So today I counted up the scratches on my arm, from one day of trying to reason with Orson, the iguana. 47 on the left, 29 on the fight, 34 on my chest and last bot not least 5 on my face. I bought Orson from a man selling a tame, healthy 1 year old iguana. Orson is anything but tame or healthy and I don't think he's a year old. ( He's about three, maybe four feet long!) His tail's regrown, one of his toes is infected, his pores are infected, he's got infections on his belly and worse yet? his dewlap is nothing but a black crumbled,hard and tattered bit of skin he itches at. It probably hurts a lot! I don't know what the bafoon who owned him did, but he's agressive, and absolutely terrified of towels! even if he 'knows' no one is in the room, and the towel is folded neatly across the room, he hisses, gapes, and whips his tail. He will do this until it is removed. The closest I can get to him is when I feed him, he'll let me touch the back of his neck, and accept rubbing. He will bite me, and has tried his damndest. Also, when we got some nail trimmers to trim his claws, he displayed the same reaction as he did to the towel. He only gets this railed up when nail clippers and/ or towels are presents. He eats like a horse, and runs when he sees me. I don't know what to do, or how I should go about the process of trying to calm him down. He's probably miserable like this, and so am I. Any help?
Wow, I can't believe this guy sold him to you in that condition. If he's 4 feet long he's definitely over 1 year old. Iguanas only grow 1 foot per year. My iguana is going on 3 years old and almost 4 feet long. The scratches on the arms are normal. I've counted over 100 before and my iguana is tame! Although, my iguana doesn't scratch me intentionally. Usually she puts her feet on me then her foot slips, she tries to grip and that leaves a scratch. That's 20 claws you're up against. The scratches definitely add up. If he's not whipping you with his tail or trying to bite you all the time, I'm sure that's probably the similar scenario with your iguana as well. One thing I can recommend to help with the scratches, always wear long sleeves when handling him or make some gauntlets. Get a pair of knee high socks and cut the very tip off. Put your arm through the sock, that way everything is protected except your fingers. If you try gloves that cover your fingers, you're only asking for pain. I know this from experience. It frightens the iguana and they will try to bite. I threw the gloves against my wall then showed her it was my fingers underneath my gloves and she was fine ever since. Are the infections perhaps from burns? You can use Neosporin on the infections. But I'd definitely see a vet, if they try to give you a cream for the infections though, they are basically giving you an expensive version of Neosporin. My guess is he doesn't like towels because maybe the previous owner was irresponsible during bath time? I think I know why he doesn't like nail trimmers if one of his toes are infected. My guess is the previous owner trimmed a nail too far and hit the vein in the nail. You can only trim the very tip, otherwise you'll hit the vein. It's relatively easy to see. As for his dewlap, some of it is suppose to be black. Since some of it is hard, obviously he's got some shedding problems. A nice bath can usually help, but obviously since he doesn't like towels you might have to sacrifice and old sweatshirt or something to dry him off a little. As for calming him down, have you ever heard the saying "It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks" It will definitely take time for him to adjust. And you have to understand reptiles don't see the same way we do. They can't make out facial features, to him you still might be that ignorant ass of an owner that he use to have. So make sure you have patience and talk to him, that always calms them down. Also find a fruit, they like strawberries and bananas.. find one he really likes, and perhaps only offer it to him at first as a treat for when you have him out. Hopefully he will make the connection that being out and being good gets him tasty treats, and hopefully he will realize you're a different person. Also when you go to take him out, never come from above, that associates you as a predator. I always slowly touched my Iguana's toes and worked my way up to her neck then slowly picked her up. To let you know ahead of time. Iguanas usually bond to only one person in the house. They will hate everyone else. Although, they don't mind guests and are sweet to them, but they will hate your roommates. Also since you have a male, in the fall he will be especially territorial, as that's their mating season. I'm sure once you consult a vet and have his illnesses taken care of he will feel much better. Don't give up on him, there's still hope. What type of set up do you have him in? If it's too small he might be having territorial issues, and might think of you as invading his territory. Do you have any questions concerning care?
