Re: Drake is a strange creature

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Posted by Iguanamomma on September 17, 1998 at 10:55:01:

In Reply to: Drake is a strange creature posted by Dave on September 15, 1998 at 13:27:20:

I agree that a lot of "taming" of an iguana is a trust thing. We had to win back the trust of our female after she had to have an operation. She thought anyone after that was going to hurt her....even us. She has always loved my husband best but even he couldn't approach her without getting hissed at & threatened. Once again it took patience & perserverance & knowing when to back off to get her back to her old self.
I believe someone has already given you M. Kaplan's site. There's an article there on handling. You do have to get the upper hand but I also think you have to know when to give them some space.....in a sneaky way so they don't think they won. LOL With our female we would not touch her if she resisted harshly to it but we would sit in front of her, make eye contact & talk to her in a gentle, soothing voice telling her that we understood and we would never hurt her, etc. etc. After a few days of this we were able to go in and stroke her a few times before she resisted our efforts. We'd back off then and do it again later. It didn't take all that long to get her back to where she wanted us to handle her.
Do you know if Drake's previous owner ever did any hands-on interaction? Maybe he's not used to it. Just keep trying and be patient. Both of ours like the top of their head done. The male likes to be stroked on his jowls. The male also likes it when his spikes are shedding for us to help him along by sort of petting the individual spikes so that the shed comes off for him without him having to rub them hard against something. Don't pull it though if it has no give to it because you could injure the spike.
I apologize for rambling! But before I go......be sure you work with Drake DAILY. This can't be a once a week session & it work. Good luck!

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: I agree that a lot of "taming" of an iguana is a trust thing. We had to win back the trust of our female after she had to have an operation. She thought anyone after that was going to hurt her....even us. She has always loved my husband best but even he couldn't approach her without getting hissed at & threatened. Once again it took patience & perserverance & knowing when to back off to get her back to her old self. : I believe someone has already given you M. Kaplan's site. There's an article there on handling. You do have to get the upper hand but I also think you have to know when to give them some space.....in a sneaky way so they don't think they won. LOL With our female we would not touch her if she resisted harshly to it but we would sit in front of her, make eye contact & talk to her in a gentle, soothing voice telling her that we understood and we would never hurt her, etc. etc. After a few days of this we were able to go in and stroke her a few times before she resisted our efforts. We'd back off then and do it again later. It didn't take all that long to get her back to where she wanted us to handle her. : Do you know if Drake's previous owner ever did any hands-on interaction? Maybe he's not used to it. Just keep trying and be patient. Both of ours like the top of their head done. The male likes to be stroked on his jowls. The male also likes it when his spikes are shedding for us to help him along by sort of petting the individual spikes so that the shed comes off for him without him having to rub them hard against something. Don't pull it though if it has no give to it because you could injure the spike. : I apologize for rambling! But before I go......be sure you work with Drake DAILY. This can't be a once a week session & it work. Good luck!

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