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Meet Fiona-New Here, Need Help

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heatherrose415

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I grew up with 2 iguanas but it has been 8 years since I last owned one. I was waiting for my children to be a bit older. Anyway, I wasn’t planning on getting one but saw an ad on craigslist and just had to get her. The poor thing only had a 40 watt heat light for her 120 gallon aquarium, no uvb or uva. When I picked her up she was freezing. all she had was one driftwood to climb. the cage was disgustingly dirty. so was the house (dog pee and poop everywhere) they never held her and had her over a year. She is 2 years old and from what I can tell has had a broken ankle and finger. I got her on friday, its now tuesday and she hasn’t eaten much. She is finally relaxing enough to have her eyes closed even when we are close by. She is just loving finally having heat, she just basks all day long. But she wont climb around her cage or anything. The cage is way to small, it was last minute, we are working on building a nice big one for her. Anyway, any advice on how to tame her? When I open the door to put food in she whips me. When I open it to mist her to keep the humidity up she doesnt whip but gets ready, lol. Do I just let her be? Do I hold her anyway everyday so she gets use to me and realizes I am not going to hurt her? I just have no idea where to start to get her to calm down so I can take her out and have her rest on my shoulder, etc..... I want to hold her so bad LOL.

Here are some pics. Like I said her tank is way to small atm.

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first off, gloves, a nice pair of leather gloves is impervious for any rescue iguana because the nails are usually ill maintained and razor sharp. when i rescued my male he was the same way, had a broken leg, and nose rub from the 55 gallon he was in and he's almost 4 foot himself so he ran alot cuz they had dogs. when i get any rescue i let them settle in their enclosure at least a week, let her get comfortable and continue to open the door and feed her and mist, dont handle her yet though. you'll notice her get more and more comfortable and getting closer to you as you feed and water her. in a week or so get a long piece of green, or a single romaine (though i hate romaine it's nice for this) leaf and try to feed it to her. and just be patient. when an iguana has been through a traumatic situation, it's stressed, that simple. so let her relax and get used to her enclosure first. any questions you can ask me directly through PM. iguanas is where i started my herp venture when i was about 9. so i've had my share lol. good looking girl though. and if you do decide to give her up for adoption, let me know and see if you can ship her here lol i'd love a big buddy for my male. good luck to you
 
Aww, she's a beautiful female iguana. =]
Anyway, females tend to be considerably harder to tame than males and more tempermental. I've had my female for a while and she still freaks out when my hand moves toward her too fast.

It'll take some time to calm her down. Not just because she's a girl, but because she's never been handled and was cared for by someone who had no business owning her. She's probably still freaked out by the total change in environment. She looks to be a pretty good weight in that last photo. She'll be able to handle a couple days of not eating, though you should definately keep fresh food in there anyway, just to temp her. I could be wrong, but she doesn't look like she has any threatening signs of MDB... though she most likely has the disease from being without UVB for as long as she was. I wouldn't really worry about that unless she shows severe symptoms, just correct her diet and give her supplements.

As far as taming her goes... give it another week or two before you try anything drastic. She needs to start eating before anything else in her environment changes. Try and move really slow whenever you enter her territory. Let her watch everything you do and don't move above her head. Don't scare her by going up to her while she's in the bottom of her cage. It makes iguanas uncomfortable to have something moving over their head.
When you try and touch her, try and touch her neck or her nose, not her tail or feet or lower body. If she whips you, back off and let her calm down (she'll stop breathing so heavy) before you try again. Don't wear gloves either. It'll help that she gets used to your smell and the color of your hand. Iguanas don't like change... and when you finally take that glove off she's not going to know who you are.
If you make headway there, try leaving your hand on her for a few minutes at a time. Scratch her neck and nose until she closes her eyes. Show her you're a friend. Try this a couple times a day or as often as she'll let you.

I think you've got a ways to go before she'll let you hold her, but I'm sure you'll get there with determination. Just don't let her scratch or bite you, especially if she's been in an unclean environment. Iguanas carry salmonella in their feces and if she was kept unclean by her previous owners she probably walked all in her own poo.

I'm glad to hear you're building her a cage. =] That's the best way to go. I'm sure she'll love it. good luck with taming her.
 
**Sorry, I forgot something.

Wear gloves only /IF/ she tries to bite you... until she get comfortable enough for you to take them off. But touching her tail and feet and places she can't see your hand is going to make her extremely uncomfortable.
 
Thanks so much guys!!! Today is day 6. I have not tried picking her up or touching her. She whips at me when I put food in there. She gets ready to whip when I go to mist her but then she calms down when I start misting and seems to enjoy it. Is there a chance I could get her to be a calm sweet iguana that I can trust my kids to hold etc.....????

and about how long does it usually take to get them to that point? a few weeks, months, years??

She doesnt move around her cage. She has eaten very little. She lived off of the iguana pellets, never had fresh food. I am doing fresh salads with the pellets and calcium over the top of it. She did eat quite a bit when I first got her, and thats whys he looks pretty good weight in that last photo, but since then she hasnt eaten much, but shes still eating a little, so thats good atleast. I am guessing she doesnt move much because she lived for over a year with only a 40watt heat light, so she was cold. I am guessing she still has to build up her energy and get comfortable of course?

I would love any other advice, etc...
 
comfort for her is key. and as far as rehabilitation, it's up to the animal, my male i have now took about a month to get handleable, but i've had others take much longer. it's up to the animal, and how much time you can afford to put towards her. just stay with fresh veggies, lots of greens, and make sure she's hydrated.
 
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