Green Iguana???

[Skink Keeper]

I just rescued a green iguana a couple of days ago, he's about 2 feet long and likes to whip and run when you pick him up, do they usually calm down the more you handle them? is there anything else i can do?

Thanks :confused:

[Dragons & Balls]

Handle him, handle him, handle him.
We have had our Iguana for 10 yrs now and he was a little pain in the %*#. But my wife handled him a lot, hand fed him and now he is a real (as my wife puts it) sweetheart.
Good luck ... don't get frustrated... u will probably have a lot of battle wounds.

[Skink Keeper]

okay thanks. thats really encouraging, i wasnt sure if he would settle down, and i've already got my fair share of battle wounds. i'll keep trying. thanks

[ChristinaM]

www.anapsid.org best Iggy resource EVER.

Watch yourself, they can cause serious damage. Luckily tho, yours, by the size(if that is including a full tail) is just a youngin. So you should be able to socialize it :) Seriously, check out the above site, all you need to know to get you started is there.

Good luck.

[silke]

patience
When I first got Griffin he was young and small and I spoke to him and almost never handled him at first
I waited until he was more used to me and felt less threatened by me so his stress level diminished over time
I have had him for over 2 years and by reptilian standards he is almost cuddly now.

[Phox]

Yep, definately be patient with him! I know when I had my Ig he was an angry little bastage :). When I got him he was already a year and a half old, and was neglected/abused. I had to wear full body armor to handle him, but eventually he got used to it. Sometimes I wouldnt handle him for awhile and he stopped trusting me and I had to reestablish our relationship. IMO, Iguanas are not an easy reptile to care for. And as Bichiraddict said, be very careful, they can easily hurt you.

[Aaron_S]

Not all igs will tame down....don't be surprised if yours does not.

[Pixie]

I'm in the process of working with a rescued ig as well and they are certainly a handful! We are also entering breeding season which makes things harder due to hormones.

Try to let your ig watch you as much as you can. I don't know where your enclosure is setup but mine is in my living room so my Paco can watch me a lot.

When you go up to your ig, don't always pick it up. Go just to pet it for a couple of minutes and maybe give it some treats. Mine goes bonkers for some grated sweet potato.

Patience is key especially around this time of year.

Good luck,
Pixie

[Skink Keeper]

thanks everyone, i'm gonna keep tryin and i'll let you know how is is in the future.

Thanks

[J-Man]

www.greenigsociety.org great site... check it out and yes handle them. But taming them can be pretty specific so read about it on the site I jsut gave you.

[C.m.pyrrhus]

I am personnally one who does not advocate any MK care. When it comes to green iguanas, I believe the owner should realize how "mean" they are as natural, and not as a problem.

The only online source for iguana care I back is IguanaDen.com Iguanas being foliovores should be left to their natural ways, as any herp should be IMO. Taming reptiles is by far a misbelief. Some can be tamed to an extent, but not like it should be practised to over handle them to "tame" them. This is the long run causes more stress than good, and taming them is only for the owners own need to fulfill thier need to handle their herps, which I see as silly and pointless.

By the way, ever really look at MK care sheets? They are actually very wrong in the facts that are being represented. I have never known of an iggy under those care instructions to live a long time, or any other herp for that matter. (Boa constrictore grow to 6 foot in 2 years? Pfffft.... corns snakes eat crickets ???? ...please..LOL)

By the way, what is so wrong with keeping an animal as it is naturally? What is the need to have it "tamed" anyhow? If you want something cuddly, by all means get a dog. After all they are mans best friend. An Iguana is by no means an animal for holding and petting as one could tell by the natural history of the animal. By nature they are aggresive and territorial, that known they should be kept only by folks that understand that as part of their natural behavior.

[Pixie]

C.m.pyrrhus: I do agree that some of MK's care sheets aren't the best when it comes to snakes and some other species she is not experienced with.

But when it comes to green iguanas, she is one of the most knowledgeable people out there having many many years of first hand experience with these animals. If YOU would read her iguana articles and care information, you would see yourself that they are excellent and very thorough, her site has literally over a hundred pages dedicated to green iguanas. The information found on other iguana sites almost all stem from hers.

Have you ever even had an iguana? And most importantly, have you ever cared for an adult iguana??? If you did, then you would understand how important it is to tame your iguana. If not, just maintenance can become a dangerous task as an iguana can be quite dangerous at a large size.

Taming an iguana has nothing to do with making it cuddly. It's about having a trust relationship between you and the animal where it does not see you as a threat.

By nature, they are not an especially aggressive species, I don't know where you get that from! The only times iguanas will fight is to set a hierarchy and during breeding season.

