Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Holy you-know-what!

I was sitting on the couch, peacefully eating a burrito, when Grass dives from her perch, stomps across the living room, and proceeds to THROW HERSELF AT ME in an attempt to get to my food. She's never done anything like this before!! This is the first time in our four months together that I've actually been afraid of her. But when 6 pounds of claws and teeth are flying at your face...

Yikes. If this keeps up, she's going to lose her roaming privileges. What do I do? It's not like telling her "No, bad lizard!" would work, would it?

No, i dont think it would work!lol!My Godzilla did that too, one year ago.I was eating a cheese sandwich that he badly wanted!lol!Well, HE ate my sandwich, not me!lol! My advice?Never eat in front of your ig again!lol!!

IMO she's pretty bold with you. Femals can be just as aggressive as males. There may or may not be more aggression down the road. You might consider proving to her that you are the alpha creature in the house:

http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/breedingaggression.html

It's an article with techniques that are useful for both sexes.

Roger

> IMO she's pretty bold with you.

You nailed it there. She usually sports orange coloring, in fact, something I know doesn't happen a lot with females.

I've read the article you mentioned once before, but I'll have to go back & reread it more carefully this time. I think you're right, this needs to be curbed before it gets more serious.

Seriously

i made the mistake of giving sunshine a peice of bananna the other day (not too often...i know they have lots of phosporous) and now when ever i walk by her basking spot with one she DEFINATELY notices. She has also heard me making her dinner in the kitchen before....and got down from her perch and walked into the kitchen. Who thought iguanas would beg like dogs?

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"raised by a cup of coffee"

1.0 ball python- Azazel
1.0 columbian boa- Brooklyn
1.0 red blood python-Hiss
1.0 peach phase thayeri-Sancho
0.1 creamsicle corn- Pandora
0.1 partial stripe ghost corn- Raven
1.1 hognose- Pricilla and Odd
0.1 russian tortoise- Manja
0.1.1 leos- Boji and Kodama
0.1 beardie- Indie
1.0 BTS- Griffon
0.1 Iggy- Sunny
0.0.2 Red american toadlets with 0.0.7 legs total (er, i have one w/3....)
0.0.1 gray tree frog toadlet
0.0.6 land snails
0.0.2 millipedes of unknown species from TN
0.0.1 spotted slug
5.3 bettas
0.1 pacific parrolet- Mishka
1.1 cats- Cairo and Oberon
2.3 ratties Rizzo, Bounce, Bree, Blitzkreig, and Zelda

I'm sorry but I am laughing. Not at the seriousness here but it made me think of what Forest did to me earlier this week.

His previous owners used to give him chicken when they grilled out. He'd smell it & came running. Apparently that smell has stuck with him. He once sat in my kitchen for an hour & a half when I cooked chicken. It didn't dawn on me until later that HE'D WANTED THAT CHICKEN. Poor baby....

Anyway, I made chicken & yellow rice the other night. We all ate our dinner & afterwards I went to turn of Forest's UVB light & lower the shade by his bed. I leaned down to give him a pat & (I have ALWAYS done this) gave him a smooch on his jowl. He's always sucked it up & I enjoy lovin on my lizard but THAT day (I'm guessing because I had chicken on my breath) BAM! He nailed me on my cheek! Has NEVER bit before! Wow! I screamed (LOL) more out of suprise than fright but dang! I looked down at him & there he was licking those chops. He must have smelled the chicken.

Lesson: NEVER kiss my baby with chicken on my breath! I've sported a nice V-shaped bite on my cheek for the past week.

I hope you figure it out. Good luck. I just thought I'd share. (Was NOT going to share out of humiliation!!!) LOL, but hey...

You could kiss him a thousand times, and then for no apparent reason get severely bitten. What if he grabbed your lips and rolled? Cosmetic surgery can't necessarily make torn lips look right again.

Roger

I understand but Forest has never bitten before. The only reason I think he did was the smell of chicken on my breath. He's a very well behaved ig.

I don't think you understand how much he apparently LOVES something he no longer gets. The smell was too much.

However, I'm MUCH more aware of how he's acting when I give him lovin's from now on.

I remember seeing on his adoption papers that his previous owners also gave him other "doggie-bag" goodies....chicken, shrimp, lobster....

I'll be brushing my teeth before he gets his "good-nights" from now on. LOL.

But thanks, something for me to think about.

Terri

I have a friend with a 5' male she raised right from a hatchling. she bent over him to pick him up once and he nailed her and bit up her face. the cosmetic surgery did a pretty good job of hiding the scars, but it is not 100% perfect
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Sarah
IgWhippedInFlorida
groups.yahoo.com/group/IgWhippedInFlorida/