Taming Iguanas

• Handling Iguanas: First Things First
  
  
• Taming Iguanas Part 1: Rock Iguanas
  • Bobo our Rhinoceros Iguana
    • Approach Method #1: Catch & Restrain
    • Approach Method #2: Hand In Front / Tire Him Out
    • Approach Method #3: The Hand that Feeds Him / the Bringer of Food
  • Yogi our Cuban Iguana
    • Approach Method #4: Catch with the Palm-Treadmill!
    • Approach Method #5: Do Nothing
    • Approach Method #6: Almost Do Nothing
    • Approach Method #7: Be Patient & Silent
    • Approach Method #8: Repetition
• Taming Iguanas Part 2: Green Iguanas
  • Getting to Know Your Green Iguana
  • Approach Method #1: Catch & Restrain
  • Approach Method #2: Conversation First, Catch Second
  • Approach Method #3: The Hand that Feeds Him / the Bringer of Food
  • Approach Method #4: Tail-whip School Drop-Out
  • Approach Method #5: Free Roam
  • Knowing Your Green Iguana
• Last But Not Least
  
  
• The End

Taming Iguanas

The obvious disclaimer comes first. I'm not an iguana expert so if you read this, the information is based on my experience and methods. Treat this as you would any other information on the web. Pick out what you think may or may not work for you and your pet. I won't go in to a debate as to whether or not you should own an iguana. I'll assume that if you're about to read this, you either live with an iguana or thinking about getting one. This guide is also open-ended/partially incomplete because it's not a complete success story and taming the animals is still a work in progress. I also assume that if you are working with the animal, they are healthy enough that there are no ailments that would throw an added variable to the mix. With the exception of Rascal, this guide is mainly geared towards hatchlings and not adult or sub-adult and/or wild caught reptiles.

I would define "tame" as having an animal in the following state:

• The animal can be approached with little to no flinching/jolting or aggressive bloating.
  
  
• The animal can move around and about your location ignoring anything that you do such as aggressive motion of the hands or just standing up and moving around & about.
  
  
• They will leave their eyes open during a pet around their head or neck region. This probably is one of the first true signs that they are, or are beginning to trust you wholeheartedly.

You could probably apply this to other reptiles like Bearded Dragons, Chuckwallas, Australian or Chinese Water Dragons, etc. But this write-up is iguana-specific because these large lizards require a special level of effort. Unlike other reptiles, I don't think iguanas can ever completely lose their sense of predation in captivity, and that results in complexity.

Handling Iguanas: First Things First

This is the most important part (and the only paragraph where I'm mean), OK? When I say that I "catch" the animal, I do not rush after the lizard catching the animal with one or both hands by its back or tail. I see idiots grab rock iguanas by their tail and both species grabbed and clasped by their side and back. Or both their front and hind legs are clasped to prevent getting scratched and the animal tries to wiggle away but is unable to: getting exhausted or begins breathing irregularly. You will never ever tame an iguana this way. All you do is aggravate and become more and more of a threat. When you read my first method I do exactly that with Bobo, and in no time I realized that this will not work for him or any other reptile.

Taming Iguanas Part 1: Rock Iguanas

Bobo our Rhinoceros Iguana

First I'll talk about Bobo, our rhinoceros iguana, and then I'll talk about Yogi our Cuban iguana.

We got Bobo when he still had his rare light-colored hatchling stripes and color. When we got him home, for about 1 week (while I had his 175 gallon mesh cage on-order) he was in a small 40-breeder tank. We basically left him alone the entire week and observed from a small distance to make sure he's moving around, basking, and eating. Once the Apogee cage arrived and he settled in after a few days, it was time to start chasing the little guy.

The hope was to get him to calm down once he was on my hand or shoulder so he could begin to move around, look at me, and tolerate me talking to him with out trying to bolt off because my face (the facial hair in my case), my mouth, or my voice appeared threatening.

Approach Method #1: Catch & Restrain

I spent about 1 week with my first approach which was to catch him, clasp his legs and then wait for him to calm down on my chest. This failed. He would sit still and intermittently closed his eyes. If someone told you that when they close their eyes they "like it," that person is wrong (I had another word in mind but my mean paragraph has already been used). It's a sign of uneasiness. They are protecting their eyes and you're not even covering the head (or their "3rd eye" that they use as one way of evaluating their surroundings). So I thought to myself: why would he calm down and find me unthreatening if all I do is chase him around and restrain him?

