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Post by WillemsMom on Sept 10, 2004 17:49:28 GMT -8
Dear Willie is quickly becoming his old self... I've been mincing his food because of his injured rostrum and he was just picking at it. Today I put a whole mustard green leaf in his enclosure and before I knew what happened, it was gone! YAY!!!!! He used to love to devour a whole leaf and I wondered if I'd ever see that day again. Today I did!
But!! He is getting fanatic over the reflections in his enclosure. He leaps from his basking place at a reflection and comes crashing down. Maybe 4 feet. It makes a horrible sound and I come running. His dear little rostrum is staying all bruised. But I worry about a worse injury.
He's a very sweet and affectionate Ig. In the morning when he wakes up and I go to him, I get about 5-6 kisses. Such a happy, cuddly time for us both. After that it's anyone's guess how our day together will go. Nothing really stays the same. But mostly, I need help with these reflections. What do y'all do?
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Nanshe
Senior
I am owned by Elvis & Angel :)
Posts: 167
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Post by Nanshe on Sept 11, 2004 0:34:27 GMT -8
I had that problem with Elvis before we made him a free roamer.
We found the only way to stop him from getting so upset was to paper (or cover with something else?) one of the long sides of his enclosure. It helped to cut down on the reflections. Also re-adjusting the lighting, particularly when his enclosure is lighter than the room it's in, might help.
Someone else might have a better idea, I'm sorry I didn't have any other ideas myself.
Good luck! He's such an adorable Iggy!
~Nan
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Post by WillemsMom on Sept 11, 2004 5:24:00 GMT -8
Thanks, Nan,
I didn't figure out why it was worse in the evening until I read your post. It is much lighter in his enclosure than in the rest of the room.
I've been trying to figure out how to install two roll down shades on the panels near where he basks. I like the idea of taping paper up. Great idea. Thanks!
Nancy
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Post by Tesa on Sept 11, 2004 5:25:09 GMT -8
Great to hear that Willem is back to eating normal again!! Poor little nose..... (I'd suggest covering the glass with also.)
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Post by Merlin on Sept 11, 2004 6:03:33 GMT -8
You could also consider placing a lamp so that it shines on the side of the cage the reflection is on. With the light coming thru the glass the reflection will be reduced or eliminated. Its the difference in the light inside and the light outside that causes the reflection.
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Post by WillemsMom on Sept 11, 2004 14:41:32 GMT -8
Well, back to the drawing board. First I taped up two pieces of newspaper on the two panels where the reflection is the strongest. WHAM! he leaped at the one that blocked his view of me. My pc is about 4' from his enclosure and we can see each other all day long. he wasn't going to leave the offending paper in the way.
So then I took your advise, Merlin. i discovered that unless i had a bright light shining directly at his eye level the reflection was still there.
I've decided to try something different now. set the timer on his mega-ray bulb for 6 am to 5pm. This may work fine. Turn all his lights off now.
Thanks for all your suggestions!
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Post by WillemsMom on Sept 11, 2004 18:14:11 GMT -8
Poor little guy..when i turned his lights off 2 1/2 hours early, he went to one of his ledges and lay there with his eyes open until his bedtime. but at least he didn't slam into any thing and fall. maybe this is part of his being in season and will pass. Sure hope so.
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Nanshe
Senior
I am owned by Elvis & Angel :)
Posts: 167
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Post by Nanshe on Sept 12, 2004 1:07:35 GMT -8
Awwwwwww! Bless his heart! He wanted to see you That makes me smile inside I'm so sorry the ideas didn't work. If I think of anything else, I will be sure to post it here. My Ig's each roam in their own rooms, and hang out in the window. They can see their reflections in the glass when the sun starts to go down. For the longest time it was a problem (especially for my male that loves to sleep on the window sill), but it seems that after a while, they just quit attacking the reflection, and ignore it now. Maybe with time your baby will also ignore the reflection? Also, instead of turning off his lights completly so early, would it be possible to instead turn off the lights inside the enclosure (and turning on whatever keeps him warm at night), and turning on lights on the outside of the cage? That might cut out the reflection, and allow him to be active right up till bedtime. Best of luck to you and that adorable baby of yours! ~Nan
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Post by WillemsMom on Sept 12, 2004 16:12:42 GMT -8
Your suggestions worked, ~Nan. I'm very grateful. He seems very comfortable with less light in his enclosure.
