Reptile & Amphibian Forums

If you remember, a couple of weeks ago I took in a male 1 1/2 foot Iguana that had been dumped at the local Petco. Since the first day I got him he has been very agressive. He has been a tail whipper and bite threatener since he came home. On Monday he actually made contact and took a chuck out of my finger. Tonight he got me even worse and gave me a deep bite on my thumb. I'm starting to lose patience as it is painful to even be around him. Since he is now under proper lights and getting proper food he seems to be getting stronger and nastier. I have tried to handle him gently each day. Coaxing him with treats, bathing him regularly, and scratching his neck. None of this has helped with his temperment. I know nothing of his background, but he came to me with slight MBD. I'm at my wits end on how to handle him. I need your advise on how to tame him and get him to calm down. I want him to stop the tail whipping but most of all the biting has got to stop. Please advise what has worked for you and how long does it take? This is only my second Iguana. My first is a 4 foot long male (also an adoptee) who is a love-bug.
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2 Iguanas, 2 Beardies, 1 Leo, 1 African Fat Tail, 1 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 1 Fla Garter Snake, 1 Banded California King Snake, 1 Corn Snake, 3 Fire Belly Toads, 1 Eastern Painted Turtle, 1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses, 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....

My friend Rob has a young male that is also very aggressive. I've been bitten a total of 4 times, 3 were bad enough to draw quite a bit of blood. You just have to realize that your new adoptee isn't going to change overnight. He/she isn't going to change for quite a while, for that matter. You just have to be persistant, and try to make EVERY interaction as positive as you can. Instead of picking him up, try luring him onto your hand with a piece of food or something. That works pretty well with Chong (Rob's ig).

Also, have you tried wearing gloves? That will at least keep you from losing flesh! lol... My iguana, Buddy, absolutely HATES when I wear gloves though, so I don't know. She's a sweetie most of the time... I guess she just can't tell it's me when I have the gloves on.

And whatever you do, PLEASE don't kill him! He just doesn't trust people... He thinks he belongs in the wild and can't figure out why he's in a cage. Just give him time. With time and love, he should calm down quite a bit. There are some igs that never tame, but most do to some extent. Just keep at it and don't give up!

-Howie

Not to worry, I'm not actually gonna Kill Him. I'm just frustrated. I don't think I could actually bring myself to do damage to him. I wasn't expecting him to change over night but I was hoping for a little improvment by now. I'll try the treat thing but as soon as My hand goes into the cage, He starts whipping! Actually, if I go NEAR the cage, without even opening it, He starts whipping!! And If I don't leave from Him doing that, Then He starts lunging to bite!!! At this point, I'll give anything a try.

And as for the Electric Shock thing, I would do that to My dog (She's large and Strong) nevermind an animal as sensitive as a baby Iguana! And Teaching Him tricks? No way. Igs are to much like cats, they aren't designed to learn tricks.
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2 Iguanas, 2 Beardies, 1 Leo, 1 African Fat Tail, 1 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 1 Fla Garter Snake, 1 Banded California King Snake, 1 Corn Snake, 3 Fire Belly Toads, 1 Eastern Painted Turtle, 1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses, 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....

AAArgh! I keep writing this and getting disconnected! So I'll write this in Word, and cut and paste later. :

Well, Bud isn't nearly the hulk your boy is, but as for tail whipping, I have found the best thing is to lightly restrain the tail between my arm and my body, so he can't get a wind-up to whack at optimum power! I never hold the tail still with my hand; I'd be afraid he'd drop it. If he's just wagging the tail back and forth and wriggling around, like, "Hey! Where are we going?!" I just hold him up and away from me. This seems to calm him down. But if you have a "sudden wallop for no apparent reason" iguana, this might not work for you.

As for biting, Flavia posted an interesting solution a while ago: wool gloves. Yyyyech! I tried biting them (before exposing my fingers to a particularly angry Bud one day) and it is SO gross, like having a filling and biting tinfoil. I suppose it feels the same to them.
And, they're not so thick that you have trouble judging how much you're squeezing him.
Then again, there's another guy on this forum who swears by welding gloves. He's got a big old monster ig, if I remember rightly.

Some people coat their hands with vinegar, but I wouldn't want to be bitten while waiting for my ig to learn that "fingers taste bad".

But what worked for me to stop at least the threat of biting, was to hiss and gape my mouth right back at Bud when he did that, and a lot louder or bigger than he ever could. He would stop, and think, "Man, that iguana has a HUGE mouth, better not mess with HER!"

Protect yourself from injury, but don't let him learn that biting and whipping make humans go away. I know there are some people that have untamable, untouchable igs, but hope springs eternal, I guess. Just remember to tell the emergency workers that you need antibiotics for both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. :

Sorry, it's not where I wanted it to be posted! I was posting from a computer somewhere else, and it kept disconnecting!

NP