Approach Method #2: Hand In Front / Tire Him Out

Thanks to the ability to zip up most of the cage leaving enough room for my hands, I decided to just move my hands around in the cage to try and scoop him up from underneath his head/neck/front legs. I would move my hand towards him and he would run away. This would last a few minutes before he would start to give up, and ultimately I was able to scoop him up from the front and suspend him slightly mid-air with out immediately pulling him out. I made sure that he always saw my hand approach from the front so he's not surprised by something grabbing him from behind.

After he was partially on I would slowly tilt my hand in such a way that made him feel like he was going to lose his grip and fall, so instead he would scoot himself right up on to my wrist. Now keep in mind that by this point I was typically sweating profusely from doing something as simple as moving my arms because the cage heat wore me out.

There is a good potential that the lizard is still overly nervous and will become frozen in place. They may choose to remain in this state even if you tilt your hand leading them to fall. Just be careful or be ready to catch them with the other hand or don't do it until you start to feel them try and grip your hand.

After a few days Bobo ran less and less, and after a few weeks (or the 3rd week in this trust process) I was able to reach in from the front and scoop up first his front legs and then his hind legs with out him trying to escape: taking him out of the cage and placing him on my shoulder.

Placed on my shoulder I would go in to the living room and pretend like I'm not paying attention to him at all. The 4th week involved simply sitting on the couch and having him move around my chest, my legs, and the couch.

Approach Method #3: The Hand that Feeds Him / the Bringer of Food

Wait what's this method for if #2 worked? Well this one has to do with winning Bobo's heart through his stomach. The significance of this method is that it did not work for Yogi, our Cuban iguana (I will talk about him later). It did however work with Bobo. I wanted to gain his trust by showing him that I am the bringer of food and hopefully seal the deal.

Now here is where time begins to equate to experience. Had I written this shortly after thinking he's tame, proud that #3 is a solution, I would not know about the negative results that two years of hand feeding has on an always-hungry rhinoceros iguana. I would consider Bobo nearly tamed after only a few months, but while I did leave the food in his dish, I sometimes hand-fed a few bites before leaving him alone. I did this for about a year. Two years go by and I stopped hand feeding him. However, every morning I would grab his dish, fill it up with food, and while he's running up and down my body trying to get to the dish, I'm giving it back to him by putting it down in his cage and then leaving for work. As the year goes on he begins trying to nip at my hand as I'm holding the dish thinking that he will snag a bite-full if he's lucky. The lights are just worming up in the morning so his vision is still trying to adjust and he's not really sure what he's trying to bite. So I quickly see the error of my ways and work the remainder of the 3rd year to make sure that when I put the food down, he's either away on his basking spot up top too far away to climb down in time, or I grab him and place him away from the dish: giving me enough time to drop the dish and close off the cage to try and break his habit of running to my hand instead of the dish. Basically it's me racing against his speed.

I'm making sure to keep a ground iguana arboreal so that he is constantly building lean muscle in his legs and getting his exercise. As a result, he's super fast and while his legs don't look fat and sluggish, they are lean and strong. I'm also trying to reinforce climbing so when he's an adult, he makes use of all the available room. This is another reason why I get scratched up because I don't cut their claws down enough: making sure that they can scale objects with out taking a tumble. I'm gambling on making sure that tame down enough to where they are so relaxed I'm not threatened by a sudden jolt of energy where the act of running away results in me getting ripped open.

At the time of this write up, Bobo is about three and a half years old, and I hate to report that 6 months of me trying to avoid him quickly during breakfast, he is now much faster and more aggressive to where it's impossible to stop him running at me with mouth wide open. He also hit a growth spurt his 3rd year and he is growing fast quickly. His bite can already pack a good punch as I found out a few times during these morning frenzies so it's definitely a problem.

Now this is where I leave Bobo's case open. I will probably revisit this guide in a year or so to jot down my solution (if I have one) to thwart his morning routine. After the morning hours/after he's fed, he is still the gentle and calm iguana that I can reach, take out, and spend time with. He really does not have an ounce of aggression in him when he's out in the afternoon/when I get home, but in the morning his behavior is insane. I believe it's a combination of hunger, territory, morning aggression towards his sense of other reptiles, or potentially something else. Right now he is really quick and nimble and I'm hoping that as he gets bigger and I manage to get past this stage with out -serious- injury, he will outgrow this phase, but only time will tell.

