# Why does my iguana constantly want out !!!



## jcarty33 (May 1, 2010)

hey, iv had my iguana for 5 years and theres not a day went by that he hasnt just chilled out basking and regulating himself etc, he will have a 5 minute interval everyday to get warm then scratch thud scratch for the rest of the day, its driving me insane, im not out much so im in this room all day, its driving me insane, its got so bad recently that i have to blast music in my ear when he starts, its driving me mad

i thought that this would of all stopped when i got him a much larger cage, in a way i do regret getting him, but im 17 years old now and i got him when i was 13-14 years old, my mam and dad got me him to make up for the death of my chameleon, i knew nothing about iguanas and certainly did not think he would be this difficult, its got to the point where im happy to give him away for free

i dont hate him, hes great to watch and i dont mind doing everything to look after him like feeding and cleaning, i love watching him eat and climb up and down his cage but he will day in day out jump scratch and thud on the cage sides

i dont no what im doing wrong, are they just like this, have i just got a one that wants out all the time, he has humidity, a large cage, lighting etc, everything he could want, iv poured loads of my own money into everything for him.

if it is my fault i will put my hands up and say i must be doing something wrong which i dont no about but over the years its just been trying to cope with him, i have never mistret him, iv done everything for him, its like hes constantly in breeding season, hes never bit me or anything just allways wrecking his cage and wanting out

people can say oh well you should of thought about this when you got him but i was 13 and didnt no better, as i say iv allways given him everything hes needed, never mistret im just not prepeared for him, maybe if he was

it could just be bordeom and he wants out all the time and iv just happened to get an iguana that wants to explore and i cant let him out constantly, he will race around my room smashing eveything, i have a chameleon who is terrified of him and thank god she is nice and quiet

overall am i denying my iguana a life by not letting him out all the time which he would like but then again saying this, when i do let him roam out of his cage and around my room he would just go straight to the bedroom door and scratch there aswell to get out and my room is quite big so i dont no what to do


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## jcarty33 (May 1, 2010)

ok, so in the past 10 minutes hes been thudding and scratching constantly, its driving me insane


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## hitmanout2007 (Jun 6, 2011)

*awwwww*

dont give him away you must be mad to do that


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## dax (Aug 11, 2008)

does he have plenty of colours and things in his viv? things to climb on, hide under and somewhere high to sit? they like things to look at dont like big flat spaces?

my iguana does this once every few weeks, drives me nuts banging and crashing round the viv and scratching the door, he has managed to get out a few times too! he totalyl wrecks the joints sometimes.

I have put a shelf way up about 8 inches from the roof and now he sits up there most of the time looking down on me when im cleaning etc?

i also hide things round his viv now, I bought a wide meshed bird feeder from wilkos and hang veg and stuff out of it and put it on the ceiling with a hook and it takes him ages to eat it all but keeps him busy!

change his viv around, put vines dangling and bit of wood around so its more interesting? Im going to put some plastic mesh or a wooden trellis on one side of his viv she he can climb up that too!


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

Don't give him away, mate he is telling you he wants too come out and explore for some enrichment let him come out for half an hour  it wont kill or hurt him.

It makes no difference how big the enclosure is, once an iguana decides he wants to come out he wants to come out, he can actually injure himself by doing this all the time, of course that does not mean you should give into him all the time.

and heck situations happen with iguanas, unavoidibe, the point is now you have him, now you know about him and that is what matters.

Let him come out and sit and look out the window, they love it.
To be fair an iguanas life is pretty boring and sitting in an enclsure most of its life is without a doubt not doing him much good.

(not saying your a bad keeper mate: victory

Let him out for half an hour and you may just find he does not scratch as much.


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## baldym (Sep 18, 2008)

*re iggy*

I agree totally with slytherin he just wants to have a wander round by the sound s of things alot of people would be loving it if there iggy was as tame and confident to say come on then have me out to play for a bit so think of it in that light that he just wants to interact with u which i think is amazin and shows his intelligence.:2thumb:


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## cog (Dec 30, 2008)

jcarty33 said:


> ok, so in the past 10 minutes hes been thudding and scratching constantly, its driving me insane


That sounds the same as my Monitors. They wreck their vivs sometimes and claw at the glass making a crazy amount of noise. Even down stairs you can hear them banging around most days trying to get out.
With ours I either let them out for a wander or give them some food or both :lol2: A full belly and a half an hour exploring seems to work wonders.
On a side note maybe re-check your temps and make sure he's not too hot, their probably fine but just a thought


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## jcarty33 (May 1, 2010)

i dont no what to do, today 10 minutes after his lights where turned on by the automatic system he woke me up my smashing about, i feel like im breaking down, i just cant handle him anymore, for 5 years its been an uphill struggle, as you say i should be lucky to have an iguana who wants to interact but at the same time that makes me think would it not be better if someone else had to time and effort for him, i cant let him out at the minute, i have plamts growing around my room for my chameleon, my chameleons viv is in the same room and even if i cover her cage he will most likely climb on top of her cage at sum point and burn himself on her heat lamp

and the thing is i let him in the bathroom yesterday and this seems to have just drove him to try and escape more because he knows that he can now get out and was not interested in getting back in


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

jcarty33 said:


> i dont no what to do, today 10 minutes after his lights where turned on by the automatic system he woke me up my smashing about, i feel like im breaking down, i just cant handle him anymore, for 5 years its been an uphill struggle, as you say i should be lucky to have an iguana who wants to interact but at the same time that makes me think would it not be better if someone else had to time and effort for him, i cant let him out at the minute, i have plamts growing around my room for my chameleon, my chameleons viv is in the same room and even if i cover her cage he will most likely climb on top of her cage at sum point and burn himself on her heat lamp
> 
> and the thing is i let him in the bathroom yesterday and this seems to have just drove him to try and escape more because he knows that he can now get out and was not interested in getting back in


 
Mate, just sit with him, put him in the bath? let him get some excersize? maybey just move the plants to the bedroom or let him roam the bedroom?

