Reptile & Amphibian Forums

And hates me for a day or two if I try to make him do any of these things. Have tried leash/no leash. He's 40", 10+ lbs and just turned 5 (hatchday 10/16/05). Is there a "natural calming" that is typical, or must I do the hard work of training him into this?

He seems to be getting worse, not better. I remember jumping on the train with him in my hands when he was 2-3 years old, but that seems like a crack dream right now.

He is tamer inside than ever, hangs out with my 2 and 3 year old boys with zero drama. He becomes a danger outside though, to me AND to himself. He climbs up the side of the cage then does a backwards twist off the side; I think he's gonna brain himself one these times. Ha gapes and whips at me. He's not vicious, he's just ultra-scared. Nothing bad has ever happened to him outside though. My wife's opinion is that he's just an inside guy now, and that's just the way it is.

I would love to take him outside on warm sunny days (he has an outside enclosure)to get some REAL sun.

Thoughts, cheap shots and bon mots welcome.

Jon

p.s. I have a hide that I built with a sliding door modeled as best I could after the portable hides they use on QEII. I tried to take him in his hide to his outdoor enclosure and I opened his door just enough to allow him out if and when he wanted to come out on his own timing. It ended up being one of the worst attempts. He shot out and went buckwild all over the place and evacuated his bowels etc etc. FYI.

if you really want him comfortable doing this stuff you have to keep exposing him to it. They hate change, he's out of his territory. They get used to it after a while. How much "a while" is is different per lizard.
Glad you still have him! When you coming up?

jf

Yeah I still have him, that was just a hiccup thankfully. I may be able to get up there sometime the next couple of months; I'm hoping to.

He's really a good guy... climbs up next to (or on) anyone to get some scratches or see if they have fruit they don't need. But outside something clicks in his brain. I don't think it's warm enough here enough days in a row to get any kind of traction to train him. Seems like too big a gap between trips outside.

Can't wait to see the new one... who feeding him, you or your son? Hope he doesn't lose interest.

Petranella is DEATHY afraid of the outdoors... scared out of her brains and she is 5 years old too.

I have taken her into the car, and unless she is in a carrier it is psycho time. If she is in the carrier, she presses one eye up to a slit the whole time its HILAROUS.

She is also afraid of heights, and the stairs..if im not hugging her tight enough. And you know how yr afraid he's gonna hurt himself? Well she did this past egg laying season, somehow she kinked her tail, so now she is slightly bendy....

That being said, she is a great monster, very cute and personable...except she has a crazy pooping problem which I guess I will start a new thread on. She is constantly crapping, (healthy crap) marking her territory I guess. Its embarassing.

So much is a surprise with these guys. Although they are wild animals (see below) you can never predict what they will acclimate to (or even enjoy). I would never have assumed that my iguana would use the toilet, but he does and in his case, it was easy. And I know that a bunch of folks would like to have toilet trained igs but it's not gonna happen.

In all likelihood he may never warm up to the outside. But if there was some wisdom out there I didn't want to miss out on it.

It's not like I want to be able to take him everywhere on my shoulder. I just want him to be able to enjoy being outside basking in the sun when it's sunny.

Well, wouldn't treat iguanas to act like a dog or cat.. they are and they will stay wild animals..

I forgot.

They can adapt to be outside. Animals in the wild adapt to changes in environment all the time. Usually, the more gradual it is the better for them, but they sometime don't get the luxury in the wild. However, captivity you want to reduce the amount of stress if you can just in case something were to happen. You can get into the habit of get her outside at the same time and day. Getting into a routine really cut back on the stress they will experience. You can gradually increase the amount of time she spent outside. The notion that they can't adapt to human is ridiculous IMO and that we shouldn't handle them. In the wild they encounter many changes and stressful situation. I think it is quite beneficial to get the animals use to you, your family and human contact. Animals that are more relaxed around people in captivity are not as stressed out as the ones not being allowed to get familiar with people and handled. Animals that are used to people adapt better, eat better, and grow better in captivity. This is particularly very useful during emergency when you need to handle them--they don't get as stressed out.