I know! The picture he showed me was a beautiful iguana, but when I got Orson, he was not tame nor very pretty. I'm quite fond of him anyway. Anyways, his tail is regrown to. Its almost completely regrown, except about six inches of it. I belive its intentional, he's biting, whipping, and scrambling. Every time. I don't know what he's thinking as far as the nail trimming go, but he's going to the petstore today to get his nails trimmed. He enjoys going out to the petstore, where he suddenly becomes the ideal iguana and allows me to pet him and hold him, and everyone else to pet him and hold him. He really enjoys the sights and sounds it seems. Probably from burns. I'm going to go in and make sure, because even with neosporin they seem to not be doing well. I don't know if its because of bath time or somthing, but he hates water, too. He realllly likes being sprayed with a spray bottle, but he hates bathes. He panics. Then i'm the best thing in the world when I remove him from the bath. If I had a picture, you'd know instantly its not normal. The vet I had look at him, told me it was dead and it would sluff off. Its crusted, it dosen't move, its...got an open wound where its tearing off. And it itches. He rubs it against anything he can, and it hurts. I'll be calling my vet today to find out if we can remove it or somthing, because it seems to hurt him. I have some sweatshirts, and he dosen't like them much either. He's more tolerent with them, and seems to really be just peachy keen with paper towls. It'll take a long time for him to learn i'm alright, and thats okay. I can deal with that. Finding a treat he 'really' likes is hard, because he 'really likes' everything you put near him. Yesterday I was able to feed him a rose petel (he was trying to bite me, so I stuffed one into his mouth.) by hand, and he sort of just sat there looking at me like '...well that was not what i was expecting.' He'll eat EVERYTHING. I mean everything! if its in his enclosure, he'll eat it. Recently I broke his enclosure door and temporarily have mesh over the front of his cage. (While we wait for his new huge cages by design cage!) and he likes that. He's strange, he likes to 'play' with things. I give him new things every day, like a dog's rope toy, a water bottle, excetera with supervision. He will nudge them, watch them role, bite them, scratch them, the dog toy he picked up and took it to the top of his cage. He likes all sorts of things oddly enough. He wont let me touch his toes, he jerks away like i've snapped at him. He watches me when i'm in the room and eventually he relaxes. I took him to the vet the day I got him, bcause of his injuries, and found this vet wasn't the most creditable one, but had enough sence to read blood graphs. He had an infection, we gave him pills and it should have cleared up. I know he'll bond to just one person, but no one else interacts with him other then talking to him and sit in the room with him. He doesn't really seem to care, thus far. I hope he stays indifferent. But you never know! Thats fine, he can be territorial, i'm fine with that. I have an eight foot long, four foot tall cage for him until the 27th when he's getting a huge Cages by Design cage. Theres not to much in there, because his belly injuries and his dewlap. So I have to keep his cage incredibly clean to avoid infection. I guess is there anything I should or shouldn't be doing, really?
Sorry that it took me a few days to respond. It sounds like you're doing everything right. Since you said there's not much in his cage, just make sure you at least have a basking spot for him. I'm sure you already know this, but make sure you use a UVB bulb. As for a certified herp vet try www.herpvetconnection.com The cage you have for him now sounds awesome. All you needed was for it to be a little taller perhaps and it would be perfect. I own a Cages By Design cage too! I bought the whole package that had everything from the rock ledges to the fake plants to the lights. Expect like 6 huge boxes lol. To warn you ahead of time, the screen that they put in the cages that they have the lights on in the pics, they are for marketing only. They expect you to mount the lights inside, or buy their inserts that you can put the lights on top of the cage. If I were you I'd buy the inserts if you haven't. My iguana likes to try to climb on the chords and on the lights, that's the only reason she ever got burnt, from laying on the lights while I wasn't around. Also on their website you can buy reptile carpet for cheaper, not to mention you order the right amount of square feet you need. As for his biting and tail whipping, that will eventually subside. I'm glad to hear in his condition that he's eating! He should also be defecating almost daily too. I've "potty trained" mine. I have a rubbermaid tub full of water in there that I put in her corner cause she was going in her huge water dish, that thing was just too big and too heavy to carry down narrow steps and sanitize it! So mine just climbs over it and does her thing. I take it out, dump it in the toilet and sanitize the tub. That's another thing I wanted to mention, if you think your iguana is constipated, if you haven't already noticed from bath time, water relieves them of that. As for the issue with the dewlap, I'd definitely get that taken care of. The dewlap plays an important role for iguanas. It thermo-regulates their bodies, to either absorb heat or cool their bodies down. I'm sure once his infections are healed he'll have a much better attitude. I've never tried giving my iguana dog toys, might have to! I do give her stuffed animals, she likes to use them as a pillow. A great resource site for iguana info is www.anapsid.org If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask.
