Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, we have had our little green iguana for about 4 months now – cute little bugger, but she doesn’t like to be handled. I read online to put them in a bath to tire them out and then you can handle them – I tried this a few times and it worked, but it just seemed kind of mean and she wanted to get out of the bath in a big way. Yesterday I reached in to the cage to catch her and she bit me – I can’t have that ! what do I do ? currently she is in a 35 gallon tank, so there is plenty of room (she is only 6 inches from nose to butt – not counting the tail which would be another 8 inches I suppose). I bought her a leash, but she doesn’t fit into it yet. Should I try and handle her more? I feed her every morning (cut up beans, broccoli, etc.) so you would think she would be use to my hands.

I think it would be a very good idea to do some research on
these guys. Iguanas are wild animals and when they are this
small they are prey for anything that eats meat! Until your
iguana learns to trust you, you better expect bites and tailwhips. The key to these guys is consistancy. I would not
put it in water until it tires. For a few minutes each pick
it up and hold it and then put it back. Sometimes just talk
to it so gets use to your voice.

It took me about 2 years to be able to reach and pick up my
male. I let him get use to me on his terms and now I can
do anything with him. He is the one in the funny costume at
the top of the forum page.

Do your homework please. You would rather have a 6" baby
biting you that a 4' pissed off male.

Lastly, you need to do research specifically on feeding. His
diet appears to be seriously lacking necessary items like dark
greens which should be the staple.

Hope this helps
Linda

Hi Linda,

The research I have done this morning agrees with what you said, just go slow and handle him more often. When he nipped at me I jerked my hand away and I don’t think I felt the full bite – can a small iguana hurt you by biting? I have a 7 year old that I don’t want to see bitten, I assumed all he can do right now is nip a little – is that accurate?

As for food....hmm, dark green? Help me out on the diet – what do you feed as your main staple? This little guy loves broccoli stems (no so much the top of the broccoli tho). I give him a fair amount of carrots which he loves and beans, I try various roots as well. But mostly he really loves broccoli stems. I want to make sure we are treating him well, when we first got him I did some research and wrote down the suggested foods (which is what I feed him now). I feed him every morning and if I give him something he’s not into (like Turnips) he snubs it and won’t eat.

Dark greens like mustard, turnip, endive, escarole, dandelion,
and collard greens. No lettuce! These greens provide the
necessary calcium. Without it the ig will die. For veggies,
chop butternut squash, turnips, frozen, thawed veggies as an
example. Make sure all food is cut very small as they cannot
chew.

Are you providing the lighting and heat sources, UVB and
basking areas?

Please look up the caresheets for iguanas on this forum.
Iguanas are not appropriate for children unless you are
involved completely with their care. I would not let your
child handle him right now. He is too small and yes his
bite will hurt.

Linda

hi what linda says is very true they are not good pets for children unless the like being scratched and some time being bit when they are not having a good day as far as diet linda told you is very good you can look up www.iguanaden.org it is the diet i have been following for 3yrs now and have a very healthy ig i got my ig as a rescue and was very sick and almost died did alot of reading and alot of time with her and the vet and she is doing very well today. it took me 6 months every day some times just talking to her other times with my hand in her cage just to be able to touch her and well over a year to beable to go into her cage and pick her up.and a good book to read on them is melissa kaplan iguanas for dummiesor her web site is http://anapsid.org very helpful hope this helps iggirl1

This is a diet I used for my igs with great success. It should give you a base to start.

Some igs calm down quicker than others every one is different. Be patient and keep handling. Some igs don't like baths, but any lizard loves a good cuddle on a human hot rock that is watching a movie...spend time with him and you'll be alright.
Link

hi i just want to let you know about the diet you put up please becareful with some things listed in there like rhubard is a definelty a no no and tomatoes and cucumbers are not good for igs at all and i would not cook any of the vegs like it says for yams,sweet potatoes they will lose there nutrition value just shred the yam or sweet potatoes and fruit should only be on occasional like 1 time per week just though i would give my concern not every ig diet is perfect i follow the www.iguanaden.org diet and have a very heathy ig now. iggirl1

Hi - thank you (thank you everyone!)

I was on www.iguanaden.org before and I do like the site. I am going to follow that diet the best I can. Right now this little guy doesn't eat very much.....so buying all those items are going to go to waste if we do not utilize it for our home cooking as well. So I might not be able to give him all of it mixed every day - but I bet I can get most of it and alter it week by week.

no problem i like to help out anybody trying to give there igs a good home.you say its a small ig just buy small amount of like 2 things alternate vegs,and a fruit a week you should be fine good luck with your ig iggirl1

This was something I did many years back and keep refining through time. The basic diet is what I use for my ig.

Note: when things are cooked it meant to just soften I will need to make that change,although raw is best.

Is there a reason those ingrediants are not good before I change it on site.

Again, the loki diet is my mainstay and others are just for variety if you can keep that in mind. Thanks much.

hi yes tomatoes,cucmbers,iceberg,zucchini are some of the things that have no nutrition value. and to many calcium oxalates bind calcium when that happens mbd starts setting in. and as far as rhubarb is very high in it and most of it is toxic to igs so i just stay away from it hope this helped iggirl1

That was awsome info, could you tell me where you got it?

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html