Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well My Ig is making no progress! I try to handle him everyday but its very frustrating! It's very hard to get him to settle down, and when he does......His mouth never closes! He's always waiting for a chance to bite the hell out of me. Even if I have been holding him for 30-35 minutes, his mouth is ready to strike. What can I do? Please help, Im about to lose my patience with it!

Keep at it. It could take as long as a year for an ig to settle down, its not an overnight process. If you can somehow put him away while he's quiet and not fighting, it will help. Try shortening the handling periods to the point where he's more comfortable, even if its 5 minutes, so that he's being put away calm and isn't associating you with something he has to flee. Then work on getting a longer handling time, bit by bit. For the first month, I couldn't open my ig's cage without him attacking with teeth and tail. It was another two before I could do more than stroke his foot without getting a bad reaction. Now, he's not bad at all once he's out, and even getting him out of his cage is getting better, but its taken 9 months.

I tell this to people on other sites.

"IF YOU WANT A NICE ANIMAL THAT'S LOYAL AND NICE BUY A DOG NOT AN IGUANA!"

Iguanas are something you really have to stick with. My iguana is now tame and is a big baby. And before it was a blood sucking dragon. And he might be a little grumpy because he knows you are in a bad mood. They wont tame themselves, that only happens in movies.

>>What can I do?

The only things you can do are to work with the ig daily, have patience, work with the iguana daily, and be persistant. And did I mention work with the iguana daily, be patient and persistant?

Another thing you can to is to contact the local herp society, herp or iguana rescue, or local reptile vets and get the names of people who are very experienced in working with untamed iguanas. Then contact them and see if one of them will come to your home to watch you work with your iguana. I've found a that a lot of people think they are doing things right (i.e., following the recommendations in my Iguana Care, Feeding & Socialization and related articles), but when I watch them, I see that they aren't - and these are the little things that can make a big difference in how your iguana perceives and responds to you. After working with the person's ig for 5-10 minutes, modeling proper approach, grabs and holds, and watching the person practice the right moves, that is often all it takes to convert a dysfunctional approach to an effective one, which can do wonders to speed things along.

But even doing everything correctly, it can still take 6-9 months until the iguana stops running from you and fussing every time you go to pick it up, so even when equipped with the right technique, you still need patience and persistance.

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PH Meliss
Pet Hobbyist Volunteer * Iguana Forum
Iguanas for Dummies
Anapsid.org: Herp Care, Societies/Rescues, Vets, Resources

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP. I REALLY DONT WANT TO GIVE UP ON THE GUY BUT IT'S REALLY HARD. YOU GUYS ARE ALL GREAT!!!