Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I used to have a big male iguana, 6ft tip to tail, who lived free range in my house. For basking he spent his summers on a log on the big screened porch and his winters on a window ledge.
He passed after 14 years.

Several years later I inherited a male iguana 4 1/2ft long and also lives free range. He eats in the kitchen, poops in the bathtub and spends his days on a window ledge that also has a UV lamp.

When he gets out on the screen porch, he rubs his nose on the screen until it's raw. I built a HUGE enclosure in the back yard using hardware cloth, but he rubed his nose until raw, so I changed it to poultry netting (chicken wire), but he still rubs.

The other thing is, this is the first iguana I can recall having that can't FINALLY understand that the iguana in the mirror is himself -- this one admires for an hour and then charges, admires for an hour and charges, etc.

Has anyone developed any sucessful techniques for overcoming these behaviors?

First the nose rubbing....igs just wanna get out. I know chicken wire is pretty harsh. I would go with mesh that is vinyl or plastic coated in some way to reduce the trauma. My ig will try to rub on his outdoor basking cage sometimes, but it never gets raw. It's made of some type of thick plastic mesh that gives a bit. His indoor cage is made of plastic coated wire. If it's a sore spot, you can keep it clean and put neosporin on it to keep it from getting infected.

As for the reflection, I think that's also an ig thing. My male ig displays at any reflection of himself, whether it's breeding season or not. During breeding season last winter he would even display at his reflection in photo frames. Perhaps some are just worse then others. I try to keep him from doing that so he's not stressed and so he doesn't misplace that aggression onto me.