Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This new iguana of mine seems to explore the world through his mouth, trying to chew anything interesting- a stain in the carpet, the hinges on the cage door, wood, bowls, light fixtures, etc. I watch him and it doesn't look like aggressive play, and the bites aren't even hard ones. I wonder if I should provide him with some chew toys of some sort and thought maybe someone here would have some ideas of good things.

I didn't know if I should go more for bird toys with bright colored blocks, or something more like dog toys. Stuff that's big enough to chew without choking on it.

I'm also curious about his adversion to bright light. He tries to swat at the basking light hanging overhead, and if out of the cage I have to unplug it and take it down because he tries to knock it down and eat it.

sigh...

And, I think he just tried to mate with my head, or just decided my hair would make a good playtoy. He latched on to my hair. I just sat there calmly at first thinking no biggie, it was kind of gentle, and then he climbed my head and wouldn't let go, pulling it as he went. Ouch. Now, I hope he doesn't get sick. He ended up coming away with a mouthful of hair. He's never been aggressive toward me before, but he's throwing lots of orange, so I'm either invading his space or he loves me.

~L~

i dont know abotu chew toys or lights, but Zephyr loves to eat my hair, as well. dry iggi salivia is pretty sticky, too...Sarah

Ugh,

He did it to me again yesterday. But, he was a lot more gentle about it this time and was just kind of chewing it rather than trying to rip it out. I still had to get him off and give him a serious "bad iggy". I don't want him trying to do something like than when he's full grown. He's probably 5 pounds tops right now. Add another ten or so, and that's really going to hurt. :-/

How do you deal with the hair chewing thing? Are you ever worried he'll get a hairball?

~L~

hes only chewed 2 or 3 times, so im not worried about it getting caught in his digestion tract, and i usually get all my hair back in place..although when i set him down and go to wash the ig spit out of my hair he always looks at me with a peice of brown hair sticking out of his mouth , brat..

Sarah