vancocon

This game consists of me choosing what appears to be an opportune
moment, and rubbing Zig's sides in a friendly way, hoping to elicit
some sign of pleasure or acceptance. But he always closes his eyes and
holds perfectly still during his *ordeal*. The game is " Pet yur
iguana to make him feel good.* The reality is Zig won't relax and open
his eyes until 60 seconds after the petting stops.

It is a game of a sort, but it is more like insanity: "Expecting an
outcome from a behavior, and not getting it, while repeatedly
continuing the behavior." So I tend to check Zigs proclivities about
three times per year, but he's been the same since the onset of his
maturity.

Roger

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robert allen

"Go away sonny, ya bother me."

====

Robert Allen
mailto: ottomatik (AT) sbcglobal (DOT) net

helen rueda

What a trip! All this time I've been stroking Gloria's jaw, thinking she enjoyed it because she closes her eyes and holds still, and actually lifts her head when I stroke upward. Then like you said, stays that way for a full minute after I've stopped. I enjoy it, I thought she did, too. Live and learn. Now I don't know whether to keep doing it or just stop putting her through that.

Helen & Gloria, the guan girl

moment, and rubbing Zig's sides in a friendly way, hoping to elicit
some sign of pleasure or acceptance. But he always closes his eyes and
holds perfectly still during his *ordeal*. The game is " Pet yur
iguana to make him feel good.* The reality is Zig won't relax and open
his eyes until 60 seconds after the petting stops.

melissa kaplan

Keep in mind that igs have a limited vocabulary (postures & behaviors) to
use to communicate with aliens (us) in an alien setting (captivity).

While knowing the behaviors and postures of wild iguanas is important as a
basis for being able to read them and communicate with them in captivity, we
also need to be sensitive to nuances in the captive iguana.

The head raising and eye closing is a way of refusing to engage, say, with
another iguana who has come around trying to find some other iguana to annoy
and (hopefully) displace. Ignoring them tends to make them go away and find
some other iguana to annoy.

In captivity, however, we look for nuances: Is the iguana turning dark,
signaling stress? Or is the iguana's 'happy' colors coming on, signally,
"oh, don't stop!" If your iguana likes to have its gular neck and chest
rubbed (as Mikey, my Cyclura, does) or back of the neck and back rubbed
(most of my green igs), then lifting the body up to give you easier access
to the desired rubbing places is also a sign of enjoyment.

Two of my most highly socialized iguanas (or amorous/possessive, depending
on your POV), Freddy and Elvys, would close their eyes and turn bright blue
when I petted them and cooed over them. If I stopped touching them, they
would raise up trying to reach the hand they thought was still above them.
If that didn't bring them into contact with my hand, they would lean over
towards me. Fred once leaned so far he fell right over.

Mikey does the raising and leaning thing, too. If I am grumpy with him
("How often do I have to tell you pooping on the carpet is B-A-D??!!"), he
will just look at me (without a shred of remorse, I might add). If that
does not result in the desired action (my petting him, aka signaling
f****veness), then he closes his eyes and raises himself up and
leeeeaaaaannnns towards me. Apparently, another adaptation iguanas have

I posted some pics of Mike and some of my other current crop of critters at
http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/user/PH%20Meliss

helen rueda

Come to think of it, Gloria sometimes leans into my hand when I'm petting her. Sometimes she leans away, turning her head away from me and I take that to mean, Not now, I have a headache. So I leave her alone. Maybe she really does like to have her jaw stroked sometimes. I haven't noticed color change, tho. So I just now have decided to keep petting her and obey her body language. Thanks Melissa.

Helen & Gloria, the guan girl

Take care, more later,
Helen

robert allen

My iguana likes to have the area under and just to the rear of his jowels
massaged. I imagine it can get sort of itchy and hot there because the
flesh folds sort of hang down and over each other. Even when he's in a
really aggressive mode, if I grab him and start rubbing him behind the jowel
and under it he will temporarily give up the aggression.

====

Robert Allen
mailto: ottomatik (AT) sbcglobal (DOT) net


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sue solomon

My very shy cat, Gwen, has always been fond of Agent
Orange. When he climbs up on "our" bed in the morning, she
walks over and licks his face. Lately she has been inspecting
the rest of him and discovered those sharp spikes on his tail are
just the thing for grooming. Amazingly, he lets her do it.
Maybe it feels good to him. ??

Sue


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