Post by sangreaal on Oct 29, 2007 13:37:50 GMT -5
Hi Everyone,
My name is Marie and I am a new Iguana keeper. I rescued Xerxes, a 2 1/2 year old male Green Iguana, about 2 weeks ago. His owner said that he was aggressive and that he never handled him and that is why he was mean and why he wanted to "get rid" of him.
Xerxes is anything but mean. Sure, he got all puffy when the guy throttled him by the neck and stuffed him in a box for me to take home--that man scared him to death! Since I've had him, Xerxes has only once been defensive with me, and that was on the very first day I had him. He puffed and bobbed and threatened me with his tail, but got over it fast as I wasn't threatening back nor was I leaving until he settled back down. He's settled nicely and has the kindest eyes I've ever seen on a reptile. He lets me pet him all over, and I started with his tail since I knew it was one of his defense weapons. Figured if I could pass the tail without much incident I'd no doubt be able to pass the other end (teeth!). Tactic has worked well so far and he's letting me help him with his shedding.
Question: Is water the only thing that I can use to help him soften up the dead skin so it'll lift easily? I don't pull on the shed when I work with him, I just massage it with water until it slips up and off the new scales. In fact, I gave him a 30 gallon rubber pool in the bottom of his new habitat, which is 6' long, 4' deep and 6' tall. Lighting is 2 40watt full spectrum flourescent tubes and there is an infra-red heat lamp situated above his arboreal dias where he likes to sleep at night. I have a woodstove for heat, which I know really dries out the air, so I keep a kettle of water on top to steam and help keep the humidity up.
I really would like to see him safely out of his crinkly skin and into some healthy glowing new scales. Any tips for this newbie?
Marie
My name is Marie and I am a new Iguana keeper. I rescued Xerxes, a 2 1/2 year old male Green Iguana, about 2 weeks ago. His owner said that he was aggressive and that he never handled him and that is why he was mean and why he wanted to "get rid" of him.
Xerxes is anything but mean. Sure, he got all puffy when the guy throttled him by the neck and stuffed him in a box for me to take home--that man scared him to death! Since I've had him, Xerxes has only once been defensive with me, and that was on the very first day I had him. He puffed and bobbed and threatened me with his tail, but got over it fast as I wasn't threatening back nor was I leaving until he settled back down. He's settled nicely and has the kindest eyes I've ever seen on a reptile. He lets me pet him all over, and I started with his tail since I knew it was one of his defense weapons. Figured if I could pass the tail without much incident I'd no doubt be able to pass the other end (teeth!). Tactic has worked well so far and he's letting me help him with his shedding.
Question: Is water the only thing that I can use to help him soften up the dead skin so it'll lift easily? I don't pull on the shed when I work with him, I just massage it with water until it slips up and off the new scales. In fact, I gave him a 30 gallon rubber pool in the bottom of his new habitat, which is 6' long, 4' deep and 6' tall. Lighting is 2 40watt full spectrum flourescent tubes and there is an infra-red heat lamp situated above his arboreal dias where he likes to sleep at night. I have a woodstove for heat, which I know really dries out the air, so I keep a kettle of water on top to steam and help keep the humidity up.
I really would like to see him safely out of his crinkly skin and into some healthy glowing new scales. Any tips for this newbie?
Marie