Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been lurking on this forum for awhile,reading posts and looking at pictures of rhino iguanas that seem very comfortable around their owners and people.I have a rhino for about 1.5 years and he's still nervous does not like to be handled.The progress is sooo slow,more than any lizard I've ever had.Its very discouraging.So my question is how did your rhinos become tame?Did you handle them fom young?Did you leave them alone until one day they were tame?Or are there individuals that are just nicer than others?thanks joe

Getting mine to eat out of my hand the the best thing i did to calm mine down. He's 17 months now and dog tame . I used a stick with a peace of banana on it and after he ate that off the stick calmly , i then moved my hand down the stick . As long as he remained calm i moved my hand 1-2'' every other week until he was eating within a 1'' of my hand . Them he ate off the palm of my hand . I then move my hand away from his basking rock and made him reach so far he had to step on my hand to get the banana , then i added my other had so he had to step on both hand to reach the food . when he got to that stage i would move him up slowly up and down and then put him gently back on his basking rock . After he did this calmly i would raise him a little higher each week until i could hold hi outside his cage . This worked for me and mine has been tame now and able to hold him for over 8 months . This worked for him . BUT i did ot rush anything and did it at his pace . I have had him less than a year .

http://www.youtube.com/user/rgkempton#p/u/5/39rHiNRzhng

hope this works

I think your kids will like it .

http://www.youtube.com/user/rgkempton#p/u/5/39rHiNRzhng
Link

that weird !!

not sure were " i think you kids will like this '' came from ?? I did not type that . LOL

2 years seems to be the magic number. At 2 years they seem to flick a switch and just calm down. Mine did this at 2 years, some sooner and some later.

Hey Joe,

They do take MUCH longer than green iguanas. I handled Petranella every day even when shet was crazy. She is now 6 and is pretty good (but still crazy).

I was worried about her at that age, thinking that she would never calm down. Just keep holding them and they will be fine. Also, when they are hungry they seem to be more insane

Iguanas are relatively intelligent and highly diverse species. Even within same species, I have found them to have very different individual "personalities." I have found that rock iguanas tend to "tame" easier with less effort than green iguanas(except for albinos, I assume because they can't see as well and tend not to "thresh" around). At certain age (around 2 years according to Mark), Rock iguanas seem to realize that we will not harm them and they become approachable without much previous handling, where as it is unlikely that green iguanas will be approachable without constant and persistent handling. I have recently received 25 wild Cuban iguanas of various size (mostly young adults) from Puerto Rico (with proper permit from the government as these Cuban iguanas are from introduced feral population). Within 3 month of being domesticated, many has become very approachable with few being dog tame without any effort on my part. The best recommendation I can give you is that there is no good and proper answer to your question as each iguanas are different from others with their own personalities. i would suggest try different things and see how he reacts to your approach and come up with the best method for that individual you have. Good luck!

Everybody I've talked to said they calm down better than green iguanas. I guess it is true. I can't wait to get me one.

From hatchling to about a year old I didn't force myself on the rhino. I just let him do his thing and only entered the cage to clean, soak or feed him. He is 3 now and as soon as I come up to his cage hes scratching at it trying to get out and on my shoulder. I fed him on a plate but I hand fed bananas, they seem like cocaine to rhinos.