Iguana Temperament Question (Sorry!)...

[rabernet]

We had an Iguana for several years. He grew head to tail approx 6ft and weighed 35 lbs. He was such a monster, but puppy dog tame and smart. We didn't keep him in a cage, instead he had a table he sat on with a heat lamp hanging over it. He was potty trained, in which he had a litter box underneath his table. If he needed to go he would climb down and do his thing and then climb right back up onto his table. He never got down to roam the house either. During the warmer and summer days he would get down and scratch at the sliding glass door and we would let him out. He would spend the day outside grazing on the grass and weeds. Then when it started getting dark he would scratch at the door again when he wanted in. We would let him in and he would walk to his table and climb up.
Unfortunatly something happened one day. He SNAPPED! He was outside with my wife while she was watering the plants and he jumped up on her leg and bit a huge chunk out of her thigh. It was Horrendous what this sweet little iguana did. The iguana ran back into the house and just went crazy. We could'nt even catch him and he ended up chasing us out of the house. We had to call Animal Control for assistance. They came and they took him to there facility where he was monitored for several days. We even tried to calm him down and nothiing worked. This guy just became totally wild and straight ass mean.
Because of the circumstances we felt that it would'nt be wise to even turn him into a rescue because of his temperment and what he did to my wife. We decided to put him down(sorry for those who disagree). It was very hard and sad for us to do this, but it was for the best.
Since this incident my views on Iguanas are so different as when we got him. I will never own another one and advise anyone who gets one to really think about it and do extensive research.
It took several months for my wifes wound to heal and still she has an awful scar from the bite. Who would of thought an iguana that was considered puppy dog tame would do such a thing. Make the phrase "puppy dog tame" a whole new meaning.

Wow, what a story! Iguanas are the reason I have ball pythons now! LOL

Karl had purchased a baby without doing any research and when I started researching them and their temperment and potential size, I was not happy. Even as a baby, this little guy was MEAN! No matter how much I tried to handle him to get him used to handling he'd tail whip as soon as we walked in the room.

Let's just say when he died six months later, I was not heartbroken and started researching ball pythons, because I did not want Karl getting another impulse buy to put in the vacant 20 gallon aquarium (which today houses a crestie).

[frankykeno]

A dear friend of mine does iggy rescue and well put it this way....I'll handle a biting, striking adult ball python, I'll wrangle a big old 6 foot plus boa...but when her big female iggy's come over and give me the "you lady are in MY freakin chair" glare...I move my butt to another seat LOL.

I have all the respect in the world for my friend and her work with iguana's in need but personally those big lizards scare the beejeesus outta me.

[ReptileQueen]

I have seven igs and most are rescued from abusive owners. From my experience if you hold, tame, hand feed for trusting, and let other hold or pet your ig they become rather tame pets. On the otherhand if you takin a mistreated one it will take you about six months to get the trust back and another six months to tame and handle the iguana.

Let me know if you have any questions!

[frankykeno]

My friend that has the iggy's had the oddest situation with one of her just matured females. This female iggy took a strong dislike to anything red in color that my friend wore. Do iggy's see color? Didn't matter if it was a red t-shirt, sweatshirt or sweater...if Sherrie wore red the female iggy got aggressive. If Sherrie changed her top, the iggy calmed down to her usual rather nice self.

[ReptileQueen]

My friend that has the iggy's had the oddest situation with one of her just matured females. This female iggy took a strong dislike to anything red in color that my friend wore. Do iggy's see color? Didn't matter if it was a red t-shirt, sweatshirt or sweater...if Sherrie wore red the female iggy got aggressive. If Sherrie changed her top, the iggy calmed down to her usual rather nice self.

Yes iguanas see a wide variety of colors. They are pretty capable of seeing red, orange, green, yellow, and blue(not so well), but red is the most common color that can aggrevate an iguana especially around breeding season. Just stay away from that color for a good three months and slowly introduce it back in.

[frankykeno]

You know I was wondering if the red was triggering some sort of strong reaction associated with breeding. I had read somewhere that male iggy's fire up a sort of red/orange on the front end so my friend and I figured that maybe her female iggy was reacting to that (she was sexually maturing just around the time of the red clothes incident). Glad to have our suspicions confirmed though. At first Sherrie and I figured we were nuts and it was just coincidental but everytime she wore red, the iggy got very upset.

On the upside this female iggy really is amazing. She loves having a bath. She'll smack her enclosure to indicate she wants out, trundle off very determined straight to the bathroom and crawl into the tub all by herself, then do that iggy glare at you until you get busy with the nice tepid water for her to mess about in. It's really quite amazing how she's got her humans trained LOL.

[MasonC2K]

I have had 3 Iguanas. Even though I did my research I still learned a lot along the way.

When it comes to temperment, it depends on how it is raised, handled, and the individual personality. I recommend getting a female if it's your first. Females are a lot less tempermental and they don't do personality 180's in the breeding season. My male lived the longest and got up to about 6ft.

Here's some pointers.

1) Don't order an Iguana online, go to a local pet store or breeder if there is one. Handle the iguanas there. You cna usually tell right away which are more friendly. My male, Spike, licked my hand and climbed on me right out of the pet shop tank. All the others ran to the back in fear of me.

2) Don't build an enclosure or allow your iguana to climb to a spot higher than your neck. They establish territory and dominance by altitude: Whoever sits on the highest branch is king. And they will fight tooth and nail if you challenge them. I learned this the hard way when I built a room sized enclosure and put a basking shelf at my eye level.

3) Never keep a large iguana with a smaller one. It is safe to keep a male with multiple females as long as they are similar is size and have enough space.

4) Never stop handling them. There's no such thing as once tame always tame. Make you presense felt daily.

Iguanas are high maintenance animals but can be amazing when brought up right.

[jessie_k_pythons]

Well I would say after having 2 Iguanas, a 6 and a half foot long male and a 5 foot female, (both fixed rescues) Females are by far more complyent with human handleing after some time. Males can be quite a hand full when they are intact and have bad mood swings once a year. Yoshi and Hurcule were really well behaved for rescues.

But also know that each Iguana, male or female will be different. some males are sweethearts where as some females are not so nice. Just depends on the Igg.
Iguanas are a joy to have once they start to "bond" with you. I use the word "bond" because I feel that is really what they do. not in the "my lizard loves me" way but they can have a favorite person in the family that they will only alow near them or to handle them.
Yoshi would only let me touch her, mess with her or handle her. She hated every one elso with a passion. Hurc could have given a rats butt about what was going on around him and who picked him up.

(Yoshi and me)


hope that helps a bit