Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this over in cycluras but i dont think anyones interssted,,,,,,,

i have an 8 year old male cuban rock iguana named Chaos. He is a free roamer, sleeps where he wants to , has the same eating place but latley hes goes to the bathroom wherever he wants,,,especially on my brand new couch, now all you iguana lovers know when an iggy goes potty somewhere no big deal , we clean it up and life goes on, well latly chaos has been using my brand new couch as his restroom, and not just the couch, on me sleeping on the couch , and im tired of it, i get home from work at 4 am and its easier to just crash on the couch , well chaos will usually climb up there with me and sleep for a while, he loves to snuggle, he thinks hes a puppy, anyway when hes ready to get up and go cause trouble in the house he goes potty, on the couch or me, wherever he happens to be,

im really fed up, my patience is wearing very very thin, i have an extremely high tolerance to his behaviors ( i have to we have 5 iggys) and im sick of him going ont he couch, short of covering it in plastic i dont know what to do, we try to paper train him but the cats think newspaper is a toy, and its hard to get an iguana to poop on paper when theres a cat underneat it

anyway im fishing for idea on how to get him to stop pooping everywhere, i need him to pick a spot and stay with it, not on me. the furniture or my sons toys,

his favorite activity is when my youngest son has all his matchbox cars lined up and organized chaos barrels through it like godzilla,,,,,then poops,
please help,

i have a green iguana and i use to have the same problem. i bought a litter tray filled it with a few layers of newspaper and i placed some of her fresh poo inside of it(not very nice i know)and she started to use it all the time but she still has the ocasional accident, or you could try a litter tray filled with water, lizard love to deffacate in their water bowls, iguanas in particular they are creatures of habbit.

Make the couch inaccessible to him while you're away.
Use positive reinforcement by using a litter tray or something similar. You can moisten the papers, or put 1/4" of water in it to enduce defecation (keep the papers or paper towels in!).

Cycluras are supposedly 'smart', so if you keep it consistent you'll be alright.
Good luck!

-IJ

Keep in mind that we are in Cyclura breeding season right now. Your boy's behavior may have something to do with that, as in he's marking territory. My suggestion would be to try to tub poop him every morning so that the deed is done. I'd also try to keep him from the room the couch is in until he's back to normal.