nasty iguana need to tame quick

[M_surinamensis]

This guy's name is tom crutchfield

I really hope you keep participating. This has become hilarious.

Got any examples who aren't felons?

 

[fuzzylogix]

Did you rescue her from the wild?

no, she was someones pet probably that they couldn't take care of and let go. she was found in a guys garage in downtown dallas emaciated, dehydrated, and full of parasites. that's what happens with iguanas, savs, water dragons, etc... you see them in the pet store all tiny, cute, and cheap and think "i bet i can put that in a 10 gallon". you keep saying your aunt had an iguana, but have you ever owned one? i'm no iguana expert by any means, but you have some of the brightest people in the reptile world here all telling you the same thing, and you call us idiots? guess its just some big conpiracy againts iguanas then. i dont think any reptile can be tamed, there are just those that are more tolerable to being handled, and temperaments are different. now i don't have a fear in the world that my blue tongue is just gonna one day try to tear off a finger, but my iguana tries to daily.

 

[robin]

I really hope you keep participating. This has become hilarious.

Got any examples who aren't felons?

ut oh *in the rafters watching*

you guys just opened up a whole new can of beans

 

[M_surinamensis]

ut oh *in the rafters watching*

you guys just opened up a whole new can of beans

I reject your bean metaphor. I am a guy and I demand sports metaphors.

I'm waiting for him to come back with Kaplan or Liz Palika or something. It would be his third strike, but I am considering hitting him with a pitch instead. It's a little bit unfair because I know who'll pile in on my side when the benches clear if he charges the mound but in the long run letting him take a base would be a mercy.

 

[fuzzylogix]

you know he's on youtube searching for "tame iguanas" right now

 

[robin]

I reject your bean metaphor. I am a guy and I demand sports metaphors.

I'm waiting for him to come back with Kaplan or Liz Palika or something. It would be his third strike, but I am considering hitting him with a pitch instead. It's a little bit unfair because I know who'll pile in on my side when the benches clear if he charges the mound but in the long run letting him take a base would be a mercy.

melissa kaplan LOL

 

[Northstar Herp]

you know he's on youtube searching for "tame iguanas" right now

and I've been off googling Melissa Kaplan. You guys (Robin included, no offense) have no idea how enjoyable, and yet confusing these kinds of threads are for noobs such as myself. I've heard of the Crutchfield guy, wasn't he one of the connections of the Lizard King dude down in Fla.?

 

[T-ReXx]

This is getting pretty entertaining.

I'm just going to state my opinion here...

I agree completely with everything M_surinamensis has said. Fact is iguanas can make wonderful pets. If your idea of a wonderful pet is a 5 foot plus lizard who needs to eat better than you do, requires a room of it's own, and will show it's gratitude by attempting to shred you every time you want to "play with it" then by all means get yourself an iguana and go to town. I'm sure your doctor will love you for how much you spend on stitches, probably put his kids through college single-handedly.

Iguanas are highly defensive and aggressive lizards. They are prey, you are a predator. It's that simple. They react as nature intends them to react. Trying to change their nature and turn them into some sort of scaly green house cat is only going to end in misery for both of you(though I will say, I know quite a few house cats who I might prefer to avoid over the iguana, iguanas at least lack the whole "twist around inside my own skin and shred you when you least expect it" factor, and well, the rabies thing, of course). If you are content with a gigantic lizard that is perfectly happy to be left in peace and enjoyed by watching interesting behaviors, then iguanas aren't all that bad. If you have to put your hands on a reptile and have it tolerate it without trying to eat your face(and yes, tolerate is as good as it's going to get, I don't care how "cuddly" you think your leopard gecko is, reptiles don't enjoy human contact, they tolerate it at best) then stick to something with less of a kick to it or at least less likely to send you to the emergency room.

 

[fuzzylogix]

This is getting pretty entertaining.

I'm just going to state my opinion here...

