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Posted by sideman7 on January 06, 2003 at 15:29:49:
I am really at my wits end with this little #@!^!!! His breeding season started at the beginning of October. He went from sweet, lovable iguana to psycho monster beast in like two days. After a very difficult couple of weeks (and a couple of bites and numerous attemps) he calmed down a bit but was still not his normal self. Now, here it is January, and the past week has been a constant battle. He doesn't want me anywhere near his enclosure, which has made feeding and caring for him a bit of an adventure.... More like a battle really. His enclosure has full height sliding doors, so I have to make sure that he doesn't jump out onto my face (which seems to be his main objective, even if the end result is that he ends up on the floor or slamming into the plexiglass) when I go to get his food dish. So now, the morning routine consists of me opening his door, him bugging out and trying to attack, I distract him with a stuffed green pig toy which he attempts to rip the head off of (with every ounce of strength in his body), and I grab him and bring him into the bathroom (which has required newspaper over the mirrors since October so he won't go ballistic...) so he can do his business in there and I can clean up his enclosure... He has to be kept away until his food is in there, or I get to do this all again.
A couple of other odd behaviors I have noticed during this time include the fact that when given the opportunity to be out and wander, he chooses to go back into his enclosure (which he never does outside of breeding season). Also, He hasn't been showing his breeding colors since November, but during each of our daily battles, his dewlap, front legs and tail bands do temporarily turn bright orange.
I am still hoping that someday he will return to his normal self, although I am now starting to have my doubts. Instead of enjoying his company, I am finding myself constantly on guard with him, expecting him to try to bite me. I believe that I am still the dominant one bewteen the two of us, but when he is in one of his psycho modes, no amount of holding him and giving him the riot act seems to help. I can set him down and he will just start all over again...
In the "Green Iguana, the Ultimate Owners Manual" by James Hatfield, he mentions threatening his iguana with "leaving him out on the back porch for the wolves to get him". Unfortunately, I think my iguana knows we don't have wolves here in Las Vegas...
Sorry, just needed to vent...