Pixie

[marisa]

Well I myself don't agree with MK's diet. She advocates things that are stupid and space wasters when it comes to certain veggies and greens. The other diet, which is HIGHLY debated against MK's is the well known Iguana Den diet. Where MK advocates a lot of vitamin supplements, Iguana Den advocates the use of veggies and lots of greens to achieve the same thing without supplements. He has his research, and articles all well written and many people use this diet. I switched Roxy from MK's diet like two years ago and never looked back. :D Personally I don't even read MK's stuff anymore. Although she has a MASS of information on her site, and I do think she knows more about iguanas then most people, I think some of her information is outdated for the fact of pride.

But then again tons of people use MK's diet with great sucess and as long as there are healthy iguanas out there from it, Yay!!!! :D :D

Marisa

[marisa]

Link to Iguana Den:

http://www.iguanaden.com/main.htm

Specifically, his diet area:
http://www.iguanaden.com/diet/index.htm

Anyways its a good read
Marisa

[marisa]

Sorry another post, while yes I agree a person MUST realize iguanas are unpredictable and can never be "tame" working with an iguana each day especially when young is a MUST.

Roxy had been handled big time as a youngster, now we don't need to give her hours a day to keep this attitude. At 7 she is a well adujsted adult iguana, who we can take to the vet, out of her cage and maintain without being hurt. This is very important IMHO.

Marisa

[C.m.pyrrhus]

Yes, I have had many iguanas, cared for many sick ones (which some were on an MK diet). The thing about MK is that her information is very outdated by factual information that is up to date. Do you know where she gets her information as well? She simply copies and rearanges old text to fit her own means. She has no real herp experiance, does not work with any herps except a small personal collection (that is if she even has any at this point in time), and truthfully does not know the first thing about any herp. She gives medical advise that she has no credentials to back up her statements. She thinks snakes can be called by their names like dogs, has had bites from iguanas that are "tame" by her standards. Lots of things one should look into.

Also, why feed iguanas anything but greens and flowers???? Do you iguana folks not know what a foliovore is? Do you not know that MK has no idea what goes on in the natuaral history of iguanas, or any other herp for that matter. She has no training in herps, no schooling, nothing. Meanwhile many zoologists, biologists and herpetologists alike have studied green iguanas for years with only one thing in common....they are foliovores. MK's caresheets go against this factual information with only to say "I know about Iguanas becuase I had one before" mentallity. Then many folks join her bandwagon of anti-pet keeping propaganda and help spread the wrong information of herptoculture and husbandry of many species. Truth is folks, those who back MK have no herping knowledge and are typically just other folks with one or two species of store bought herps, and never have spent any time in the field or in a biological study of any herp. They boast how smart MK is without actually reading or studying any material that has been researched by educated folks.

So go on and believe that MK does a good job, as you will find yourself one day with dead herps and will be left to actually study and research the herps you keep. Meanwhile folks that have spent years of time and money to go to school, and then spend years in the field to study a given species are thrown to the wayside by the likes of folks like MK, who just simply write out many caresheets on experiance from their livingroom reptiles, of which they have no real idea about.

[Pixie]

C.m.pyrrhus:

I'm sorry if I came out a bit harsh on my last post, it's just that too often, some people give a negative opinion without really backing it up with more info as you did in your recent response.

As I said in my first response to you, I do agree that MK's caresheets regarding other species leave much to be desired. I fully agree that there are far too many mistakes and she shouldn't have even bothered to do them if she wasn't going to provide accurate information.

What I also failed to mention in my last post is that although I enjoy her site and information about iguana care, I don't take it as perfect info and it's certainly not my only source of iguana care info.

As I haven't been using her iguana diet, I went back to get a closer look and I do agree 100% that from what I've learned of iguanas it does not seem adequate. From day one, I've fed my ig a variety of greens (mainly a mix of collared, dandelion, mustard) at a ration of 70% to 80% of total food intake per day. The rest is a bit of veggies and a tad of fruit for treats.

With that said, the other information on MK's site regarding iguanas I have found to be fairly accurate when comparing to information from other sources. I also like that she has many articles regarding the many aspects of iguana care.

Now about her history in how she gained her iguana knowledge, from what I've heard from many many sources is that she has quite a bit of personal experience with iguanas having worked with them for a long time. This does not mean IMO that she knows everything about them, but from what I've read it seems that she is one of the more publicly known knowledgeable persons about this species.

I would absolutely LOVE it if there were persons with related credentials (vets, herpetologists, biologist, etc..) that would be more public and visible about propaganding the proper care for iguanas but I have yet to see ONE online somewhere! Please, if you have links to such resources, share :)

I understand very well why many people don't like MK, and honestly, I am far from being her biggest fan, lol! Her caresheets on pretty much every other herp than igs have huge mistakes in them. You could easily argue that her ig diet would fall under that and I wouldn't dispute it. But can you discredit all the information she provides on iguanas? That's where I have a bigger problem.

