Need help with rescued Iguana

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Posted by Ax on February 27, 2001 at 23:34:38:

about 2 1/2 months ago I was given a 2 year old iguana. The reason it was given to me is the person who owned it was terrified of it, and she assumed that because I've own a snakes all my life and have rescued quite a few abused snakes that I'd be able to take care of it. I accepted because I feared for the iguana's health; I learned that the lights were kept on 24/7, and that it had no human contact whatsoever. Why she bought the iquana in the first place is beyond me. But I feel that after 2 1/2 months the poor iguana ( her name is Gizmo )is still in distress. I can't get near her, she scurries away whenever anyone gets near the cage. ( the cage is 5'x3'x6' )
She seems to always be in a state of near panic. She seems to be eating fine and her color is still nice and bright, but I can see it's slowly starting to get more brown instead of green.
I feed her a large variety of vegetables and fruits, as well as iguana food pellets and vitamin spray. The past week she's been getting very restless and running around the cage for no apparent reason. She keeps jamming her nose through the mesh on the doors, but if I try to open the cage to let her wander around, she runs and hides at the top of the cage. She will not come out of the cage if I'm in the room,I can't let her out unsupervised as her cage is in my computer room and there's open computers and parts around the room. I don't have another room to put her in because I own a couple of cats and the computer room is the only "cat free" area in the house.
When I first got her I tried quite often to handle her but this just caused her more stress so I've given up and just give her food and water, and mist her. Other than that I try to stay out of her way. A friend of mine who has owned and bred iguanas for years (and they are all heathly friendly iguanas) tells me to just reach in and grab Gizmo everyday and eventually she'll get used to me and calm down. This technique worked for me with a few abused boas that I rescued a few years ago, One was so stressed out that you couldn't even walk into it's sight without it repeadedly striking the glass and damaging itself. I just keep handling for hours everyday putting up with the countless bites and eventually it became one of my most dosile and friendly boas. I'm afraid to employ this technique with gizmo because she totally panics when you grab her. It's like an uncontrolable terror attack, she scratches and whips her tail, and does her best to bite me (she's nowhere near as fast as a boa's strike so she hasn't got me yet hehe). I'm at my wits end. I want Gizmo to be healthy and happy but I feel I'm out of my league with her. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thx
Ax

Follow Ups:

xta (and the others) were right on target. Don't get discouraged. (more) Thumper 02/28/01 (0)
Re: Need help with rescued Iguana xta 02/28/01 (0)
Re: Need help with rescued Iguana Kimberley 02/28/01 (0)
Re: Need help with rescued Iguana marisa 02/28/01 (1)
- Re: Need help with rescued Iguana Ax 02/28/01 (0)

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: about 2 1/2 months ago I was given a 2 year old iguana. The reason it was given to me is the person who owned it was terrified of it, and she assumed that because I've own a snakes all my life and have rescued quite a few abused snakes that I'd be able to take care of it. I accepted because I feared for the iguana's health; I learned that the lights were kept on 24/7, and that it had no human contact whatsoever. Why she bought the iquana in the first place is beyond me. But I feel that after 2 1/2 months the poor iguana ( her name is Gizmo )is still in distress. I can't get near her, she scurries away whenever anyone gets near the cage. ( the cage is 5'x3'x6' ) : She seems to always be in a state of near panic. She seems to be eating fine and her color is still nice and bright, but I can see it's slowly starting to get more brown instead of green. : I feed her a large variety of vegetables and fruits, as well as iguana food pellets and vitamin spray. The past week she's been getting very restless and running around the cage for no apparent reason. She keeps jamming her nose through the mesh on the doors, but if I try to open the cage to let her wander around, she runs and hides at the top of the cage. She will not come out of the cage if I'm in the room,I can't let her out unsupervised as her cage is in my computer room and there's open computers and parts around the room. I don't have another room to put her in because I own a couple of cats and the computer room is the only "cat free" area in the house. : When I first got her I tried quite often to handle her but this just caused her more stress so I've given up and just give her food and water, and mist her. Other than that I try to stay out of her way. A friend of mine who has owned and bred iguanas for years (and they are all heathly friendly iguanas) tells me to just reach in and grab Gizmo everyday and eventually she'll get used to me and calm down. This technique worked for me with a few abused boas that I rescued a few years ago, One was so stressed out that you couldn't even walk into it's sight without it repeadedly striking the glass and damaging itself. I just keep handling for hours everyday putting up with the countless bites and eventually it became one of my most dosile and friendly boas. I'm afraid to employ this technique with gizmo because she totally panics when you grab her. It's like an uncontrolable terror attack, she scratches and whips her tail, and does her best to bite me (she's nowhere near as fast as a boa's strike so she hasn't got me yet hehe). I'm at my wits end. I want Gizmo to be healthy and happy but I feel I'm out of my league with her. Does anyone have any suggestions? : Thx : Ax

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