What I did

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Posted by Hakan on October 31, 2001 at 10:38:20:

In Reply to: Potty Training posted by CanadianHerp on October 31, 2001 at 08:32:32:

What I did to train them. Age was less than 1 year

1: Rex and Liz were first given a bath in chest deep luke warm water every morning for a couple of weeks. Just like most iguanas they pooped shortly after having contact with water. I always started with shallow water to let them poop before the bathing took place. After that the poop and water was rinsed out before continuing the bath. If more than one iguana is going to take a bath, then bath one at a time to avoid that they climb on each other causing scratches and possible wounding.

2: After a few weeks like that I got an idea and I purchased a quite large black plastic container. This container was then placed in the bath tub and filled with shallow (2,5 cm = 1") water. The morning bath continued as before but the pooping was from now on done in the container. From the start Rex and Liz of course tried to climb out of the container so I forced them to stay by holding them in a steady but firmly grip around their neck/chest until they realize it was not time to leave the container but time to poop. This continued for two weeks. At the end it was not even required to have any water in the container as Liz and Rex pooped anyway.

3: Now it was time to move the container out of the tube and to the bathroom floor. Pooping continued there before the daily bath and mostly without any water in the container.

4: The final step. Liz and Rex were free roamers at this time. They were living in the living room on branches, a shelf and a bookcase. It was decided that the most accessable place to put a container was on the TV where they always could see the container. For some time Liz and Rex were placed in the container to do their daily business but suddenly, one day while I was watching TV, Rex climbed into the container by herself and pooped !. From a branck Liz saw what Rex did and when Rex climbed out of the container Liz immedeately climbed down from her branch and into the container, where she also pooped !. From that day Liz and Rex were potty trained and always went to the container (except when they were gravid...but that's another story)!.

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: What I did to train them. Age was less than 1 year : 1: Rex and Liz were first given a bath in chest deep luke warm water every morning for a couple of weeks. Just like most iguanas they pooped shortly after having contact with water. I always started with shallow water to let them poop before the bathing took place. After that the poop and water was rinsed out before continuing the bath. If more than one iguana is going to take a bath, then bath one at a time to avoid that they climb on each other causing scratches and possible wounding. : 2: After a few weeks like that I got an idea and I purchased a quite large black plastic container. This container was then placed in the bath tub and filled with shallow (2,5 cm = 1") water. The morning bath continued as before but the pooping was from now on done in the container. From the start Rex and Liz of course tried to climb out of the container so I forced them to stay by holding them in a steady but firmly grip around their neck/chest until they realize it was not time to leave the container but time to poop. This continued for two weeks. At the end it was not even required to have any water in the container as Liz and Rex pooped anyway. : 3: Now it was time to move the container out of the tube and to the bathroom floor. Pooping continued there before the daily bath and mostly without any water in the container. : 4: The final step. Liz and Rex were free roamers at this time. They were living in the living room on branches, a shelf and a bookcase. It was decided that the most accessable place to put a container was on the TV where they always could see the container. For some time Liz and Rex were placed in the container to do their daily business but suddenly, one day while I was watching TV, Rex climbed into the container by herself and pooped !. From a branck Liz saw what Rex did and when Rex climbed out of the container Liz immedeately climbed down from her branch and into the container, where she also pooped !. From that day Liz and Rex were potty trained and always went to the container (except when they were gravid...but that's another story)!.

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