The head bobbing and display of the dewlap sounds to me as if Bella might be a male and is just showing off his mating routine for you. I think somebody likes you:wink:


Another thing that helps a little with the shedding is gently massaging a small amount of castor oil where any shedding skin is at. I used to have to use castor oil on the base of Sally's spines. If I didn't, the skin would not come off even after a soak in the tub.

Yes, I think you're right about that. I recall HIM bobbing YES and her shaking her head violently NO. Let's just call her Bella for now. :winky: It's not like she comes when I call her.

I often would rub them with a tiny bit of baby oil. That sound like a good idea now since she's so itchy.

Bella works as a boys name as well. Béla Fleck, without a doubt the best banjo player I have ever heard, comes to mind right off the top of my head. It is a slightly different spelling, but still very similar pronunciation.

OK, I like that. :winky:

Oh yea, Bela Lagosi.

Look at this:

Before I put her to bed for the night I sat here and held her in front of the videos of iguanas, that got her attention. She did watch them. She was quiet about it too. No struggling to get away. :D

This is a good video but I don't like how rough he is with them. :mad:

I completely agree with you Wiix. You can see the scarring on the lower part one the juvenile crimson albinos that he shows. Beautiful coloration but poorly treated animals.:mad:

She looks forward to her bath now. She gets so excited when I ask her if she wants a bath. :winky:

I have extra heat on, her heating pad on high and her light is on. I do think she's feeling the cold. It is -20 here today and yesterday. We fell asleep yesterday afternoon so she was all toasty. :winky:

She is shedding like crazy. I'd say she has tripled in size since I got her. It's so funny when she's still got the dead skin attached and she's running around the tank trying to get away from it. I do peel her when she get's too crazy.

Today was another first. She opened her mouth like she wanted to bite me. She didn't but I can tell this will only get worse. :o

She still is in a wild panic in the morning when I move her from the sleeping tank to her day tank. At night going back to it she's tired and can't be bothered. :winky:

She actually licked me today. It kind of scared me. :winky: But her entire tongue came out a couple of times. :) After we took a nap together and I put her in her tank for the night she kept looking at me. I think she's becoming attached. :D She's really sweet but she is still afraid. :o

She does look forward to her few minutes in the tub each day. She really doesn't settle down until it's done. It used to be once every couple of days now it's everyday. I think she needs to see what's going to happen each day. That has a lot to do with being afraid.

I'm kind of afraid that she will NOT settle down. It's been close to 6 months now and she is still in a wild panic each time I try to take her out of the tank. :( I am wondering how difficult it will be to handle her when she gets bigger. :confused: I may just be asking for trouble down the road. :o

She'll get there. Just give her time and keep doing what you are doing, taking good care of her and handling her on a daily basis. Make sure you don't wear gloves. All the scratching might hurt, but they don't like the feel of gloves.

It took me a year and a half before Sally settled down and trusted me. Bella sounds like she is trusting you after a little handling, so she will settle down eventually.

I hope so. I am wondering what kind of activity can I use on her out of the tank, any suggestions? I just can't allow her to run wild but I would like her to get used to being out. Funny, I never had this problem before with my other iguanas. She's special. :winky:

If I let her out then I know she'll run and hide for days or weeks but I can't just let her feel she'll never be free to roam the house. :(

Try starting out in a room with a window where she has very few hiding places. Set up a branch or shelf by a window as high as you can reach and let her sit up there for a while. You could also set a chair by the window and sit with her on your arm for a while as she looks out the window. Handling her every day around the same time is also good. Daily repetition will get her used to being handled and eventually look forward to that time of day to being able to look at the natural world.

I always thought of it kind of like an old man that likes to watch the ducks at the nursing home. He might be grumpy most of the day, but looks forward to looking out the window at the ducks at a certain time of the day. It gives him something to do at that certain time of day that he enjoys and makes him more enjoyable to be around.

Remember, iguanas are arboreal creatures. If Bella has some trees, birds and other wildlife to look out at and feel like she is high up in a tree while doing so she will look forward to that moment and be easier to handle.

Yes, I have trees in the jungle room but there are many, many, MANY places to hid in there. I suppose I could do a walk through and clear them away.

She does look forward to her Tubby Time and our bed time. She lays on my chest wrapped in a baby blanket with just her head sticking out. She is quiet then and falls asleep. She does this tiny, little sneeze a few times that tells me she is pleased. :hug: AAA
.
And I can actually hear her lips smack. Very softly but it's there.

