green iguana fear of spots.

[marisa]

Anyone else have a Green Iguana who is scared of spots/patterns, but not colors?

Roxy is not afriad of anything normally. She is a confident iguana at all times. She puts up with moving, running around the house, cats, dogs, all colors, petting, handling, even vets probbing her lol, etc etc etc. She is over 5 feet so most of the time she knows/thinks she is boss over the world.

But if you are wearing spots or have anything with spots she turns into a scared, nut ball. Once I replaced her stuffed animal with a toy stuffed dalamation. She literally murdered it and wouldn't get near it. She almost broke her plexiglass before I could get it out. A replaced THAT one with some solid colored purple lizard thing which she has no problem with and lays on it like a pillow.

Today I was wearing white pajama pants with black dog foot print spots all over them with a black shirt. I walked into the area where her cage is and noticed she was flattening her body out, and leaning over the the extreme side of the branch so she could hide. She was eye balling my pants like a wild animal!

Anyone else's? I just am curious as I find it kinda weird what these iguanas see as a threat.

Marisa

[Samba]

Hm... Maybe it's a prey - predator thing? Not sure if iguana's natural predators are spotted but that could be something. The spots could also 'break up' your outline, thus she doesn't notice you are near her until your REALLY close. Maybe that freaks her out? LOL, she sounds like a quirky iguana!

[marisa]

haha she actually isn't quirky very often at all except for this!!! She is so laid back about stuff its funny that the ONE thing she has a dear of is spots. lol

marisa

[Rascal]

jaguars would be one of its natural, spotted predators

this is what i found though...

- Other: Sometimes iguanas will react negatively to the strangest, most innocuous things. For examples, many iguanas react with fear or aggression when their owners wear certain types or patterns of clothing. The trigger differs from iguana to iguana, and include such things as plaids, patterns with other animals and/or animals eyes on them, and certain colors. One iguana I know of hates any object that has a white or light background with blue flowers or anything resembling blue flowers on it. He becomes upset and aggressive at the sight of a certain skirt, turtle neck shirt, and ironing board cover - all of which share this pattern. Iguanas often react negatively to changes in their owners' appearances, as well. For example, wearing a towel on your head after your shower, wearing glasses when you normally don't, or getting a new hairdo may all trigger fear or aggression in your iguana. The key is to identify exactly what is causing the problem, and then doing what you can to avoid exposing your iguana to these objects in the future.
found it here: http://www.greenigsociety.org/quicktips.htm

[eyespy]

My little iguana is terrified of Coke cans, my big ig is terrified of chipmunks. They are such funny little things!

[justinO]

off topic kinda, I had a cat that was absolutly terrified of pumpkins. come october, she'd sit by the window and hiss at it and her tail would go all poofy.. or if you picked her up and put her near one, she was fine till she noticed it. once she did, she'd literally jump three feet straight up, and bolt like i've never seen a cat go. very amusing.

[marisa]

haha thanks for all the cute stories guys. Roxy sure is a weirdo. I put the pants away away away and I don't think I will wear them anymore! lol. :D

Marisa

[lanalizard]

thank goodness my 4 iguanas dont have that issue :)

[Linds]

My ig hates any sort of checkerboard pattern :p

[Samba]

That's a very interestng piece of information there, Rascal. That could definately explain some of Roxy's behaviors! I'm so glad my ig doesn't care what I'm wearing! =)