in addition to previous... Q's about my friend jonny paper the iguana

ok so...
i have been giving jonny fresh veggies everyday like romaine lettuce. green beans. carrots. broccoli. and carrots. and sprinkling the crushed calcium pill on it too... along with new water like 2 times a day
i cant tell if hes eating cuz whenever i go to take him out of the cage he freaks and acts like a looney ... runs around jumping knocking everything over in his way... throwing his food everywhere... and its also shriveling and drying out due to the heat lamp and wat not... i also havent noticed any poop either... maybe its just small cuz hes small... and/or hes burying it while freaking out like a loser.... should i be worried? i figure hes prolly still aclimating himself w hes new surroundings and waht not.
thanx for reading

I would suggest changing his food. Carrots and romaine lettuce is not good for iguanas on a regular basis and will cause major health problems, I would suggest you stay away from them all together, there really is no nutrional value in any lettuce and very little calcium. Use collard green, mustard green, kale, parsley, spinach, and cilantro more. Use collards and mustard greens as his base food. These are high in calcium and do not cause the problems that other greens do. Spinach use sparingly as it can cause a loss of calcium in iguanas. A good rule of thumb with your iguana is always have 5 different forms of veges with each meal. I usually take base foods and mix them with small amounts of the others I have listed. Check out this website for great info on iguanas www.anapsid.org

If you are concerned of his not eating than I change his substrate to newspaper so you can see if he is defecating. Feed him at the same time everyday, also when iguanas are young they do not have the body that adults do, they are usually skinny, but they are also far more active than the adults.

I have two adults currently, one was caught in the wild, she is very skinny, but she eats and is healthy. The other is domestic and is a fat girl. I have noticed this between wild and domestic iguanas that my friend owns with his rescue(he has a lot of igs), there is no written documents to back me, though it is something I have kept my eye on and is my own beliefs.

How long have you had your iguana?

i havent had him very long. hes still a lil guy. ive had him for a lil over a week. so im sure theres really nothing to worry about extensively... just curious. hes really active. runs around his cage like a looney all the time. very alert. and appears quite healthy. do ur iguanas recognize you? i was wondering if they get attached to people like dogs or other animals like that? thanx for replying. it was quite helpful.

Young iguanas tend to "freak out" a lot. They are prey in the natural environment. They are wired to try and escape things that might be predators. You have to be persistent and consistent in handling it some every day so he can learn that you are not going to eat it. Right now you are a predator in its mind. It can take months to see improvement. Do not give up. It is distressing to witness him panic like this all the time. You have to work with him til he is out of the panic phase. The bigger they are the worse are the injuries they can inflict on you in their attempts to escape. Taming is best accomplished while they are still young and small. Employing basic training principles used in other animals is effective with green iguanas too.

Expect him to freak out for awhile. Normally an iguana will head for a basking spot to warm up before beginning to feed for the day. Take him out for a taming session each day before you put his food in. That way so much of it won't get tossed around the cage. Put the food in after you have returned him to the cage.

When you are holding him don't ever put him back into his cage until he has calmed down. Hold him until he is calm. That is the lesson. That he can give in to being held and he doesn't get eaten. It may take hundreds of these sessions before he can relax as much as you want him to. As he matures you will see your efforts paying off. Try feeding him by hand. This also teaches him that your hands have good intentions.

While you have him out pet and stroke him all over. Grab toes and gently tug and wiggle them. Close your hand around his tail without gripping and draw it through your hand a few times. Gently pinch the back of his neck in a stroking manner. The intention is to get him accustomed to being touched anywhere on his body. This is how he discovers that some touch is nice and most touch is OK. Expect to get scratched up.

NEVER yell at him, hit him or intentionally inflict pain. You will not only undo any progress you have made, you might cause his fear of you to worsen. You can not punish him no matter what he does. If you are about to lose it, put him back in his cage and quit for the day.

When you have seen people with calm iguanas on their shoulders or in their arms keep in mind that the iguanas did not start out that way. Someone put in the effort to tame them.

When I got the adult male I have now he was a skinny little green guy. He was nasty and mean. He would bite and grind his jaws to inflict as much injury as he could. He bit me many times. I have scars. He is 5 years old now and we have a workable relationship. He is not the lunging, openmouthed devil he was. He has matured. I can have him on my shoulder and take him outside. But, I invested the time, blood, sweat and tears to get to this point. Not every iguana has the temperament mine has. Mine was really hard and stubborn. When taming him I felt more secure putting a harness on him attached to a long line. I knew that if he got out of my hands he couldn't escape. I never take him outside without the harness.

Iguanas are pretty intelligent as reptiles go. They recognize people, have likes and dislikes, can learn some things pretty fast. Mine respects me and even looks to me for security if we are out and something scary comes along. He is housebroken in that he uses a paper lined litter box for a toilet. He goes out the front door onto the sun porch and returns to his house again when he has had enough. He found out that the bird (conure) has good food and will climb up and eat it if I am not looking.

They have relatively long lifespans, 15 years and greater. The quality and adequacy of their nutrition is critical. You have already been given advice in this regard. Never feed him any food that is animal based like meat, cheese, eggs, insects or dairy. I keep an organic yard and harvest the dandelions and other edible "weeds" from it to feed to him during the summer. Everyone doesn't have this option. In addition I give him store bought greens and veggies commercial iguana formulations in order to cover all the bases.

I don't know how you are preparing the food, but chopping it in bite sized pieces and mixing all the ingredients together makes it easier for him, prevents him from picking out and eating only his favorites and insures that the supplements are in every bite.

Just some suggestions I hope you find useful. It can be very satisfying to have an iguana in your life. Just remember that they are a major commitment.

I actually couldn't tell if my "Twinkie" was eating either, until I stumbled upon him doing so one day. He mainly eats when I'm out of the room for some reason.
BTW, coyote is right young iguanas tend to freak out and are known to be quite aggressive, but it pays off after a while.
I think you should just start handling him a little more everyday, he'll eventually get used to it I'm sure.