Re: Introducing to other pets

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Posted by MichelleB on December 12, 2002 at 07:50:05:

In Reply to: Re: Introducing to other pets posted by kally on December 11, 2002 at 18:55:44:

Hee hee, your story reminded me of my dear first iguana SJ. He was HUGE, about 6' long, and 15 lbs, but he had not been raised with dogs, and had a natural fear of them. We used to live in a trailer when we had him, and the front of the trialer had a bay window that faced the road. Big ol SJ loved to lay in this bay window and survey the world. Except once when someone walked by with a dog... SJ leaped from the window, scurried across the couch, and ran FULL SPEED down the hallway and into our bedroom. He didn't stop until he had crawled through a tear in the bottom of our box spring, and was hiding up inside the box spring!

Iguanas can get used to other animals, though. My iguana JJ (sadly, SJ is no longer with us) is used to dogs, and even tolerates our dog licking her. (If JJ eats something messy, Happy is the official cleanup crew...) It may take an adjustment period, but your ig can get used to the other pets. Is your ig in a cage, where she can feel safe while the dogs are around? I'd start with that, and move on to having her out when the dogs are around only once she is calm in her cage with them around. And of course, even though my two seem to get along so well, they are never left together unsupervised.

:Hi Linda,
:I have a cat named JJ, and my iguana - Joey - has never showed any fear at all of JJ. I thought this was strange since I figured that cats would be an instinctive predator.
:If a person Joey doesn't know comes into his room, he will flare his dewlap and stop eating if he is eating at the time. When the cat walks by his enclosure, he just goes about his business. He eyes the cat up, but then continues eating.
:When I babysat a friend's injured Rhodesian Ridgeback dog, the story was completely different, I was very surprised. As soon as Joey saw her, he lay down completely flat and actually hid behind his stuffed frog...he was terrified. Joey has never seen a dog at our house before but perhaps where he was from before had a dog, or maybe it is simply instinct to know that a dog is a predator.
:Until the dog left later that night Joey remained totally flat and still. As soon as the dog was gone, he went about with his regular attitude...*smiles*.
:Just thought that was interesting, although it is no real help to you Linda...sorry.
:Kally & Joey

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