I agree completely with everything M_surinamensis has said. Fact is iguanas can make wonderful pets. If your idea of a wonderful pet is a 5 foot plus lizard who needs to eat better than you do, requires a room of it's own, and will show it's gratitude by attempting to shred you every time you want to "play with it" then by all means get yourself an iguana and go to town. I'm sure your doctor will love you for how much you spend on stitches, probably put his kids through college single-handedly.

Iguanas are highly defensive and aggressive lizards. They are prey, you are a predator. It's that simple. They react as nature intends them to react. Trying to change their nature and turn them into some sort of scaly green house cat is only going to end in misery for both of you(though I will say, I know quite a few house cats who I might prefer to avoid over the iguana, iguanas at least lack the whole "twist around inside my own skin and shred you when you least expect it" factor, and well, the rabies thing, of course). If you are content with a gigantic lizard that is perfectly happy to be left in peace and enjoyed by watching interesting behaviors, then iguanas aren't all that bad. If you have to put your hands on a reptile and have it tolerate it without trying to eat your face(and yes, tolerate is as good as it's going to get, I don't care how "cuddly" you think your leopard gecko is, reptiles don't enjoy human contact, they tolerate it at best) then stick to something with less of a kick to it or at least less likely to send you to the emergency room.

are you inside my head right now?

 

[T-ReXx]

are you inside my head right now?

:main_laugh: Yup. You really should vacuum around here some time, I think a dust bunny just tried to make me his girlfriend.

 

[fuzzylogix]

lmao

 

[scotty]

I agree that the taming process is ugly but u can tame them.

 

[Keith N]

I will chime in, I was in the "pet" store trade for 14 years and dealt with tons of iguana's. It was a "pet" store but I was able to get into reptiles and we had a breeding facility in the back which was great for me. We would buy these by the 50's they all would be thrown into several large tanks and a heat bulb thrown in with them. People would always want to return them when they were 2-3 feet long because of aggression. The group is right some are less aggressive than others. Even the ones that were manageable at times were aggressive at other times. They are not to be trusted even if you think they are "tame". I can't tell you how many bites and tail whips that have happened. Dad one time brought in a good size one had to be close to 5 feet head to tail. It was good for 2 years and one day as i was in the enclosure i felt this thing go across my back and then the pain, never been whipped that hard before. As we made a huge enclosure 7'x7'x9' high for it and brought it back to proper heat, light and environment it went right back to defense mode and after that we had to go in with a trash can lid shield to protect from tail whip just to feed and water it.

 

[M_surinamensis]

As we made a huge enclosure 7'x7'x9' high for it and brought it back to proper heat, light and environment it went right back to defense mode and after that we had to go in with a trash can lid shield to protect from tail whip just to feed and water it.

That never occurred to me. I always went in to handle them while trying to channel wire-fu movies. There's a scene in a lot of them where the ancient master (disguised as a beggar and sometimes blind of course) goes from a calm state to suddenly snapping his hand out to catch a cobra behind the head just as it goes to strike the young apprentice- that was my usual approach. Present a target that was the least likely to trigger an aggressive response until I was in position to snatch the bastards with my lightning fast reflexes. Base of the tail and top of the shoulders.

Sometimes I'd let out a little bit of a Bruce Lee "Aaaoooouuuuwwwwwyyyaaaaah!" after doing it successfully.

... or a stream of vulgarities as I covered my face with my arms to block the rain of tail whips, clawing, biting and projectile feces aimed my way if I missed. At that point a shield probably would have helped a great deal.

 

[Keith N]

That never occurred to me. I always went in to handle them while trying to channel wire-fu movies. There's a scene in a lot of them where the ancient master (disguised as a beggar and sometimes blind of course) goes from a calm state to suddenly snapping his hand out to catch a cobra behind the head just as it goes to strike the young apprentice- that was my usual approach. Present a target that was the least likely to trigger an aggressive response until I was in position to snatch the bastards with my lightning fast reflexes. Base of the tail and top of the shoulders.

