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Post by lovinglewis on Nov 4, 2004 4:21:40 GMT -8
Well, I have been fostering a MBD baby for the past 2 months, needless to say he's quite quite well. He bit me last night after I tried to pick him up from underneath his chest. It is still bleeding this morning. My first bite  Lewis never bit me~~!!!! Anyhow, after the battle which he obviously won, he has not been right since. He has 3 levels in his cage. Last night he didn't sleep under his night lights or near the plug in heater I keep for him near the first floor. This morning, his routine is to bask bask bask. Nope. He is still on the second level away from both basking lamps and heater..... ok....... He is in "basking mode" though. Head raised, but obviously he is sitting too far away to recieve any benefit. The "attack" took place on his basking area on the first floor. Should I accomadate him? Move his lights to the second level? Will he snap out of hiding mode?? Will he be okay? He's close to 2 ft long, possibly longer. real fiesty compared to when I took him out of his old enviroment ( poor) |
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Post by Cyndi on Nov 4, 2004 13:17:16 GMT -8
I know this sounds silly, but Kyo would do the same thing after I would witness him doing something stupid! He tried to eat while hanging upside down off the edge of his ramp and fell head first into his food bowl! I had to laugh, it was sooo funny. He hid behind his hidey plant, and didn't come out for a day and a half! He did it again after he tried to jump from one shelf to the other for the first time, and missed.
I swear he was embarrassed! I have been told that that is not possible, but I don't know....
Could yours be feeling bad for doing something he knows was wrong?
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Post by lovinglewis on Nov 4, 2004 15:23:56 GMT -8
Honestly, Cyndi I do not know  How odd though because his every day in day out is first level basking fun, from the moment after the bite, last night, to this evening he doesn't want to bask or move. I wonder if maybe he is thinking hey last time i was under the sun i bit that scary lady. In any event, i just placed a plate of his favorite things in with him, hopefully he will eat something. For the record, I am NOT trying to handle him tonight. I know I am letting him win, but I am still in shock. Also, he is on his second shed day, maybe he's uncomfortable. |
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Post by IguanaKing on Nov 4, 2004 19:13:16 GMT -8
Hey, LovingLewis is back!! ;D How did you react when he bit you? Many times your reaction to the bite can affect his behavior afterward. Mercury hated me up until the day she degloved my right index finger with a bite. I pulled back after she released me and probably had a look of disbelief and shock on my face. I really didn't make any noise though, the pain put me right into a state of shock. You know...its weird...I swear I saw a "Oh my god, what have I done?" look on her face. After I got back from the Emergency Room, I went right back to handling her and interacting with her regularly. She never bit me again and, in fact, became a very loving companion who never wanted to be away from me. (Heh...it was almost like she was trying to make things right  ) I'm not sure what your iguana is thinking, but you should definitely go back to interacting with him, I think its the only way he'll know that everything is cool and he can go back to living his life again. |
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Post by lovinglewis on Nov 5, 2004 4:20:42 GMT -8
Hey Iguana King . . . . .
I was iguana- free for a while until my heart went out to one of the saddest looking igs I ever saw at a "friends" house :-(
"Chance" I named him . . . . Well now chance is a fiesty little man. When he bit me I didn't scream or yell or anything. . . I pulled back, big mistake, the bite tore even more. It wasn't stitches material, as he is not even a year old, however it was deep enough to bleed bleed bleed. Anyhow, I didn't scold him, maybe i should have. I just said "why did you do that hey thats not nice why why i can't believe oh my goodnesss" in a sad voice. I just fed him breakfast, he is now back to basking and eating. Which makes me totally happy. However, I think it'll be another 6 months before he likes me and who could blame him, humans have been nothing but rotten to him!!!
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Post by IguanaKing on Nov 6, 2004 0:05:28 GMT -8
It could be longer than 6 months, Mercury liked me at first...and then I accidentally pulled part of her tail off (still new to igs back then). It was almost 3 years later that she gave me that final "...and this is for pulling my tail off" bite. ;D Pulling back is definitely not a good thing to do, but when you're bitten for the first time, I really think its impossible to avoid. Just so you know...not only does it cause more damage to you, but it also causes damage to your iguana. When you pulled back, you may have pulled a few of his teeth out, which will cause him a little bit of pain (don't worry though, his teeth will grow back). Like I said though, it was your first bite, so please don't feel bad about pulling away...its a perfectly reasonable, natural reaction. Scolding really doesn't do much after the fact, he won't understand, so its ok that you didn't scold him. But, once you learn to read an impending attack, that's when you need to give him an unpleasant reaction...he needs to learn early that attacking you won't be tolerated, otherwise some day, you'll have a 5 to 6-foot lizard with a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth chasing you around the house during breeding season.  (not a good thing ). |
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Post by lovinglewis on Nov 6, 2004 6:16:59 GMT -8
Oh my my you wouldn't happen to know anything about a 6 foot iguana in breeding season would you!!!!!!  I have healed from my "love wound" (my friends in work think I'm nuts when I say that) Upon closer inspection I can see how jagged the wound is and I hope to goodness I didn't pull out any of his teeth.  I'd rather be in pain than him !! He's already had his ordeal of discomforts in his short life. Honestly, he did open-mouth towards me a few times, but honestly, I "ignored" it because Lewis used to do that, but once I cradled him, he would stop. Unfortuneatly, every ig is different, and Chance meant buisness!! Yeeeeouchhh |
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Post by IguanaKing on Nov 6, 2004 7:00:07 GMT -8
That's exactly how Mercury got a hold of me. She was angry because I kept picking her up and moving her away from the door she was trying to dig under. She finally gaped at me, but I ignored her...she clamped down on my finger and shook her head back and forth. I guess she was REALLY angry. It took 18 months before I could fully use that finger again and it STILL feels strange. (She was about 4-feet long at the time) That'll teach me. ;D
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Post by Cyndi on Nov 8, 2004 11:06:37 GMT -8
I have yet to be bitten, and Kyo has never threatened (yet) to bite. No gaping, nothing. (He did try to eat the flowers off my shirt once, tho). But he LOVES to use his tail, lol. I have found (with him, again, all are different) that when he gets that tail wound up and ready to go, a sharp clap of the hands along with a "NO" works wonders. Gets his attention real quick, lol. He jumps, gets all wide eyed, and seems to forget what he was getting all snippy about in the first place  I am glad that Chance is getting back to normal for you. And so happy that you found each other. I'm sure that Chance is happy with you too, he just doesn't realize it yet Cyndi |
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Lewis never bit me~~!!!! Anyhow, after the battle which he obviously won, he has not been right since. He has 3 levels in his cage. Last night he didn't sleep under his night lights or near the plug in heater I keep for him near the first floor. This morning, his routine is to bask bask bask. Nope. He is still on the second level away from both basking lamps and heater..... ok....... He is in "basking mode" though. Head raised, but obviously he is sitting too far away to recieve any benefit. The "attack" took place on his basking area on the first floor. Should I accomadate him? Move his lights to the second level? Will he snap out of hiding mode?? Will he be okay? He's close to 2 ft long, possibly longer. real fiesty compared to when I took him out of his old enviroment ( poor) 
) I'm not sure what your iguana is thinking, but you should definitely go back to interacting with him, I think its the only way he'll know that everything is cool and he can go back to living his life again.
(not a good thing 
I'd rather be in pain than him !! He's already had his ordeal of discomforts in his short life. Honestly, he did open-mouth towards me a few times, but honestly, I "ignored" it because Lewis used to do that, but once I cradled him, he would stop. Unfortuneatly, every ig is different, and Chance meant buisness!! Yeeeeouchhh 