Reptile & Amphibian Forums

You remember the picture of my Desert iguana Holly that I posted a little while ago? Well she has recently acquired a new little man friend. I had him quarentined for 3 weeks and I finally introduced him to her. I thought she was gonna kick his a#$ at first. She wacked him with her tail and blew herself up and blew out her dewlap. He did pushups and head shakes in return. After a couple of minutes, he would do the push ups and head shakes and she would respond with puffing out her dewlap and lifting her tail a bit, but she didn't wack him again. Then 2 seconds later they were calm and laying next to each other. Do you think this is a mating ritual. Now, a day later, they are inseperable and she doesn't do any of this anymore although on occasion he still does the push ups. He is the one on the right. His name is Silvio.

Sounds like she may have been defending her territory.

Head shakes and push-ups by the male usually are a sign of a mating ritual in reptiles.