You might enjoy this little incident. One of our Golden Retrievers is very bonded to me and always lies by my computer chair. Willie can see this, of course. A few minutes agao, my dh called Wolfie, the dog, who jumped up quickly to go. Willem huffed and puffed up, came over close to the edge of his enclosure and looked so tough for a little ig. I think he wanted to scare Wolfie and protect me. This is making me smile inside and all over, too.
I'd love to hear more about your guys....
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Nanshe
Senior
I am owned by Elvis & Angel :)
Posts: 167
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Post by Nanshe on Sept 13, 2004 0:52:25 GMT -8
I'm so glad something was able to work for him! I was literally laughing out loud at your story! My male does that too - he's VERY attached to me, and my youngest daughter - probably because we're the ones that spend the most time with him, and handle all of his care. He's such a sweetheart, and I (knock on wood) have seen NONE of the male aggression towards either of US that I read about. However, Elvis does feel the need to "protect" me from my husband from time to time LOL. That's rather hilarious because for a 3 year old iguana, he's decent sized (17" svl & 43" stl), but my husband is pretty decent sized for a human too (at 325lbs)! ROTFL So it's comical to watch them bob back and forth. If Elvis and I are having some "us" time cuddling, or just laying together on the bed, and my husband comes in, he'll puff up and gape at my hubby, in an effort to scare him off LOL. Hubby, of course, just bobs back at him. Usually Elvis wins, but only because I shoo hubby off, but hubby is always sure to get a little petting in first, just so Elvis knows WHO the man of the house REALLY is - yeah right! LMAO - Elvis owns all of us. He was a rescue from a local pet store that has since been shut down. I was appalled to see the conditions they were keeping their Ig's in ~sigh~ not to mention the care instructions they gave out when selling them! Had I followed their advice, Elvis would have been dead loooong ago! As it is, I am still battling the major effects of MBD When we got him, he was (and had been for several weeks) completly black, had horrible sores on his body, was very thin, cold, he was so dehydreated that he actually ended up losing one of his hemipenes about a week after we got him home, and his little tummy was sunken in from not eating Now he's a fat happy boy! They had several other Ig's there too, one being a very large female, a juvinile female, and several babies. We found homes for all of them before the store closed. We actually tried to take on the female juvinile, but Elvis tried to kill her on several ocassions, costing us almost $1,000 in vet bills over the course of 3 days! Fortunatly for us, the vet tech fell in love with Prissy, and in exchange for Prissy, her cage, and several of the necessary items we had for her, she paid the vet bill for us ~whew~ That's how Elvis originally became a free roamer! Of course, I've since acquired Angel, our 4 year old female who has what appears to be severe scoliosis (Elvis and Angel each have their own room - so they're never together - and usually only see each other when one is outside and the other is in the window). She had also lost a large portion of her tail with her previous owner. She is about 11" SVL/ 22" STL. Her back is severly swayed, so I'm very worried about her becoming gravid. I'll have to have her spayed, I just don't see how she could possibly carry and lay any eggs. I have also noticed that she poops much less, but more often - and I've wondered if it's because of her scoliosis and the swaying in her back. Anyway - believe it or not, she has dominated Elvis! He is scared to death of her! That totally blows my mind! He's so much larger and physically healthy - but she has an air of confidence about her that is just amazing, and obviously that came across to Elvis. She's never done anything to him, in fact they've never even been closer than about 20 feet! But whatever they were saying with their head bobs and postures left an impact on him! LOL Anyway, I have a million stories I could tell about my two wonderful babies - I have gotton so much enjoyment out of them it's just surreal. As soon as I can figure out what's wrong with my digital camera, I am going to post some pics - for some reason, the pics won't upload to the computer Thanks for sharing your stories, I spend a TON of time at this site just reading what everyone has to say about their Iguana's - I am a true Iggy Lover! ~Nan
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Post by WillemsMom on Sept 13, 2004 5:36:34 GMT -8
What fun you are having with your igs!
Angel and Elvis are proving one of my favorite sayings that 'Attitude is Everything'. They are so lucky to have their own rooms and YOU!!
I'm truly rushed today so this will be brief, but I'm glad you verified that igs can be protective of us. Willie is still such a woos I feared I was reading too much into what happened..but when it was all over he got up high and close and kept looking at me to see if I was okay. ~ sigh ~
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