My iguana, about 6 months old and around 17" STL, was starting to be pretty lethargic and sitting around not doing much. Fleeing from me to a ridiculous degree when i came into the room, etc. I've had him about 4 months now.
One day last week I noticed he had some left over shed and thought I might let him soak in the bathtub to help get it off. I let the water run to hot before plugging the drain and I left the water shallow enough for him to touch the bottom of the tub. I let him in there gently, he immediately swam in all different directions trying to get some space between the two of us. He defecated in the water almost immediately. gradually he stoped swimming away as much and sat in my hand briefly without any trouble. I let him in there for about 20 minutes total and put him back in his cage and left for work.
afterwards he was more active, vibrant, and less skittish. I decided to give him a second bath before i went in for work again on a different day and he stayed in there for roughly 15 minutes while I cleaned his cage. this time he sat on my hand briefly between fleeing periods, didn't try to whip me and kept his jaw closed a little bit more. the rest of his leftover shed is falling off, he didnt jump away from my hand and run when i got it close to him in his cage a couple days ago, he's not threatening me as much when I stroke his back (although one time that i got him out he did whip me repeatedly, but i think my hand was shadowing his fake eye and it was tripping him out.
So, Q: has anyone noticed a bonding effect caused by allowing your iguana to bathe in the bathtub?
