TO IGUANA JOE

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Posted by Reb on September 16, 2002 at 23:57:07:

In Reply to: My God, you people.......hhahahaha........u dont give up uh? posted by IGUANA JOE on September 16, 2002 at 10:42:26:

Wow, I cannot believe all of this!! I don't want to sound haughty at all, but I am so glad that my first question brought so much information to this forum!!! That in mind, I just wanted to thank you for your expertise on this subject, and also apologize for you becoming "burned out" by this. But hey, all in a day's job and better than nothing, right???? : )

:Now u start talking about human beings not loving and not knowing true love, bla bla bla...... a little off topic there!

:You are blowing this a little out of proportion.
:Merlin mentioned the excellent word I could not come up with before:
:<<<<<<>>>>>>>

:& Hatfield's book, as great as it is, is a little heavy on that.

:That word alone should have closed the debate already, and explained my point. And u Flavia keep being a brat even with 12 hours of diff! Hehehehehehee......... ;)
:Estou brincando com voce! :)

:I had my male iguana Soni for about 5 years, and I could swear on a Bible back then that he had human-like personality. When I gave him up to a friend of mine in Florida i was very sad, since I had plenty of good memories with that pesky green godzilla.

:Back in the other post, the original I think, I was talking about the norm, since cases of iguanas acting in such special ways are few. Just like cases of dog-tame alligators living like a house-dog and eating food scraps and chilling out in the living room (but that's another field, so let's leave that alone).

:I only mentioned the biological aspect of the reptilian brain, how it is developed (in a very general way), and how an average reptile (in our case, iguanas) act. Along the way things got out of hand with love and other emotions. I did mention that the relationship between man and reptile, especially in intelligent, tame species, has gone a long way. 20 years ago such cases and stories would have looked ridiculous.

:Having some degree of intelligence, it is a given that these animals have distinct personality traits, and that can be domesticated to some extents. I dont want to be viewed as a person who thinks iguanas are just a mass of scales, cold blood and numb brain cells. But I tend to be realistic.
:I love these animals, but I recognize their limits.

:These animals can LEARN to TRUST us, and enjoy our company because apparently we are not interested in eating them. We also feel wam to the touch, so they enjoy resting on our body, and offer them enjoyable scratches and petting. They know we are the food source, so they respond once learned when lunch and dinner time is around. It's "me first" in their stubborn head.

:I remember a hilarious story in Hatfield book by one of the people surveyed: when she comes back from work, the dog is all over her, happy and glad to see her. The iguana just sits and gives the "just feed me b*tch" look. (quoted from Hatfield's book).

:Appreciate them for what they are, without getting too mixed up in appreciateing them for what we want them to be; even though as humans we tend to do that. And that's normal and nice, since it means that we love these animals.

:Now, having said that, please stop tormenting me! LOL :)
:I thank you for your interest on the subject, but now let's just leave it at that.

:I'll come up with something new sooner or later, hehehe...
:Regards

:I J

Follow Ups:

YEAHH!!I loved it!!!nm Flavia Guimaraes 09/17/02 (0)