acclimating/"taming" iggy
- Thread starter dreamandscheme
- Start date
she came from petco, and the guy used a welding glove to put her in the box. thats all i know. from her length i would guess 2 1/2 years old.
dreamandscheme;1850449; said:
A lot can happen in 2 1/2 years. Mabye a clumsy kid one day wanted to hold the iguana while she was still in the store and he dropped her. Mabye thats why she is afraid of being held. How about you try holding her right above the ground, make sure like one of her feet are still on the ground.
Something you can try, give her some free run of the house or a room while you're in it (as long as the room is iggy-proof and/or you can keep an eye on her). High traffic areas are good but what I find works even better if possible is to have their enclosure in a spot where you are for long stretches (near my desk or chair usually is best for me). Just seeing people go back and forth can flip them out, but if you can have them in a relatively quiet place but yet a place where you are often so they can get comfortable just having you around that often works better. I have had iguanas that never tamed though, it happens...with some they just never lose the fear. It's somewhat rare though...I've kept many larger herps (iguanas, monitors, tegus, boids, snapping turtles) and I've only had 2 (one iguana and a salvator) that never at least reached the tolerance stage with me.
Thats what I was going to recommend next.give it time.. but there is also a good chance that she may never calm down. iguanas are skittish by nature.. but some do calm down. my male is as calm as a puppy. he acctually likes to be held and is more calm than my dog 
haha. but i was lucky. he had a real bad past and he just happened to like me or something.
one thing you can try is when you are going to pick her up try and come from the side rather than going for the top. when the iguana sees something coming from above its first thoughts are to get away.
having you enclosure in a high traffic area does nothing to the iguana except stress her out even more. it has to live in constant fear.. as of right now you dont have the iguanas trust. and having a ton of activity around just adds unwanted stress. i would move the enclosure to a lower traffic area. and spend some quality one on one with her.. gain her trust and then move on to letting other people interact with her.. take baby steps and not giant leaps
haha. but i was lucky. he had a real bad past and he just happened to like me or something.one thing you can try is when you are going to pick her up try and come from the side rather than going for the top. when the iguana sees something coming from above its first thoughts are to get away.
having you enclosure in a high traffic area does nothing to the iguana except stress her out even more. it has to live in constant fear.. as of right now you dont have the iguanas trust. and having a ton of activity around just adds unwanted stress. i would move the enclosure to a lower traffic area. and spend some quality one on one with her.. gain her trust and then move on to letting other people interact with her.. take baby steps and not giant leaps