So I would not say that a method of hand feeding is a complete failure because I believe it's necessary to some degree combined with some of the other options in order to gain their trust, but I believe my mistake was perhaps reinforcing this for too long. I should have stopped much sooner then I did.

Yogi our Cuban Iguana

Yogi's case won't close any time soon. At the end of this year (2009) he will be four years old and I'm still trying to get him to calm down.

Approach Method #4: Catch with the Palm-Treadmill!

This is an improved version of Method #1. Method #2 was unavailable because unfortunately for Yogi, he was already in one of my acrylic cages so chasing him around made him run head on/full force in to the acrylic and that was not at all gentle on his snout.

When I caught him he would typically try and run away from me, so I would not clasp his legs, and instead, I would have him run on my palms: alternating my palms over and over like a treadmill! He would struggle away this way, on my hands, thinking that he's getting away for a good 20 or 30 seconds until he would finally give up and remain still. Then I would turn him around and place him on my shoulder.

Unfortunately after two long years, Yogi would still be uncomfortable moving around and about so while I was working with Method #4, I tried hand feeding him as well.

Approach Method #5: Do Nothing

So I thought to myself that maybe he's still too young and no matter what I do I'm still a threat. Maybe I should leave him alone for a while and have him grow in to some confidence. Well 6 months go by and that strategy (or lack there of) did nothing.

I went back to my earlier methods with subtle improvements. However, Mindy has an approach that seems to be working.

Approach Method #6: Almost Do Nothing

Well not exactly nothing but it seems as though my wife is the only one that can pull this off. She would open up his cage and lay next to it reading a book. Shortly after, Yogi would venture out and walk around & about cautiously, on or next to her. I tried doing the same thing & he simply won't respond. He would typically stay motionless like a rock but with her, he braves the surroundings. It's too early to tell if this work in our favor (and the potential is that in the end it may only be my wife that he tolerates) but we will see.

So what's the problem that he has with me? Well one thing I noticed is that when he does sit on my shoulder, he will remain calm until I actually look at him and open my mouth to talk to him. As soon as I'm vocal he gets agitated & opens his mouth. Compared to the others, he is the only one that reacts this way. If I sit with him long enough, he will ultimately calm down, but that takes a good half an hour or more.

Approach Method #7: Be Patient & Silent

Say I do get Yogi on my shoulder, I find myself having to sit in silence (usually working on something behind the computer or watching TV) paying no attention to him. After a long enough period of a half an hour or more, I can look over and talk in his direction with out him hissing or opening his mouth. After that half hour or so his breathing will normalize and he would start to flick his tongue as he begins to relax.

Approach Method #8: Repetition

This is the point that I'm currently at. I'm being patient with him just resting on me when I get home after work. I catch him so we can sit for a good hour: almost every day and at the same time as I try to catch up on the news. This appears to be working. I'm trying to combat the possibility that, like other iguanas, it's just his innate character to be troublesome. I'm trying to thwart nature with repetition and persistence. Only time will tell if this works.

Taming Iguanas Part 2: Green Iguanas

Ok this should really be called "Our Experience with Rascal" since I only have experience with one (1) green iguana. However, he was close to 3 feet snout-to-tail (STL) when we got him and he was not tamed. As such, he was appropriately named, and his attitude is one that can be learned from.

When we got him he was a nervous wreck as we took him from the previous owners at a pet store's parking lot. His frozen state fooled us in to thinking that he was a calm lizard so the first year, things definitely didn't turn out the way we thought they would.

We left him alone for about a week as he tried to settle in to his new habitat and environment. After that, as I said, we were in for a surprise. Reaching in to catch a hatchling is not the same as reaching in for a 3 ft. lizard that's running at just about the same speed. I quickly realized that wearing a sweat shirt was a smart idea, because in about 30 seconds, my hands looked like I ran them under a lawnmower. Razor sharp claws and strength made it really difficult to catch him so the fun began.

Getting to Know Your Green Iguana

The idea is to understand the characteristics of your iguana and in a way, define the lizard's personality and behavior. Unfortunately you don't really determine this until you try and tame the lizard: learning how they react. After I run through my attempts & methods, I will define Rascal's character because once you can pin point what you think are the exact characteristics of your pet, they are much easier, more predictable, and overall more enjoyable to be with.

I believe you can improve the relationship with your pet, but ultimately, they are as their innate nature allows them to be, and understanding that is key.

