Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First of all, hi guys. I´m not gonna say I´m new here cuz I´ve been here already a little time ago.
I´m from Brazil, and in 2000 I went to Chicago to live with a family for a year. And I loved it! Well, ok, let me go straight to the question.
I have 3 igs, one of them is an adult male and is very mean (i love him anyways), and the other two is a couple and they are about a year old. The female is very docile, and the male is starting to get territorial, so it has become hard for me to deal with him. Well, i´d like to ask Ig_Daddy how old were your ig when you let her free roam, and how did you do, cuz I wanna do this to my female, but I´m sure that the moment I let her free in my room she will get her self into the first hole she find. She´s about 60 inches (here in Brazil we use meter, and here she´s about 80 centemeters) now and the only place I put her when she isn´t in the cage is on my shoulder.
I have lots of herps and the only one I always have problem taming is the ig. Well, I apreciate your help and I´m sorry if my english is messed up, I know I need to practice it a lot.
Thanks guys, I´m a big fan of this forum.
Daniel

How do I post pics here??

I cant tell you about free roaming because i dont know, but i can tell you about posting pics. You need to first click on the "photo gallery" icon at the top of the page. Then you upload your photos there. After you have done that the option will come up to select a picture when you post a messege!
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

Thanks Altered, here's my little girl!!!

Mine has "freckles", too. Are those more markings on her face, or food, or what?

Anyway, as to free roaming, whether or not you're successful in doing that, you should seperate your male and female igs. In fact, you should never cage igs with each other. Eventually, you may even have to find different rooms for them... Flavia has two males, and she says the never, ever see each other because they get too agressive.

Let's see, 60 inches is five feet long!! Are you sure that's right? The iguana whose picture you posted is way too little to free roam. Don't feel bad that she's skittish, all babies are. Until they're bigger, they think you're going to eat them, and it has nothing to do with whether you're a good owner or not.

My iguana used to free roam. He is three years old and about three feet long. It was not a good option for him, especially when breeding season arrived. He just hurt himself too much, and I feel didn't get enough UV light. But maybe it will be different when your girl gets bigger! Good luck, she is adorable. Do you have pictures of the others?

Hi girlzila, the mark on her face is some papaya she ate a few days ago.
You´re right, she isn´t 60 inches long, not at all, she is about 30 inches... I told you, here in Brazil we use meters, so I have no idea how many inches she is. But I think 30 is her right size. About free roam right now, I think she´s way to small too, I´m thinking about doing that later, after she grow up a little. And about male and female in the same cage, they aren´t together. I separeted them 5 monthes ago. When I got them they were so tiny it wasn´t a problem to house them together, but since he started to get territorial I didn´t think twice.
My adult male was a "gift". My biology teacher gave him to me when he was just a little baby. He was dehydrated, with a broken limb... awful. But I spent lots of money and time qith him, now he is a 2 feet long big mean male.
I have other pictures I´m gonna post later. Thanks for the tips, do you have pictures of your igs??? I´d love to see them.
Thanks again.
Daniel
(sorry for my english...)

Wish you could see his "freckles" a little better here, but he's dark because he's soaking up the sun!

If you want to write to Ig Daddy directly, find something he posted and then click on his name at the top of his post.

He might be able to help you out with iguana proofing your house- that's part of the reason I don't let mine free roam; we have an open floor plan (no doors) and it is too easy for him to get into trouble if he's not supervised. Too hard for me, but he does get a lot of roaming time when we're home with him. Here's Bud!

Bud is beautiful!!! What a nice male! Great spikes!
Here is my adult male. Some of his fingers are missing, and so is part of his tail, but that's how I got him. Poor little baby he was... but now he is a happy adult male and can be very mean when he wants...
Ops... look at the papaya on his face... they just love it!

What a beautiful iguana...

.

Hello;
Iggi was about one year old when we let her free roam. She wanted out of the enclosure so badly, she used to stand up on the driftwood, and hold her arms up for us to come pick her up. Before we took her out of the enclosure the first time, we went around the house, "ig proofing" it. We then bought a floor-to-ceiling cat tree, and put a baby receiving blanket over a human heating pad, for warmth. This was her bed for about a year. Our job of raising Iggi as a free roamer was made easier by the fact that we have no young children or other pets. Your job with 3 igs will be harder. I reccomend a separate room for each ig. Good luck, and keep us posted on how it works out. I have attached a photo of Iggi just before we let her free roam.

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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

How would it work out for an iguana to "free roam" but locked just in one room instead of through the whole house unless I'm there? I guess that's kinda the point of a cage though...
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~Shana~

Anything other than a cage will make for a happier iguana, in my opinion. Iguanas like to move around. They get bored being cooped up. A room is a definite improvment over a cage. Please "ig-proof" the room first though!
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~

Hey, thanks for the help. I will only try with Tania, the female, since she is very docile. My adult male lives in his outdoor enclouser, while the younger one has a cage big enough to house him for years. It's funny, cuz I was going to buy a cat tree already... I still have to "ig proof" my room though(I won't let her roam around the whole house), puting nets on the windows, taking some stuff out, stuff that I don't use anymore.
And she does the same thing Iggy used to do, trying to get out of her cage, almost asking me to take her out. I think I'll let her grow a little bit more, than I'll let her free.
Here is another picture of her, after lunch time.
Well, thanks again!

Sounds like a good idea. If you have Iguanas for Dummies, read the section on free roaming. There are a lot of floor-level things to look for. If you don't have this book (I recommend it), go to www.anaspid.org, and you can find it there.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~