Suggestions Please

[Twisterdog]

I agree with very little of that. If you properly care for your iguana it won't bite or tail whip you, actually the opposite- they can be rather sweet. My iguana love to be with us (he can be timid around strangers though). If you neglect your iguana than there's a good chance it will do those things. Yes a bite can and probably will send you to the hospital for stitches.

I had a six foot long male iguana for many years. While he could occasionally be sweet and friendly, for the most part he was aloof.

He was not overtly aggressive unless threatened, however, his perception of "being threatened" involved anyone wearing a hat into the house, for example. He would club anyone with his tail that made the mistake of not believing when I told them they better take that hat off. He, for the most part, ignored the dogs. But, he would not hesitate to bat them across the room with his tail, either, if he thought they were getting too close to him, too loud or rambunctious, etc.

He never bit, thank goodness, because bites of a large iguana are extremely nasty. But his claw were lethal weapons, and I trimmed and filed them regularly ... wearing leather cat gloves and a leather coat, BTW.

He was an interesting, beautiful, amusing pet. He was not cuddly or friendly. He had the potential to do a lot of physical damage. And he was most definately properly cared for and never neglected every day of his entire life. A lizard is not going to be appreciative of good care, and reward it with affection and good behavior, the way a well-trained dog might. A lizard is not a domesticated animal. It can be tamed, to some degree, but there is a wild creature right under the surface. Not a big deal when you have a lizard the length of your hand. A very big deal to the inexperienced reptile owner when you have a lizard the length of your entire body.

[SunsetRose]

I totally forgot about the "killer claws". I have to clip my guys' claws regularly or my skin will be shredded with just them climbing, I don't want to know what my hand would look like if they were thrashing around.

A really good book to read would be Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan. It covers everything you need to know.

And another note regarding iguanas and other animals, they won't hesitate to swat a dog or cat if they feel threatened. Cats will usually take the hint and leave the iguana alone in the future, but some dogs can percieve the tail swat as an invitation for play. And once again, the iggy swatting your dog or cat really isn't a big deal when they're younger and small, but when they get bigger, a tail swat can cause injury to a cat or small dog.

I would really suggest either getting a hatchling or juvanile iguana so that way you can get used to handling it and it will be easy for you to control. And it won't be a big deal if it bites or swats. By the time it gets big enough to cause injury, it will probably be tame for the most part. A large one that is tame may not remain tame after being moved and you certainly don't want a large one that has never been worked with or handled to try and tame it yourself.

[columbine]

One of my friends had a dinos - I mean an iguana that she took very good care of. She's a biologist. Last I saw the two of them he weighed more than she did, and she said she was spending more on him than on herself (if she split the rent evenly between them). We've fallen out of contact, but I was really impressed with how, as she learned each new facet of keeping an iguana healthy, she complied with it and just bore the expense. It's that kind of commitment.