Approach Method #1: Catch & Restrain

Easier said then done. I already knew this was not a practical method to win him over, but I wanted to get a feel for both his strength, and how his body moves in that situation (head, tail, etc.). Armed with a sweatshirt and a pair of leather gloves, I was able to catch him with out injury to either of us. After he was exhausted from trying to wiggle his way free, I placed him on my shoulder. Once there, I moved my hand around and in front of his snout to see if he would react. He closed his eyes and that was that.

Approach Method #2: Conversation First, Catch Second

A number of anecdotal evidence suggests that green iguanas have what you may consider a memory problem. I read about this long before we got a green iguana but now it made me think. If every sudden attempt to reach in throughout the day is greeted with "who are you?" perhaps he may not even have the time to recognize who it is that's approaching his cage then trying to reach in. So for about 3 months, I would come up to his cage, exchange a few words, then open the door, and talk some more. I would talk to him about such matters as world hunger and overpopulation, and you should know, his face looked definitely engaged. After his mental rebuttal, I would reach in: hand in front so he can see every move I make.

Mostly he would turn and run away from my direction. Over time however, there was a difference in his effort. He attempted to avoid but his speed dwindled. It became almost as though I was inconveniencing him, and after a few 180s, I was able to scoop him up from the front of his chest/front legs and then his hind legs. I would immediately place him on my shoulder and stand up. He would extend his dewlap out and close his eyes, but after a few strokes to the back he would reopen his eyes and relax the dewlap.

This method has been a strategy to this day, only now we don't need to engage him with his favorite subject on basking politics. My wife and I make sure to give him a minute or so to see that it's indeed a familiar face that's approaching his way.

Owner Recognition is probably the most important key characteristic to an owner when owning any pet be it mammal, reptile, or amphibian. To people who are reading this and wondering, the answer is yes. Large lizards have owner recognition. All of our lizards display some level of owner recognition, and this supports their intelligence, as well as their ability to interpret us humans with respect to their sense of predation. How Rascal reacts to us vs. anyone else that comes in to our house is evidence that he knows exactly who we are to him. How Gizmo reacts to us vs. Rascal or other reptiles in the house, and how both Rascal and Gizmo react to each other over time is yet another example of learned behavior, recognition, and overall intelligence.

Approach Method #3: The Hand that Feeds Him / the Bringer of Food

As always, this is a necessary method that will give you a clear sign that the animal is or is not willing to approach you. Rascal is a lot more cautious then Bobo or Yogi. Rascal will look and evaluate you first before going for the food. Bobo and Yogi will run for the food first, grab a mouthful, and then run away (or at least Yogi because Bobo just goes in to a frenzy never backing away). Rascal is so cautions that I do not believe this method will ever lead to Bobo's results. In some ways, Rascal shows more intelligence over the others by taking time to distinguish between my hand, the food dish, and the food itself. That does not mean that he won't try to eat something that he should not, but it does mean that he will take his time to see if he should eat it.

His cautious nature allows for hand feeding, which is another opportunity for handling him. As he moves towards a big leaf of collard or dandelion greens, I would direct him right up on to my hand or chest. He would finish eating everything sitting on my shoulder. Afterwards I would simply walk around or sit down, and he would either hop off on to the couch, or scale me down to the floor and walk away with haste.

Approach Method #4: Tail-whip School Drop-Out

Intrigued as you may be, you don't want your iguana to get a passing grade in the skill of tail-whipping. About a year in, Rascal's tail started to beef up/thicken as it got longer. He started to show signs of added tail communication: moving it back and forth quickly or curling it this way or that way as we approached. Soon after, there was a period of about a month when he made a few really pathetic and almost half-lazy attempts at trying to tail-whip. The cage simply didn't give him enough room to wind it back, and I already knew of some counter-measures to make sure he couldn't hone in on his skill.

Green iguanas hatch at different times of the year depending on their geographic location so it's tough to determine their exact set of months that they will display in-heat aggression, so I'm not sure if this was Rascal's time slot. When we first got him I thought he was at least two years old. I consulted Bob MacCargar at reptileuv.com and he placed him as over a year but not reaching two. Whatever the case, I would do what I've read of doing: stepping or leaning in close at the base (or the first half of the tail) with my body or elbow to prevent that muscle from jerking foreword and whipping around the rest of the tail.

