Maternal Instinct?

[rocmills]

Okay, this is almost too weird for words.

Lately, I've seen what appeared to be evidence of iggie Mary making cuddle friends with plastic Mary... and evidence of the real Mary *moving* the plastic iguana around the habitat. Several days in a row now, plastic Mary has shown up in different parts of the habitat without having been moved by either my husband or myself.

Today was the oddest.

We were clearing out the habitat for a major re-build. Bailey was in a cage on the patio, and Mary was left in the habitat while we worked. At one point, we moved the ceramic frogs and two plastic iguanas up to the shallow end near the stairs. We put Mary's food bowl about five feet away, under an army cot for shade.

Later, we came out and found plastic Mary a couple of feet away from where she had been left, and the real Mary was laying there with her arm on the plastic iguana. The picture below was taken a few moments later.



Shortly after that, we came back outside and plastic Mary was again moved, closer to the food bowl... and here's the kicker... there were pieces of watermelon (which we had given Mary as a treat) all around the plastic iguana. I swear to god, it looks as if Mary was *bringing* food to the plastic iguana!

Anyone here ever encounter this sort of behavior before?

--Roc

[Tesa]

That's just plain odd!
I've never seen or heard of it.

[rocmills]

I swear to you, Tesa, there is nothing and no one who could be moving plastic mary around the habitat except for the real Mary. My husband and I are considering trying to set up a remote cam down there to see what's really going on. And tonight we made note of where we placed the plastic iguana... we'll see where it is in the morning.

--Roc

[Merlin]

Roc that is just plain weird!
Perhaps you have a poltergeist?

[IguanaKing]

Not anything I have seen before.

Since iguanas can learn through observation, maybe she picked up her maternal instincts from her mom.

My previous female, Mercury, sort of acted "motherly" toward me. Somehow, she always knew if I was sick, in pain, or upset and would cuddle with me like she was trying to help me feel better. I'm not sure how she learned this because she wasn't always like that. My guess is that she learned from my comforting her when she was gravid. Maybe...but, who knows? Iguanas never cease to amaze me.

Very enjoyable story Roc, thanks. ;D

[rocmills]

Not maternal, after all. Except in a second-hand kinda way. I shot 30 minutes of video the other day, Mary interacting with Plastic Mary... whom I guess we should actually be calling Plastic Mark.

My husband will be making another video clip, more of a montage... but this is pretty much what she did, over and over and over again, with varying degrees of enthusiasm:

www.i-vu.com/vid/mary-1.wmv

I'm guessing she's in heat again and putting the moves on ole Mark... then trying to show him the ropes, so to speak, when he doesn't respond.

Anyone have another take, another interpretation of her actions?

--Roc

[Tesa]

lol Roc! That's too much!!
Poor Mary! Mark may be giving her a complex... ;D

[IguanaKing]

;D

That's a great video Roc. Maybe that's the reason Bailey is such "an angry young man", his woman prefers the company of plastic men.

[rocmills]

Well, we had removed Bailey from the habitat because we are working on it and didn't want him to attack us. During the two days he was in the reptarium, he turned very dark - not a hint of orange left on him. He even let me pick him up a couple of times without trying to bite. But later in the day that video was shot, we decided to put him back in with Mary to see what would happen.

Mary went completely submissive the moment she saw Bailey - dewlap sucked up, head low to the ground. Every time Bailey tried to approach her, though, she would scamper away. If Bailey *didn't* try to approach her, she would approach him... and turn and run the moment he noticed her. Very complicated process this iggie mating ritual.

Mary has had a ravenous appetite this past week or two... you don't suppose she's getting ready for eggs again already do you? And is it true... I read somewhere online that female igs can "store" male sperm for up to 7 years? So even if she and Bailey *don't* mate, she could still have fertile eggs from the last male she lived with?

--Roc