Yesterday I told her I loved her.

Last night during her sleep time I caught her trying to either get out of her tank or trying to get my attention. That was a first. Maybe she had a bad dream. :confused: She always hides once I put her in there.

On her day tank I have a kind of cage top. It doubles the size of the tank. I think she is learning to get up in it then crash down. It makes a noise. I think she's trying to get my attention. Everytime she does that I go over to talk to her.

Maybe one day she'll be typing this. :eek: :wink:

Something else I noticed. When she gets too warm she goes into panic mode. This morning when I went to get her the heating pad was off. Maybe when I turned it down around 4 I accidentally turned it off. She was cold and calm. No scratching or wild panic. Maybe I should turn if off early, early. I do turn it on medium when she first goes to sleep but I don't want her to freeze. What to do? :confused:

I guess she's NOT going to calm down. It's been 6 months now and she still flies around the cage in a wild panic. :(

I had all good intentions when I bought her but sometimes you just got what you got.

Wiix,

I am sorry your iguana is not getting more calm. I'm sure you are feeling disappointed. Maybe she will settle a little more in time. Some of us are just kind of excitable I guess...

I know you are working with her a lot and giving her lots of love. I hope she comes around.

:hug:

I am sure he will come around sooner or later. With my experience, it takes time and patience. I have had some take around 18 months to two years to settle down, and others that were calm from day one. Just keep at you routine and she will eventually settle down.

I have noticed in the past few weeks that he will allow me to stroke his back before I pick him up. He sure is packing on the ounces. He is actually a handful now. Still too little to trim his needle-like nails. When he tries to get away from me, he really digs in and rips my skin. THAT'S an ouchie. :o He has actually drawn blood a few times. I keep switching back and forth from he to she and back to he but I really do think he's a male now. I can see two little bumps on either side of his vent.


Guess I'll have to take him out more. I used to spend a lot of time with my other ones. Not so much so far with this one.

I've had a few that reached this size. They were fun. :winky:


I figured he's eventually charge at that mirror. :rolleyes:

I feel adventuress today. After I had him in the tub for a while I put him on the window sill in the sun. He's there now, and calm, so I'll allow him to sit there for a while. :o

We'll have to see how this works out. :hug:

I left him in the sun for a good 20 minutes. When I went in to check on him he started to get crazy so back in the tank he went. All in all not bad for his first time loose. He didn't try to hide. We'll try it again in the next few days. :winky:

It's funny, in all the times I've held him and he's wiggled and squirmed and tried to get free he's never tried to get away. Hmmm :confused:

We had a lovely 3 hour nap today. :D

You should have seen the antics he went through today. He looked like a pretzel. :eek: Just going from his sleep tank to his day tank. :confused:

He looks forward to his Tubby Time and his time sleeping with his Mum. :D I can tell because he gets excited around those times of the day. He actually wants to lay on my skin and doesn't try to get away. He seems upset when I put him in his tank for the night. :o

I guess his little hormones are starting to kick in. :o

Usually while he is in his sleeping tank he hides under his blanket. But in the past few weeks I catch him laying on top watching me. He's so cute. :winky: I think he wants to bed in bed with me. :Zzzz:

Today I gave him a little freedom under the covers. He stayed with me for a little while but then I think it dawned on him. He tried to get away so back in the tank he went. :D

A little at a time. :winky:

We napped for a while tonight. He got loose, made a U-Turn and settled back down. He's such a good, little boy. :D I love him and I think he loves me back. :D

Today, after his Tubby Time, I held him for a few minutes so he could watch an iguana video on Youtube. He really liked it. :winky:

Nothing new to report. He does wait to go poopie in the tub and loves sleeping with his mum.

He has gone through one complete body shed, a section at a time, and is 4 times his size since I got him. Can't wait for him to grow enough to trim his nails, they are like razors on my skin and the hook into me. :o

I haven't let him lose since that one time I let him sit on the window sill. Maybe we'll try doing that again but it's snowing out and I only let him do that so he can feel the sun on his skin.

He has disappeared now for 3 days. He's under the radiator. I can't get him out. He'll have to come out by himself. I did lift the radcover yesterday and he was sitting right there on top but slid back down really fast. :( He'll come out eventually.

Woe is Mummy. :(