know that they are quite the committment!

Linda

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