Iguanas are never easy, even to the most expirienced of us  so your not alone, even just 15 minutes a day can make all the difference to your iguana.: victory:


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## Tatile (Jul 1, 2011)

This is probably a stupid idea, I don't own lizards, but why not get one of those lizard-walkie leashes and take him for walks on the landing or in the garden on nice days? Granted that he's big enough for it, of course.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

I disagree with this, anything compiled of walking iguanas should be banned and took off the market, they cause some horrible problems, trust me I know...

Iguanas bodies are not designed for a harness regardless of what it says on the brand, they can seriously do themselves an injury especially if they decide to freak out... (over head bird or something) if you are to take an iguana outside first get it used to going outside by building an out door enclosure...

Some people have had success with them but I would not take the risk personally, for a start an iguana is very strong and its own strength can do itself some harm.

When in panic, it is not the first time I have herd of the tether actually wrapping around the iguana, breaking legs and wrapping around their necks etc, this is especially difficult for the owner to help the iguana with it panicking and struggling with nothing but strength. (it can also turn into a situation where you put yourself in harms way to free the iguana, and those teeth are very capable of tearing flesh and taking fingers off.

Those claws are sharp also meaning your arms would get shredded to pieces, whilst at the same time your iguana harming itself all of which could easily have been avoided in the first place.

Iguanas do freak out, no matter how tame you think it is, it is still a wild animal with natural instincts.

Iguanas are not dogs! I do see where you are coming from though, but I could think of a million different ways to enrich an iguanas life, without resorting to such methods.


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## si_man306 (Jan 6, 2011)

I agree with what salazare says about the walking- although it's an idea in theory, it can cause a huge amount of stress as well as damage to the spikes etc. To an already clearly distressed animal I think that's just going to make matters worse. 

I'd say firstly check the temperature details of the viv- he sounds like he's very hot if he's that active. I would check the temp with an accurate digital guage, if it's 30-32 degrees C+ everywhere with no cool spot then he's going to be too hot. You say he's super active minutes after the light goes on? That's not right, he should be much cooler at night and not physically able to rush about for at least half an hour- an hour. Night temps can be right down to 22-25 degrees C, if it's not cooling down enough that could add to your issues (easily happens in the summer). Also check ventilation and humidity (although this is less important). Doesn't sound like diet is an issue if he's jumping about that much!

Iguanas really need to be taught things and trained (IMHO) so they get used to a routine and their environments. If he wants to come out, let him come out, let him explore and relax (after initially scurrying about i'm sure) and don't crowd him. After a while (and especially if he's cooled down a bit) very slowly approach him, if he runs off let him. Gradually get closer and closer though (sometimes with food if it helps- dandelions are good as they can clearly see the yellow colour of the flower) and pet him out of the viv. Super-slo mo will allow him to trust you out of the viv and calm him down. Stroke the top of his neck where the spikes are and the top of his head/ dewlap if he doesn't mind (he'll shake his head or somehow make you know about it if he doesn't like it!).

I tend to let Yoshi have treats outside the viv (eg kiwi) in a bowl, he hunts about but on the whole eventually cools down- my house is rarely 32 degrees C and ~60-80% humidity! This means that eventually he gets bored and wants a nice sunny spot to bask in as this sunny spot is his viv, he's more than happy for me to pick him up after his adventures and put him back on the basking spot. He'll even be happy to go back himself if he doesn't settle somewhere else and go to sleep first.

Don't get me wrong though, if he's sitting in the sun, basking in the heat and he's hot, he'll be much more active and chasing him around and trying to shove him back into the viv is going to be a very bad idea! It really needs to be at his pace (you live and learn :lol.

Bathrooms/ baths are a good idea although it does depend on mood a little, he might get scared or paniced in a bath so perhaps introduce that slowly after he's used to being out (some method of allowing him to climb out of the bath on his own tends to calm them too).

Lastly, I go in the viv at least twice a day, pet him in the viv so he knows me well. Then when he comes out he's easier to handle. You could even try leaving the viv door open with the room door closed, he can explore the room (needs to be tidy room/ safe) and when he gets cold, he'll go back in the viv where all the light is. You could even leave him to do this alone after a while.

Apologies for the essay, hope this helps!


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## Tatile (Jul 1, 2011)

Salazare, I'm glad you said that, I had absolutly no idea about how much damage a leash could do to an iguana (my iggie reading got the point of: they get how big?! and then it was back to snakes), so it's a good thing it wasn't a serious suggestion on my part.


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## Salazare Slytherin (Oct 21, 2009)

No problem 

mate I sent you a pm, there is a number of possibilities, I sent you a pm.


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