Sometimes I'd let out a little bit of a Bruce Lee "Aaaoooouuuuwwwwwyyyaaaaah!" after doing it successfully.

... or a stream of vulgarities as I covered my face with my arms to block the rain of tail whips, clawing, biting and projectile feces aimed my way if I missed. At that point a shield probably would have helped a great deal.

I felt more like those prison extraction units. Before you would even open the door the back would arch up and he was getting his tail ready. The enclosure was just big enough for him to hang out but just small enough for us to be at the very end of the tail, the part that stung the most. All in all an amazing animal to see from behind the glass.

 

[James Lamantia]

I have caught wild iguana's in florida for years now. Most of the time they are going to do what they do (whip and bit and so on). Once I caught a male that was about 4 feet when I got him that was ok to handle. It didn;t happen overnight but by the end of it I could go into its cage pull him out and not ever worry about getting whipped. Now once I had him out I could hold him for hours with no problems untill my wife would come around. Once he seen her his additude would change. He would want to go to her and as soon as he was on her sholder I got whipped in the face. She couldn't get him out and I couldn't get him off of her. That being said I guess they just do what they do...LOL

 

[iguana20s]

you guys are giveing iguanas real bad names.. just like pit bulls its all in how its raised. yeah if you have a male he will become aggresive dureing breeding season but thats only for 3 months or so. some never even get agrresive dureing that time. them bites are the worst case scenarios. being bit by a iguana is not the norm. all the iguanas i have ever seen are very docile and are NOT at all sick they are very healthy so i do belive they can be "tamed". i have had my iguana for almost 5 months and it has been an amazeing experence. they are one of the best lizards to care for if you have what it takes to care for them. there are times when a iguana can not be tamed how ever and when that happens you have to just live with it. alot of times the will calm down in there later years in life. for all your iguana information please visit http://www.greenigsociety.org/ thats just my two cents. also sorry in advanced as i am not the best speller in the world lol.

 

[Khrysty]

just like pit bulls its all in how its raised.

No. See M_Surinamensis's explanation about the difference in response and behaviors in mammals versus iguanas.

them bites are the worst case scenarios

but they can happen. They are results of instinctive defensive behaviors. Why shouldn't we assume that ALL iguanas can and will do that damage?

there are times when a iguana can not be tamed

Yes. Always. Every time.

 

[iguana20s]

i love how you pick a few things iv said twist them and use them for your purpose lol. well its no big deal to me what you guys think but i think before you jump the gun and say ALL iguanas are bad you might want to do some research first.

but they can happen. They are results of instinctive defensive behaviors. Why shouldn't we assume that ALL iguanas can and will do that damage?

alright in that case pit bulls, german shepereds, and Rottweilers
have been known to serveraly hurt people so should we assume all these dogs will attack you? no i have a amazeing german sheperd who is very sweet and my uncle breeds pit bulls are they are very sweet. iguana can and are the same way.

Yes. Always. Every time

i 100% disagree with you on this one. because you and others have had bad experince with iguanas doesnt mean everyone has. infact most iguana will tame down. it just takes time there not your leopard geckos your use to that are docile right out of the egg... here are some dog bites. are all dogs bad? should we assume they will all attack us?

 

[Khrysty]

No. Keep dogs out of this discussion. They are not comparable. DOGs are pack animals. DOGs will instinctively care for and protect animals in their "pack." Once trained appropriately (assuming they're treated humanely) dogs are extremely unlikely to attack any members of their pack. And because a well cared for dog is not always in fight-or-flight mode, they are unlikely to attack animals (human, canine, etc) that are not members of their pack either.

Reptiles cannot, do not, and will not display the same kind of discretion. I'm not a behavioralist. I am not a biologist. But I definitely can recognize the cognitive differences between genera of animal.

I'm not picking and choosing the bits that make you sound like you don't know what you're talking about. I'm just pointing out the things that are incorrect in your posts. That's all.