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Wild Caught Aggressive lizards: how to make them comfortable and destress

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stolenheron

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This is not a "taming" thread necessarily. I want to make a 2 year old WC (by me) male spinytail iguana to be comfortable enough to handle captivity. I doubt he will ever be tame, they are very similar to monitors once adults and generally are set in their ways with aggression.

I have just caught him, he needs plenty of time to acclimate, he needs hides in his enclosure, etc etc.

The problem is, he wont be in a permanent/semi-permanent home until friday. So he will have to get moved again to a completely different human-home all together until he is in my normal ctenosaur enclosure.

How have other lizard owners helped their lizards settle down enough to eat after capture?

he has plenty of veggies at his disposal currently, he has crickets and in the next few hours (after the sun comes out of the clouds) he will have large anoles (which we saw them eating) for food too. I can easily provide him a mouse later in the week.

He was captured while I was with a state trapper, he shot several yesterday (like he is supposed to) however I decided to grab this adult for my collection 1. to save him from a .22lr round 2. to be with my female during breeding season 3. he is a perfect specimen.

any tips would be appreciated.


please do not hate or tell me what a Ctenosaur needs or doesnt need unless you have owned them yourselves. I have 2 species and caught all the specimens myself, this is the only adult though I've ever kept. all of my others have been raised by hand over the past 3 years and I have studied them in the field. I know more than a little bit about the species specifically. this comes down to pet trade advice which is why i'm here
 
While i haven't done anything with that particular species...

With all the lizards I've worked with, what worked best was to leave them completely alone with tons of hiding spaces. Don't dig around to find him to check him, etc. Let him think that he's got a completely foolproof hiding spots from you. That should help him be confident.

If at all possible, try not to ever come from above to do anything. If you can possibly make the caging have a side open door(like the sliding front type?) that's usually better. If not, then try to stand at one end and reach way across to appear to be coming from the side as much as possible. NOTHING that comes from above in nature is good for a lizard. Everything that comes from above is generally trying to eat them.

Then it's just been patience and feeding and patience and no grabbing, etc. The more he exists without you attempting to eat him, the more confident he'll be about you being nearby. Good luck.
 
yeah, this guy into his fairly permanent home, I will be much less worried.

I just want him to be tolerable of my presence and just eat like a normal ctenosaur (basically a bottomless pit of a belly).

I will be making a very large enclosure for my girl and him when I get back into town, but until then he will be in her cage and she will be moved to a different one (she is perfectly tame and is content with everything now so no worries about moving her around. the damn thing will walk on a leash haha). I just need to get the wood and some tools and the cage will begin
 
anyone else? I'd really like some input. I want this guy to have a good life in captivity. I dont need him to be hand tame by any means. I just want him to get a big appetite again and guard his favorite perch from me when I get him to his permanent cage, just like he had in the wild.
 
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