Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi Everyone,

Two days ago my dad and I installed a new shelf in Myka's cage. It's larger, closer to her light (the previous shelf was too low), and the temperature there is warmer (the temperature had been slightly lower than I'd like on the last shelf).

Myka's behavior in her cage has changed quite dramatically. Before, I never had to worry about her, I would always touch her and talk to her and not worry about any forms of aggression. But, since the new shelf was installed, she will gape open her mouth, and even make moves towards my face. She seems frusterated, and will even bite at the wall sometimes. She's displayed this before when she is stressed out about something though, but never to this degree.

Out of the cage, Myka is her sweet, normal self. She appears to really like the new shelf, but could this aggression just be because she is upset with the change? Or is this something I may have to deal with from now on?

If this IS a dominance issue, does anyone have any suggestions at how I can prevent it from escalating any further?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I'm kind of worried about my girl!

Thanks again.

Wendy
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"It's not a matter of IF...but WHEN" ~Bill Haast~

"Joy unspeakable...to be holding death in your hands..."

Iguanas are pains in the @$$ when it comes to even the slightest change in their daily life.

Putting a new shelf in her enclosure is pretty much like putting a new traffic light in New York... either way you get a very nasty reaction from both! lol

The fact that she stays "tame" outside of it pretty much proves that the shelf alone is possibly the cause of the behavioral change.

Everytime your hand has to enter the cage, offer her a treat, that way your hand becomes a positive presence in her small dominion. After a while she will get used to it, and should not be so aggressive anymore.

Iguanas are like that. I guess you can say they're anal creatures when you change their interior decor.

Keep us posted,

-IJ

Hi,

I've seen this behavior many times with several iguanas. I'd hate to say it, but it sounds like your iguana is now acting like a normal iguana! LOL When iguanas are very comfortable in their surroundings, they want to defend it at all costs. Does she only behave like that when she's on her new basking ledge?

We've rehabilitated several iguanas, i.e. taken them from an inadequate enclosure and put them in proper habitats, and we've also tried optimizing habitats that weren't necessarily inadequate (i.e. the iguana was happy in it) but we needed to make it easier to clean.

The reaction was pretty much always the same: whenever the iguana was put into an optimal environment, it would become aggressive to anyone who tried to approach it when it was on its basking ledge. At the same time, it showed obvious contentment while in its enclosure -- basking, thermoregulation, eating well, etc. Also, an iguana that is happy in its enclosure rarely ever wants to come out. (when you have an ig that constantly scratches at the door and seems happy when you take him out, there's usually a problem with the environment)

However, whenever the ig was moved from an enclosure in which it was already happy to a new or modified enclosure (modified for our convenience), the ig was visibly disturbed by it. Some adapt after a few days or few weeks, but we have one aging female (she's going to be 11 next spring) who absolutely refused the new cage. She went off her food and stayed on the ground of the enclosure, hiding behind the water tub. This went on for two months until finally, we decided to give her back her old enclosure. Much to our dismay, I might add; we had to take the new enclosure appart, rent a moving truck to put it into storage and put up her old enclosure. Yep, sometimes igs really are a pain in the (I won't say the word)... LOL

Sorry for the long post, it happens to be something we've had a lot of experience with and we got excited at the opportunity to share it. Hope it helps!

Julie