Clover, are you a boy?????

[tammyjamaica]

I have what I always thought was a pair of green igs....Iggy (whom I know is a male as I have seen his hemipenis) and Clover. I always thought she was a girl, all the signs pointed to it being so, including the shape of her head and her subservient behaviour when they were young and together.

However, now I am wondering. He received an injury to his leg joint, and has become less dominant. They are both in mating colours (they are about four years old) but "she" is suddenly larger and more aggressive and attacks him, goes after him and climbs on top of him, keeping him down but not actually mating as far as I can see. I have had to separate them. Now I remember that "she" put out a little blob of white stuff some weeks ago that now I am hearing seems to be a "seminal plug" which comes from a male?!!!!

Any ideas/advice welcome.

[MasterYoda]

Sounds like you have a male. In one of the books that i have read it says that if housing two males together (which by the way is not recommended at all) that the lesser of the two will become more subservient and display female characteristics. I am guessing that this is a defense mechanism of sorts. but now that your other is not quite as dominant this one is taking on the role of the dominant iguana.

THIS WILL MAKE THINGS VERY DANGEROUS. you need to remove them from each other before something really bad happens.

I am thinking that the book that i took that from was the Green Iguana Manual by Philippe De Vosjoli

[prism_wolf]

The reference Master Yoda is stating from is actually in several sources. Some male iguanas will take on the male characteristics to "blend" with the rest of the females in a group of wil iguanas...even taking on female hormonal smells. Now with the other one hurt, the submissive one has seen his opportunity. This can get bad and can result in one, or both igs, become very dead. Keep them seperated. Even a male and female should not be housed together. Here are a couple of links to explain multiple igs better:

www.anapsid.org/iguana/multipleigs.html
www.greenigsociety.org/multipleigs.htm
www.iguanaden.org/housing/multipleigs.htm
www.baskingspot.com/iguanas/igbook/housing.html <---bottom of page

[MasterYoda]

Thank u V I know i have read that several times. The only reference i could remember for sure was in Vosjoli's book

[tammyjamaica]

masteryoda said:

Sounds like you have a male. In one of the books that i have read it says that if housing two males together (which by the way is not recommended at all) that the lesser of the two will become more subservient and display female characteristics. I am guessing that this is a defense mechanism of sorts. but now that your other is not quite as dominant this one is taking on the role of the dominant iguana.

THIS WILL MAKE THINGS VERY DANGEROUS. you need to remove them from each other before something really bad happens.

I am thinking that the book that i took that from was the Green Iguana Manual by Philippe De Vosjoli

Thank you very much, I have checked out the various sites advice about this multiple Igs problem. There has definitely been a "role reversal" in mine in terms of dominance, and whether or not Clover is a male or female, I still have them separated and so it will be from now on. Although they are close to each other, they cannot see each other as one is "upstairs" and one is on a lower level. What I need to do now is build another, larger space for both of them separately which ensures their individual health and happiness.

It was never my intention to own two iguanas, but it turned out that way because of the sudden unexpected return of one that had escaped and was gone for months, during which time I had got another one for my heartbroken son. I have now ended up with the total care of them both, so I have to do what I can to make them each as comfortable as possible.

Glad I was told about this site! Thanks again for everyone's good advice.

[Yungair23]

Good luck Tammy. Just keep them seperated at all times. Its for the best.