Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have posted twice now about my grumpy iguana who has been "charging" at me periodically. Well lately, in the past few days, he has been back to his old habits. He was lying in the sun & I knelt down to give him some raspberries & he puffed up & started to circle me, doing that thing with his tail where he shakes the end back & forth. This is normal for him in his grumpy stage. But this time he jumped up on my knees & tried to bite my arms so I tried to calm him down by petting him, which usally works. But I stopped for a minute to fix my hair & he charged at my stomach, bit me & latched on until I threw him off. I looked down & there were teeth holes & blood on my tank top & I lifted up my shirt to see slices of skin missing! Two of the marks on the top part from his upper jaw were deep & my skin was seperated pretty bad, so I went to urgent care at the advisement of my boyfriend, just in case.
I went & walked out with 5 butterfly bandages, a tetanus shot & an Rx for some antiobiotics in case it starts to get infected! Both the doctor & the nurse advised me to "get rid of him" but I said that wasn't an option, as I am almost positive Porfi is going thru a seasonal stage & will get over his meanness. If not, then I will have to figure something out.

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Danielle
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1 male Chinese water dragon, 3 female leos, 1 adopted male iguana, 2 green anoles, 1 blue anole, 3 male bettas, 1 female betta...
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I was bitten by my male iguana , Godzilla (7/8 years old), too a few months ago.He became grumppy after i bought 3 other males iguanas and never came back to his sweet old personality again!Not happy with that first bite (that almost cut off 2 of my fingers) he was always trying to get my face! As i need my face intact for work and social life purposes i got rid of him!
My heart was broken because i loved him a lot but after 8 months of " grumpiness" and attacks at my face i gave up and adopted him out!

Poor Flavia I didn't realize you had adopted Godzilla out, that must have been so hard! I hope he's doing well in his new home, I'm sure you are keeping in touch. How's he doing, do you know? I know you adopted Zombie out too, I was wondering how he was as well.

To make this related, Tempest has started head bobbing and whacking at his cage, acting generally grumpy, so I have no doubt he will be coming into season soon. The plans are to have his new enclosure done in the next couple of weeks so I can move him before he's really difficult. So far, he's still good, just the odd grumpy thing and he comes out to stomp about much more than he used to a month ago.

Both are doing great i know that but i didnt have courage to visit them yet!I know if i see Godzilla again and he is a tiny bit less wild ill take him back thats why im avoiding any visit!The main problem with Godzilla was the constant presence of my other 3 adult males!That enraged him so much he wanted to kill everybody including me!So dont worry about your baby!Even if it has a bad breeding season he would overcome it easily!

...by that Henry Lizardlover guy. I am guessing my ig is the "type 4" agressive biter listed in the article, he also started chasing me today!!! Bad iguana!!! This better be temporary.

http://www.todaysplanet.com/pg/beta/lizardlover/page6.htm
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Danielle
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1 male Chinese water dragon, 3 female leos, 1 adopted male iguana, 2 green anoles, 1 blue anole, 3 male bettas, 1 female betta...
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Generally it is temporary... It's called breeding season. My iguana turned into a complete monster last year for about four months, and it took another 2-3 months for me to really trust him again. I found giving him something to take his aggression out on helped somewhat (the photo is about 6 months old)... Fortunately, this year he isn't showing signs of being so mean (yet - which is good since he weighs almost twice what he did last year), although breeding season is obviously just around the corner. He is very orange these days, and constantly stomping all over my apartment, not content being anywhere, and hardly eating anything.

Good luck and be careful. Iguanas are sneaky... The only times I've been bitten were when I wasn't paying attention...

>>...by that Henry Lizardlover guy. I am guessing my ig is the "type 4" agressive biter listed in the article, he also started chasing me today!!! Bad iguana!!! This better be temporary.

This is a photo of Dexter showing some pre-breeding season colors. They are actually quite muted in this photo. He is much more orange if he has been out in the sun for a bit.

Another thing to keep in mind: be careful what you wear. Certain colors will upset your iguana (well at least mine anyway). I have a couple of green shirts I can't wear in the house. They really piss him off. It's headbob city if I wear one. He has even attacked the shirt while it was sitting on my bed...

I dont think iguanas have a fixed and definitive personality!My Godzilla, for instance, was the most sweet cutepie in the whole world and he started to be mean only (after 4 years i have had him),when my other male igs had their first breeding season.The competion made him mad!

Lots of things can make an iguana change its personality for better and for worse!In general jealousy (the presence of other pets in the house, igs or not), not feeling well, cage requirements not fullfiled, etc...One of my others males, Shena, was very naughty, squirming, wringgling and puffing every time i tryied to handle him! Since i put him alone in a huge new cage with plenty of space he became sweet as an angel!Try to find out what is bothering your ig before you gave him up!I adopted Godzilla out because i realized that i had no choice but to choose between him and my others males and i could not get rid of my others males because i raise them almost since birth!

I was refering to H.Lizardlover!

Well Porfi is a free roamer & has my whole 720 sq ft 1-bedroom apartment to move around in, he has "natural sun" time either out on the balcony or thru an open window, he has his spot on the couch w/a heat pad and a UV lamp, he eats twice a day, he gets to sleep in my bed when I'm not home (since I work until 3am some nites) so I'd say he's pretty well taken care of.

I do have a water dragon that sits in his tank about 25-30 feet away from where Porfi usually hangs out. I noticed that when I am tending to the dragon & feeding him, etc, Porfi notices & he has actually ran over to me twice to see what or who I was talking to. Then once he figured out it was another green creature I am dealing with, he charges at the tank & tries to go after the dragon until the dragon either hides under his log or submerses himself in the water, which is really stressful for him. So I am thinking that if igs really do get jealous, I will raise the dragon's tank so that Porfi can't see in or move it to my bedroom (where my leopard gecko's tank is) and keep that room off limits.

I also tried making a "lizard" out of one of my green shirts but he just licked it over & over and tried to eat it like it was food. Maybe I should just get a mannaequin's head & let him attack that!!!

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Danielle
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1 male Chinese water dragon, 3 female leos, 1 adopted male iguana, 2 green anoles, 1 blue anole, 3 male bettas, 1 female betta...
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Not only jealous of you but jealous of HIS HOME, HIS APARTMENT, HIS PROPERTY!Iguanas are VERY territorial!I remember the 1st time i bought Godzilla home he liked my apartment so much he didnt want to allow us to go inside!lol!Thats true!Like a dog he stayed at the front door attacking us each time we wanted to go in!lol!Well after that he really became a sweet ig and he used to sleep in my daughters bed!Sharing her pillow! But when my other males grew up and became his competitors he became a wild green monster and i needed to adopt him out!
Iguanas are like cats, they do love and defend their houses!Perhaps if you give him a big and confortable cage to defend he will give up your apartmnet and give it back to you!Why dont you try that?Give him his own territory to defend and try not to enter HIS house!lol!