Hey,
If you read my posts below you could easily recognize I'm not the most experienced of Iguana owners. However, what I've noticed in only the past few days with my rescue Ig is that when he closes his eyes he is calm. When opened, he gets very skittish and tries to escape. To me it simply appears to be a fear of handling or human interaction.

I have barly handled him at all being i just aquired him and want to give him an oppotunity to acclimate to his new enclosure. Obviously, there is a big difference between our two situations. My situation is i just purchased a weary Ig and am avoiding all human contact and handling for the best of my Ig's sake. Your situation on the other hand is that your Ig was once "tame" and now is what you would consider "not tame."

I really don't know how this happens, I have owned only a small collection of monitors and have never seen mood swings, but, and even though Ig's and monitors are two completely different animals, I have found that when lizards are in distress in general, it is best to leave them be.

I would not even attempt to tame your animal if she is anxious. Tame is a very shaky word for large sized lizards. And forced handling in my experience is not a very good method of calming their anxiety.

If i were you i would let your animal be... from what I've read about Ig's so far is that their mental state is somewhat common to monitors. And i can tell you from experience that forced handling or "taming" is the wrong way to go in that situation.

Earning the trust of your animal, which takes alot of patience, might be more valuable. I would think your Ig is calm when its eyes are closed being it cannot see anything it perceives as a threat, which at this point the perceived threat is you.

I would only interacte as much as necassary... feeding, water change, enclosure cleaning ect. Giver it its space, let it know your the one supplying the water and food your animal needs to survive. Let her observe YOU rather then the other way around in your daily activities and yes... always INVITE rather then PULL her out of her cage if you feel you have to.

Again, my opinion is mostly varanid based, but I happened to be on the forum at the time and thought I'd at least give my point of view. I cannot say as fact, but from what I've read, Iguanas-not as often as monitors-but like monitors, can be or in your case i guess "turn into" observation animals. Ask for Cindy... she gave me real good information in the post below yours about husbandry for my recent aquisition of my new Ig. She seems very knowledgable and can help you more then i can.

The obove stated being only my opinion and not fact.

Peace.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]