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Post by pocochu on Dec 7, 2007 10:36:36 GMT -8
OK, I don’t know what to do, as you all know I have 3 iggys, well one of my iggys Lenny 1 1/2 old (male) was abused and had a real bad burn on his tail from a hot rock which I’m still battling to get healed..... My problem is he is so aggressive at first I had to wear gloves to handle him...boy is he a biter, well I have been working with him a lot to try and tame him, I’ve had him almost a yr, it will be a yr in Jan...We are past the glove part but he is still real aggressive, he is real moody.. I don’t know if he will ever tame down, He bit my daughter last night on her hand and it bled for a good 10 mins, he got her right where the index finger joins the hand, he got her pretty good.... I don’t know if I should try and find him a new home or what but I really don’t want a full grown aggressive MALE iggy running around that I can’t trust, he even trys to bite you when you are holding him sometimes.....And Squiggy my female can’t stand him, she attacks him every chance she gets. Like the other night Squiggy was on the couch and Lenny jumped up in my husbands chair and Squiggy saw him and leaped off of the couch, slid across the coffee table and ran across the room and pounced on him and started biting him... I don’t know if she can sense something w/ him or what, but she is not like this with Squirt( my other iggy) he’s a male too, she lets Squirt crawl all over her, she not aggressive toward him at all. I just don’t know what to do, I just don’t want any body getting hurt by him.....I love him but I can’t trust him..... Do you peeps have any advice.. I’m in a pickle and I don’t know what to do........ Thanks, Annie  |
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Post by Merlin on Dec 7, 2007 11:04:48 GMT -8
You have several things going against you
1 Its possible that your ig is in pain from the problem with his tail.
2 The ig was abused and may view humans as terrible nasty creatures to be feared.
3. This is breeding season for males and even the sweetest ig can get nasty this time of year
4. You are trying to have a multiple ig hosehold and have obvious aggression issues between at least 2 of them. This could keep him in a heightened stated of defensiveness/aggressivess in preparation for a possible attack.
This is exactly the reason I try to put people off of keeping an iguana free roaming. Much less 3 of them!
Since you already acknowledge that he has aggression problems and is a biter why was your child in a position to be bitten?
These animals no matter how docile seming can NEVER be fully trusted. It's the nature of dealing with a wild reptile.
My first suggestion is put him in a cage!
This will accomplish 2 things.
1 It will give you a place to put him that he cannot hurt anyone or be attacked by your other iguana. It will be his safe place.
2 It may change his attitude from viewing your entire house as HIS territory and instead narrow his focus down to defending just the cage.
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Post by prism_wolf on Dec 7, 2007 13:22:01 GMT -8
Merlin has some solid advice and should be taken seriously. Fingers do bleed a lot...more than many other body parts just because the blood vessels are so close to the surface. Amber had a bleeder, too and is in the bite picture thread. It's just what fingers do. It's good for flushing any bacteria, though. Keeping the ig in an enclosure is your best and safest route. If you don't have room for another enclosure...then you may have to think about re-homing someone...  |
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Post by pocochu on Dec 7, 2007 16:27:26 GMT -8
Thanks for the info and tips.....I don't know what has gotten in to him...I just started letting him free roam alittle bit about 3 wks agos for about an hour or so, I do have separate enclosures for all of them.... He has been real good, my daughter is 13 and she always been handling Lenny w/ no problem thats why I let her interact w/ him, He like her better than me....He was not free roaming at the time he bit her, he was in his enclosure and she opened his door and he lunged at her and grabbed her hand. He has never done that before,But it's like all of a sudden something just snapped and he is more aggressive now than he ever has been...it's like this happened overnight. This morning I couldn't even get him out for his bath so we skipped that part, I barley got his food dish in there before he lunged at me.... I know it breeding season right now, so I don't know if that is the issue or not. I know males can be real stinkers during this time of yr.... Well I'm just going to put him in his cage and leave him alone and not interact w/ him, but of coarse still give him food and water and daily misting and clean his cage but not handle him. Thanks again....... |
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Post by prism_wolf on Dec 7, 2007 16:38:21 GMT -8
Yes...it IS breeding season so you need to stop asking yourself "why all of a sudden?" Sometimes this is exactly the way it happens. Bring a towel with you for feeding and interacting. When you open the door and he has the "look of the lunge" then simply toss the towel over his head. He will stop.
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Post by crazybaby on Dec 12, 2007 10:11:49 GMT -8
This is something you might likely have to deal with for just the one or possibly all your iguana's. If aggression is a reason for you to give up and not interact with him personally speaking don't find that fair to him. Not to mention the fact any progress you have made is going to be entirely lost. Naturally always take precautions when dealing with a wild animal and now that he's in breeding season, the fact that he's challenged you and threatened to make you go away he's not likely going to stop. He know's now that you'll back down.
Iguana's are unpredictable no matter what gender. If you weren't prepared for aggression why didn't you go for just one iguana in the first place? When they're small they're generally not all that agressive just flighty and scared. What will happen if they aren't the sexes you think they are and they grow up possibly aggressive (but always unpredictable)? What happens if you have another aggressive male?
Please think of all your possibilities and how you will deal with the various situations. This way you won't be shocked or surprised with a "what am I going to do" type situation as you find yourself now. I understand sometimes rehoming is often an issue some have to face but if aggression is the cause for the decision consider the other two iguanas as possible future problems and decide whether or not you'll be able to deal with it and handle any aggression without secluding the iguana for just being an iguana. I know it sounds a bit harsh but, rejection isn't going to make anything better.
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