Larry has turned aggressive...helppppp

[ChristinaM]

(for those who don't know, Larry is my female iguana who had surgery on Nov. 26th to remove eggs, and spay her)


I don't know what to do.
When I got Larry, she calmed easily after a couple days of being here.
Within the past week, she's been bobbing me and doing the aggressive stance as soon as I open the doors to give her her breakie. The last couple days, she has been hissing and open mouth threats, as well as trying to bite me. I can't touch her without her trying to bite. And we are NOT talking little love nibbles. She seems very ticked off. Tonight I tried to calm her, and she would have no part in it. I put one arm under a pillow while approaching her with my other arm. She snapped at me and I put the pillow in the way. She gave it a good chomp. Me and my pillow hung around for a bit (was attempting to try the I'm not scared of you bit) and she chomped the pillow quite a few times.

I am seriously scared of her. I've never been scared of her before.

What happened to my sweet lil girl?
She loved to ride on my shoulder, free roam her room(I've given her the chance and she declines) and be scratched. Now she has absolutely no part in it.

I really don't understand it. Did her surgery do this to her in a medical sense? or is she thinking I'm taking her to the "bad place" every time I open the door?

how do I deal with this? Any thoughts would be appreciated. If you've been through this, please post.

Thank you.

[sleddergirl]

Wish I could help, but Bobbi-Jo has been like that from the first day we brought her home. Sid goes through phases, usually in cycles with his breeding seasons. Strange that she would have such a complete personality change so suddenly. Good luck with finding the answer.

Sue

[Dark_Angel_25]

I am sure over time it will go back to normal, I mean she has been through SO much, and who knows, maybe is in some discomfort from the operation.
There really is no easy solution, but something like what happened to her has got to be traumatising, and maybe she is just angry with you. GFive her some time, and I think for now the best bet would be to try and bribe her with her fave foods, and just let her come to you on her terms.. you were friends once, you will be again, maybe she needs to rebuild her trust..

[silent_truth]

I'm not sure about the possibility of this, but could the spaying have caused a hormonal change which resulted in her new odd behaviour? Just a thought.

-Adam

[ChristinaM]

Well, I bit the bullet. Put on hubbys snowmobile gloves and went in with a mission. She was coming out and not going back in untill I was ready.

I got ahold of her, she didn't bite (perhaps it's me shutting out any fear and assuming the boss position), grabbed her out of her enclosure. I kept ahold on her till she settled down. Then I removed the gloves and took her for a walk around the house (in my arms for now). Talked to her, and she was calm....dewlap tucked away....I spent about 10mins, then put her back in her enclosure.

Maybe she is just p!ssed off at me for all the trauma I put her through.....

Or as Adam said, the hormonal change perhaps. I've toyed with that one alot. I think she'll be ok....eventually.

She scratched my arm pretty good....My fault though. I took her downstairs in our walk and forgot the dog was there. She see's the dog and tries to scramble LOL.

I'm glad I bit it, and ignored the bite fear.

[Bartman]

maybe shes mad you took her eggs? Over time she'll probably forget about them, or maybe let her breed again (if she can) and she will be happy with her new babies...just a thought!

[Wuntu Menny]

Unfortunately, this is a common development for keepers of iguanas. I've talked to several people who experienced the same behavioural transition after medical intervention in one form or another. In most cases, the animal became permanently aggressive. Normally docile iggies suddenly turned on the keepers and some even inflicted injuries severe enough to hospitalize the keeper.

I hadn't really considered the hormonal issue with speying, but in this case it may have some merit. Male specimans often turn nasty when they reach adulthood or another iguana is brought into the house.

It sounds like you're regaining some trust with your approach. I'd say keep it up. Do what you can to re-establish the heirarchy as iggies will submit to a dominant individual. Practice your head bobbing technique in the mirror at night when nobody is looking and strap on a tail of some sort that you can whip around to assert yourself....Ok, now this is just getting silly!

It sounds like you're doing well under the circumstances, keep us posted as I feel like I know Larry very well by now.

WM

[marisa]

Roxy went through this three month period when she would AGGRESIVLY try and hurt me. She would go so far as throwing herself at the plexi windows to attack me.

Don't change anything. If you take her out each night, too bad she is coming out each night no matter what her attitude. Assuming the boss position like you said is important.

But sometimes iguana are just like this. Roxy snapped out of it and is normal again now and lots of pwners have told stories of aggresion out of the blue.

No iguana is EVER EVER trustworthy, or tame. It sucks but its all part of iguanas. Good luck with Larry, sounds as if things are going a bit better.

Marisa

[jim mcallister]

Good luck.....this is a little strange, i normally here these stories about the males.....iggy's are great but they sure are a handful!!

[ChristinaM]

Originally posted by Bartman
maybe shes mad you took her eggs? Over time she'll probably forget about them, or maybe let her breed again (if she can) and she will be happy with her new babies...just a thought!

Ummm, no. She's been spayed. As far as I'm concerned there is wayyyyy too many abandoned iggy's right now. Had her eggs been fertile (they weren't), I would have froze them. Not going to bring more iggy's into a world where they are abused, neglected, etc. But that's a whole other topic isn't it.



WM: well, it is good to know that this is a common occurance and not just happening to me

I actually do bob and hiss at her as well. But I draw the line at putting on a tail LOL

Marissa: That's one thing I need to remember, the trust issue. I guess that can be said about any reptile. It's tough but thanks for the reminder....its a very important point.

Thanks everyone for the input, and listening to my Larry stories She's my sweetie and I can't help but talk bout her.

[marisa]

Yep. And really all it means is always keep your eyes open, and don't be surprised if some mornings the Queen B**ch wakes up in a Baaaaad mood! LMAO

Marisa

[ChristinaM]

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!

It's funny to see her....in her enclosure, all rough and tough, this scrawny lil iggy, bobbing and hissing at me.....me bobbing back, hissing too. She's p!ssed at me I think. Ah well, not the first time someone's been ticked at me, won't be the last either.