I've got pretty much every light you could ask for on the cage. I use Dr. Adolf Maas, in Washington. He's really good, and I've heard a lot of good things about him. He also treats my animals VERY well and is very knowlagable! I took Orson in to see him, and ended up having to give him injections. As for his cage, it'll be far bigger then the one he's got, thankfully! I can't wait to get his new Cages By Design one in, it'll be far nicer then the one we currently have. I wish i'd known that about the lights! I'll be sure to buy it. He's a real climber. Since first writing, we broke the glass doors on his cage and now theres mesh for a little while. Its held together by trash ties, and it's not really important if he keeps in his cage or not- the room's only danger is a skittish Chinchilla! Anyway, he's very good at climber, and he'd probably make his way to the lights. I hope he's going to calm down, but it will take time, I know. He's eating pretty good, I'm giving him as much as he likes, and he's been eating about 8 Cups of salad a day, more if I let him. And yes, he's deficating almost daily. Funny thing is he goes out of his way to go crap in one part of the room, in a dog crate. He hopes to crap in my poor Germen Shep/Rottie cross's crate every time he can. I'd like to potty train him, but... He HATES water. really HATES it. Even water on his food. He won't eat it, and runs when theres water sprayed at him. Bath time is a nightmare. Ohh trust me, he's not constipated anymore. He was when I got him. Not now. As for the dewlap, Dr. Maas said it most likely was starting to get gang green, and trimmed it up, and gave me antibiotics. It's pretty much a little bit of frill now, because its dead,if not completely dead. I hope so, but he's so agressive Dr. Maas said, quite honestly i'd have a looooooong way to go, and that he suggested that I might want to fix him because he's so agressive. And for the toy, Dr. Maas and several other people agree that he's doing it for dominance and its making him highly aggressive. So i'll have to try other things. He likes 'fruit kabobs' except he realized I put medication in one of the strawberries. Thats when he started pooping outside of his cage, lol.
lol Orson sounds very smart! I'm glad to hear things are getting better. I'm sure he's very grateful to have a great owner that cares. It's great to hear you have a knowledgeable vet. As for the food, the beauty about iguanas is they will never over-eat, so we usually give them a lot more food than what they will eat that way they can eat what they want. You will also notice he will eat a lot in the morning, leave some and perhaps later on in the evening go back to eat more. He may hate water, but I'm sure if you put a big enough container in his cage, you'll find that he will defecate in it. At least he's making an effort of trying not to poop in his cage! lol. Probably his way of telling your dog, it's his territory. Getting him fixed is a possibility, but I'd definitely wait until he's completely healed from his previous infections and illnesses, you don't want to stress him out anymore than he already is.
RUN, don't walk to a vet. I know they can be expensive, but he depends on you. HE NEEDS DOCTOR CARE AND MEDICINE 1 Iguanas can recover from most things, given the proper medical care. I suggest you find a good vet in your area. try this website to find one near you. http://www.herpvetconnection.com/ Always research and get the best one, it will save you money in the long run. If money is a problem call your local herp society, sometimes there is financial ssistance available. HE CAN BE TAMED... December to april is mating season...get him a stuffed alligator or dinasaur and that should help is agressive behavior. Iguana have seasons, in april he will be eating more and be docile again... For nails, use the Pedi-pet nail groomer available at Rite aid for $20 Having an iguana is going to be expensive if you expect them to live for 20 years +....
But you get all of those scratches in what length of time? Remind me not to get an iggy. Are their nails that long??
