Green Iguana questions

[supersonicgecko]

Hi I have had a green iguana for almost 5-7 months now, His/her name is Tupac and I have some questions on the feeding and handling. I feed Tupac fresh vegetables (collard greens. dandilion, yellow squash, carrot shavings, and sometimes some fruit) but I never see him eat a lot and he usually dirties his plate with the substrate in the cage, tupac also burrows a lot, does that mean tupacs a girl:main_huh: ? And handling is a pain because tupac always runs from me in the tank. i heard it takes about a year for them to trust you. Is this true? If you can give me some info on their care I'd be greatful.

 

[T&KBrouse]

It does take a while for an Ig to mellow out, if they do at all. You gotta figure, they are born knowing they are the universal lunch meat for everything out there, so in their little lizard heads, we're going to eat them. :main_rolleyes:

Just be really patient and be as gentle as you can. Spend some time with your hand in the cage, just sitting there, so she gets comfortable with you "in her space" so to say.

If shes a female, she should mellow out with age. In our experience, females are much more laid back, as a general rule, than males.

If your Ig is a male, there will be the typical signs of the dewlap and extra spikes, but they also have a line of femoral pores inside each thigh. They may not be very apparent now, but as he matures, they'll become more pronounced.

 

[Pookachu]

it's amazing how fast they are when they are little (compared the big sloths I am used to seeing at the zoo/pet shows/etc..). I recently rescued a baby one from a petstore garbage can (long story) about a month ago.

I have no idea on gauging age with these guys by he/she is not big at all. I would guess maybe only a few months old.

Anyways, very skittish, she/he accidentally got loose from my hand when I was cleaning out the tank and within a blink of an eye the iguana was on the other side of the apartment under my tv stand.

I thought my bearded dragons were fast ...