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Posted by PH Meliss on October 19, 2002 at 16:55:24:
In Reply to: my Ig posted by SnakeGal on October 18, 2002 at 21:50:59:
:i recently got a juvenile ig. is there any way i can tell the sex of this little guy without probing?
The only way to tell the sex of hatchlings and igs not yet sexually mature (which happens in healthy iguanas at age 12 months) is to probe them. Unfortunately, probing lizards is generally more difficult than probing snakes, and so even those expert at probing run the risk of puncturing through the hemipenes if the lizard is a male, or otherwise injuring females.
For a while, vets and some herpers were injecting a benign fluid (sterile/bacteriostatic water; saline) into the base of the tail with the thought that the water would force the hemipenes to displace, popping them out through the vent. Unfortunately, after causing a lot of pain, stress, and a few deaths, this not always useful method was discarded.
Anyone who is accurately sexing hatchlings without probing is lucky. Even iguanas can't tell one another apart, until their pheromones start to change once they hit sexual maturity. (Even then, some juvenile and adult males "hide" from alpha males by maintaining the coloring and pheromones of females; researchers call these "pseudofemales".)
You'll find more information on how (and when ;) to noninvasively sex igs at my Sexing Iguanas article.
[Note: When I bought my Mikey, a captive-bred Cyclura iguana, directly from the breeder, he was already 2.5 years old. The breeder sexes by probing all of his hatchling iguanas, and uses a vegetable-based food color to dab on one of the sexes. The dab has to be replaced every time the lizard sheds until the lizard is sold or housed by itself or with others of the same gender. The care and attention given to captive bred Cyclura is very different from the lack of care and attention barely given to "farmed" and wild-caught green iguanas that are exported around the world by the animal and pet trades...]
--
PCFMeliss
Pet Host for PetHobbyist.com * Iguanas
Herps and Iguanas
Herp Societies/Rescues and Vets
