Cool, thanks! There's hope for my lil guy yet :)

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Posted by bexley on October 28, 2002 at 18:58:07:

In Reply to: taming posted by Reb on October 28, 2002 at 10:00:02:

:Hey everyone, I just have some time before class, so I thought that I would share how I tamed my iguana Zoi. I have noticed there are several new rescues on here with some wild little monsters, so I thought that this might help someone!!! Now remember, I started trying to tame her around September of last year, 2001. Around April or May of this year was when I finally was able to pick her up and be close to her.

:Anyways, what I mainly did to be able to touch and get close to Zoi was to get a writting pen and tape a kleenex to the end of it. She is a free-roamer, so whenever she was on a kitchen counter or the entertainment center, I would get that pen and using the kleenex end, I would LIGHTLY run that kleenex on her back. I would start when she was looking away from me so that she got used to that sense of touch before realizing that it was me. She knew it wasn't hurting her and it felt pretty good!!!! I am not an expert in really knowing what iguanas think, but I wouldn't try this technique coming from above the iguana. I would think that they would see you looming over them and being as we are enormous compared to them, it would scared the crud out of them!! It is an extremely slow process, but once your iguana gets used to the kleenex at a certain distance, shorten your grip on the pen (or you can use a twig or stick and cut off a short amount of it) so you get closer and closer to him/her until you can finally touch them with your fingers. Zoi trained herself very early on when I brought her to my apartment at college to go to the bathroom in the kitchen sink with the disoposal, and she always had access to it, so I never closed her up in an enclosure. I would say that that was one constant that helped her get used to me (along with hanging out on a kitchen counter, so she was around when I was cooking, so that started some hand feeding). But now she is doing wonderful!!! Her favorite thing to do is jump from her basking spot on one of my kitchen counters to my back and either crawl up and sit on top of my head or jump onto the lid of my aquarium (I guess both get pretty warm!!!!).

:I hope that this helps someone out!!! I am Zoi's third, and last owner, and she went through some of the same horrible treatment that some of your iguanas have (but not being dumped...I still can't get over that!!!). Taming them is not impossible and so worth it in the end!!! And they will be much healthier and happier!! Good luck to everyone out there!!!!

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