What worked for my two tiny ones

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Posted by Annaka on January 23, 2003 at 01:54:00:

In Reply to: I need help posted by jakeyjakers on January 23, 2003 at 00:27:00:

I do not grab. I do not restrain unless absolutely nessesary, cause they're sooo tiny I'm afraid I'd hurt them. Personaly, I don't think the whole "restrain them till they stop fighting" is a good idea. My big males would go ballistic if they thought I was fighting/challenging them, and I'm afraid rough handling would hurt the babies. I think the best approach is to be around them as much as possible without scaring them. They're very similar to birds, as Flavia says. A lot of communication is through eye contact and body language - working with a scared ig seems similar to working with a phobic parrot. Progress can be slow and frustrating. You must be patient, and focus on the tiny improvements. (the basic ideas in this article can be applied to iguanas too!)

I try not to pick up my babies unless they get a good experience from it.

For example, I allow them to run around on my bed, for exercise. I have two basking lights, a suspended basking branch, and a small dish of food. I usualy turn off their tank lights, let them climb on my hand to get out of the tank, and place them on the basking branch. They bask for a while, and jump off to run around and explore. I sit on the edge of the bed and supervise. They are actualy quite smart - once they cool off, they run back to warm up under the lights. However, they can't get up on the basking branch on their own. I pick them up and place them there. After several days of the same routine, the bold baby hops right on my hand, waits untill I lift him up, and walks onto the branch. The shy baby climbs on my hand if I gently herd him with my other hand, and leaps off as soon as he is close enough to the branch. He seems to be gradualy relaxing around me, but he's nowhere near as tame as the bold one.

I also handfeed them as often as I can. When they are running around, I hold a small dish with shredded greens, and every once in a while offer them some from my fingers. Bold one now runs all the way across the bed for a favorite piece of food, while the shy one will take food only while he's perched high up on the branch. He's letting me look at him while he eats now, which is definitely a tiny step in the right direction.

They have completely different personalities...

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