He was growing bigger and more confident so I knew that he's probably experimenting to see what he can or can't do, can or can't get away with, and maybe see if he himself even knows how to tail-whip because it's the first time I've seen him actually make these attempts. At one point I was approaching him on the floor. He turned his body sideways and I anticipated his next move. I stepped in really close so my foot and calf was just about up against his tail so after he pulled back, he had no room to flex it foreword. I reached down and picked him up with out much of a struggle on his part, and his dewlap relaxed in about ten seconds.

I only ran in to the floor situation a few times because typically I never give him chase when he's exploring the house. I want him to explore the house and never feel like we will come chasing. Most of his pathetic attempts to tail-whip were in some sitting position either in his cage or resting next to one of the windows. He did manage to sting Mindy once with a relatively failed attempt of what he may have thought was a well executed whip, but she had her guard down, and we named him Rascal, so case in point.

So after about a month, he basically gave up the effort. We still look at his tail as it is one of the primary ways his body communicates, and at times it does look like he may potentially wind up, but most of that is him reacting to our approach before realizing that it's really me or Mindy, and not a stranger.

Approach Method #5: Free Roam

We learned quickly that Rascal did not want to stay in his small habitat (as large as we thought his cage was). Even after I built him a double-decker cage that went all the way up to the ceiling, he wanted to venture out. Lucky for us, our cyclura family members are typically territorial enough that they are content with where they are. The only time they beg to come out is when they are hungry. So as is, this works out in Rascal's favor allowing him to free roam and explore.

The clear benefits are that now Rascal interprets his cage as a sanctuary where he can escape to if need be, as well as the place where he knows he's fed. Unfortunately (or fortunately since it's not on the carpet) it also happens to be the place where he does the messy business. The first 6 months of his free roaming endeavors were a pain as he would typically do his thing over random spots on the carpet. We initially picked out Stainmaster Berber for Gizmo before we ever got Rascal, so this paid off for everyone as the carpet is easy to scrub clean. Rascal ran upstairs a lot. I would carry him down to his cage when I got home. Now he really loves the -poor-excuse-for-a- mantle that's in our family room right above the gas fireplace. It's really warm and located right next to a window. He scales the wall and/or the mesh of the window and can sit on it for hours. I sometimes let him sleep there, but I pick him up bright and early and put him back in his cage to make sure that he gets a dose of morning heat and UV.

Knowing these places throughout the house reinforce his sense of comfort and ownership. The house basically becomes his habitat and he cohabitates with us and visa versa. He's at a point that when we watch TV in the evening, he runs up to us, jumps on the couch with us, and starts looking for food. As with any child, I make sure to give him some positive reinforcements via some treats be it greens or pellets. After he eats, he will spend another 5 minutes vacillating on the couch making sure that we are all out of treats before jumping off and running back to his cage.

Knowing Your Green Iguana

In the beginning I started off explaining why it's important to understand your green iguana and that it's something you determine over time. This is imperative because it helps you raise the lizard with minimal surprises. As such, Rascal's assessment is as fallows:

Rascal is an iguana that would rather run then fight. He will tolerate you as long as you give him space and don't bother him that much. He does not bite even though he will make sure he looks like he may want to. He does not tail whip but his tail does look like it could have a mind of its own and that is something to watch out for. He's your best friend when you have food and independent when you do not. He only tolerates two humans: me & my wife. Handling by anyone else is not possible. Give him a minute or two to see which one of us is coming and he won't even stand up if he's placid or sleepy. Introduce an object he is not familiar with (like a huge towel over Mindy's head after a shower that even man may find threatening) and he'll freak out and run, or bloat up to defend himself if cornered.

Last But Not Least

The last bit of advice which for most is their main hurtle is don't be afraid. There is a reason why they say that animals sense fear. You should see my dad's face when he looks at Rascal, and then when he looks at me reaching for him. Expect or anticipate a certain measure of pain and never underestimate their actions or intelligence, but understand that they won't maul you to shreds like man's best friend: the dog (or Mr. Cuddles that got off his leash and made your local news).

They are hardy animals but everything about them on the surface is fragile when introduced in to a man-made environment. Approach and handle them slowly and with care. Don't chase, grab, or clasp them in any way. Don't tease them or aggravate them. Don't show off their aggressive side to your ignorant or naive friends: the same friends that probably only care to learn the swear words of another language. Their tail-whip is not for their pleasure and your amusement. And... ok I think the point is made.

The End

I hope you found some of this rambling useful. What worked, didn't work, still being worked on in our scaly family may not necessarily work for you or your pet. Retain what you want but always treat your animal with care & respect.