As with any species that I research and get, I learn from as many different sources that I can. Rarely is one source perfect, one has to look around (especially on the net) and keep looking and reading until they get a good grasp of what they're getting into. I have seen many other sites than MK's with gross mistakes on them.

Truth is folks, those who back MK have no herping knowledge and are typically just other folks with one or two species of store bought herps, and never have spent any time in the field or in a biological study of any herp. They boast how smart MK is without actually reading or studying any material that has been researched by educated folks.

I guess because I like her articles that I'm dumb??? That I don't read anything else? That's a bit bold to assume from people you know nothing of! I sure as heck have never said she was the best and smartest (what a joke, lol!!!) and BTW, I have more than one or two store bought herps! ;)

I care for each of my animals immensely, wether be it one of my breeder rats or one of my fancy albino boas. All are cared for as well as they possibly can be, heck, any of my animals is healthier than me!!!! lol

I am curious that since you've had many iguanas that you feel taming is unnecessary. How did you deal with "wild" igs just to do regular daily maintenance? IMO, taming isn't something because you want a cuddly iguana, it's to establish a certain level of trust where there isn't a "violent" reaction every time you have to do maintenance.

I must say, that I enjoy these types of debates :) And I look forward to your response.

Pixie

[C.m.pyrrhus]

For one, I should say not all folks who follow MK are "dumb", but in general have a lack of what is needed in herptoculture, and that is research.

Many folks that go to her sites are in need of info, being that more than likely they have aquired there first herp as a pet. As they read alot of info, talk to other "MK lovers", they tend to feel all wise and knowing when in fact the only info they get is from her caresheets. Then, when folks with a lot more time in herptoculture, be it field study, biological study or just plain experiance around these type of folks talk with them about how incorrect she is, or that there are many other places with more factual information available, they tend to be stand-offish. They don't want to learn more because after all, MK covers it all. They feel "bad" that they don't have all the answers and fail to desire more reading or research material. Even if we try to be nice to them, they just do not care to know.

I no longer keep iguanas myself. I have dealt with to much of the problem and frankly have no time or willingness to deal with the problem. When I did keep iguanas, they were kept in large cages, usually converted closets. I never had a problem with any in terms of being attacked (cept one time I did get bit by the one I currently have) when doing any cleaning, feeding or what have you. They are smart creatures, and usually will not attack a person although this has happened in captivity. Maintenance was simple. Just in and out quick. I used newspaper for substrate, plenty of climbing areas and basking areas to keep them busy, a proper diet and lighting. Usually when an animal has all of the husbandry needs down right, you tend to end up with a better animal, but I could be wrong...lol. I strictly use dark greens and sometimes flowers; collards, mustard, turnip, dandelion, hibiscus, etc. I use good UVB, at around 5% and plenty of humidity around 60-80% range. I use a small amount of miner-all every 2 weeks, just to give a small boost of nutrients, although a proper diet provides most of what is needed along with the proper UVB and so on.

I have no need to "prance" around with one on a leash while strolling downtown either. I do not feel as if herps are to be seen or expressed in that way. Just my opinion that they are "look at pets" and should be that way. Free roaming iguanas seems to be a big deal in keeping them as well, which leads to less controll of your iguana in terms of husbandry and keeping them as "tame" as they can be. Iguanas as easy as they are to aquire, make very lousy pets unless one is willing to understand how they are. That is very uncommon to see someone actually understand what these lizards are like. They here through the grapevine through someone they work with,etc, that they are great pets..and how nice and sweet they are, when in fact they probably had a week iguana from improper husbandry and did not act naturally like they should.

I work in a pet hospital myself. These MK folks remind me of the people that feed their dogs bacon grease and refuse to spay/neuter there pets, then wonder down the line why they have health problems. "I did everything right", "He got everything he wanted", not knowing if they did some real good looking around that better info was around.

There are many folks with schooling that do put out good information, but usually a google search ends up with MK care as the first result. More than most, these people write whole books on a subject that a website could not cover. Most of what is on the web is simple caresheets written by folks with no real experiance, just folks that have the time to put up a website and promote their own philosophy on hertoculture. The only place I know of any good folks is in these forums.

Currently I am a mod at ACC forums, member of the AHA forum, Reptiles of AZ forum and many others. These forums have many wise and educated folks on them, and this is their arena to educate. Simply placing a website with info is just that. There is no real place to give feedback or better information through means of a website. There are also many great books written by some eductaed folks too,i.e. Dr. Frye. It takes some patience to meet folks and find out who is who, but usually you will find them as you experiance what goes on in a forum or elsewhere.