Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What do you guys do with your males during breeding season? Luke is being impossible! This is BY FAR the worst he has ever been! I just dont know what to do. I cant leave him in his cage or he sratches at the front door CONSTANTLY, resulting in nails ripped out and blood everywhere. I cant let him out either, or he runs into sliding glass doors, injuring his snout, or crawls in or under any small crevice he can find. Last year he got into the walls, and I had to practically tear down the kitchen with a sledgehammer to get him out. HE IS A FREAK!!! I am a vet tech, so I was able to bring home some antibiotic cream (Silver Sulfadiazine) and antiseptic rinse (Nolvasan), but it doesnt even make a difference, because he is constantly reopening the wounds. He has allready ripped out 3 claws and torn up his snout. I feel so sorry for him, but I dont know what else to do. Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks for letting me vent...

I don't know how long he needs to be in something where he won't get hurt, but I know when my iggys are in the tub they can't get out. There is nothing for them to grab their claws into and they just get tired from trying to climb and lay down. My new big iggy went roaming in the bathroom and got himself in the tub. I looked all over for him and found him in there. He was tired from all the excersize and was sleeping. I felt bad for him, but at least he can'tget hurt in there. I guess you could set up heat and light in there for him too. It's a thought. I hope you figure a way to help him. I guess that is something I'll have to look forward to now that I have a male green iggy.

what are the sides of his cage made out of? you could try putting up some clear contact paper.. that way the sides of the cage would be slick and you can still see hima nd he can still see you? or you could always put up som plexi glass..
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Last year there were days I felt bad going to work because I didn't know what condition Bud would be in when I got home. Sometimes I considered making a little padded cell for him.

One day he tore up and bloodied a good 3 sq. feet of carpet trying to get outside the patio door. He lost three claws and broke some others and had left a trail of blood back up to his perch. He bashed up his chin, and it was almost better when he jumped off a dresser and knocked the scab off. He still has a little pink scar on his chin where the scales haven't grown in yet...

And for some reason, he was irresistably attracted to the color GREY. My grey sweatpants, my boyfriend's grey shirt, you name it. Not green. He ignored any "love" toys I put in with him. But had he continued this way, I had been considering buying one of those realistic "love socks" that has rice or gel in them that you heat up. Have you tried love socks?

I also think the bathtub is a very good idea, although it depends on your setup. Bud was able to climb out of the bathtub somehow, whether there was water or not! But the curvature of the tub might prevent him from bashing up his face quite so much.

That brings up something else. Last year I had to paper over part of the plexi on Bud's cage because he was attacking his reflection. It took me a while to figure this out- it was only visible during the middle of the day, when the angle of the light was just right. I never saw it because I wasn't home. Maybe taping paper on the inside of the glass/plexi will calm your iguana down some. It's boring for him to look at all day I know, but in the end, I decided I would rather have him bored than injured.

Another thing I did is that I shifted his lighting schedule. They went on later in the morning and stayed on later at night. This way, more of his "active" warm hours occurred when I was home and could keep an eye on him. When I left for work, he was just "warming up" and probably got into less trouble while I was away... I remember having to skip the gym and other things after work a lot to rush home and keep an eye on him, though!

Looked for love sock, couldn't find even one. Where do you find them?

Ha ha! I finally found it! I've been looking all day...
http://www.iggear.com/IgMate_MonitorMate.htm

Here are directions for making your own, too.
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/luvsock.html

THANKS!!! Hope it works. Kinda funny, its like a blow-up doll for my ig! I'll keep you posted...

I have heard some people say that switching daylight hours so that the ig will think that breeding season is over can help.
Good luck