Iggy.........

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Posted by nanci on December 08, 2001 at 05:31:31:

In Reply to: my iguana doesn't like me, please help. posted by david rusyn on December 07, 2001 at 21:12:04:

: I have a baby green iguana that eats, drinks, basks, soaks and does all these cool things...that is until I walk into my reptile room. he just freezes and looks totally terified of me. I did make a mistake buying him from petkill (petco) and infact he actually had a little worm problem that I had to clear up. But anyway I was just wondering what I should try to get him out of this "phase", and also if the stress of being sick could be the cause of his skitishness.

David:

I think most of us go through what you're going through right now. When the igs first come from the pet store (or wherever we get them) they are so frightened of us and a new place, they are really calm (or so it seems). Once they start "getting their bearings" they start trying to do things like bite or whip their tail at you. They are afraid. You are SO much bigger and your ig really doesn't know you won't "eat" him, so he's trying to defend himself. It took me close to 6 months to get my ig out of that stage. Every time I tried to get him out of his cage, he would try to bite and whip. Once I got him out, he was okay. Handle your ig as much as you can to get it used to you. I finally bought a soft little baby cover to pick him up and he still sleeps with it (he's l9 months old now). I still use it to pick him up when his nails are long. Igs kind of remind me of cats -- they want to bother with you when they're ready. Spend a lot of time with it and eventually he (should) get used to it and will calm down. When I watch TV, my ig will jump on me and sit on my leg for a while and then go back and bask and jump on my leg again. When he's ready to sleep, he will stay on me and fall asleep. Night-time when they're tired seems to be a good way to bond with them. Give a little backrub (with the cover over them) -- they like that a lot and then he should settle down and fall asleep.

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: : I have a baby green iguana that eats, drinks, basks, soaks and does all these cool things...that is until I walk into my reptile room. he just freezes and looks totally terified of me. I did make a mistake buying him from petkill (petco) and infact he actually had a little worm problem that I had to clear up. But anyway I was just wondering what I should try to get him out of this "phase", and also if the stress of being sick could be the cause of his skitishness. : David: : I think most of us go through what you're going through right now. When the igs first come from the pet store (or wherever we get them) they are so frightened of us and a new place, they are really calm (or so it seems). Once they start "getting their bearings" they start trying to do things like bite or whip their tail at you. They are afraid. You are SO much bigger and your ig really doesn't know you won't "eat" him, so he's trying to defend himself. It took me close to 6 months to get my ig out of that stage. Every time I tried to get him out of his cage, he would try to bite and whip. Once I got him out, he was okay. Handle your ig as much as you can to get it used to you. I finally bought a soft little baby cover to pick him up and he still sleeps with it (he's l9 months old now). I still use it to pick him up when his nails are long. Igs kind of remind me of cats -- they want to bother with you when they're ready. Spend a lot of time with it and eventually he (should) get used to it and will calm down. When I watch TV, my ig will jump on me and sit on my leg for a while and then go back and bask and jump on my leg again. When he's ready to sleep, he will stay on me and fall asleep. Night-time when they're tired seems to be a good way to bond with them. Give a little backrub (with the cover over them) -- they like that a lot and then he should settle down and fall asleep.

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