Hey guys, I think that in my quest to tame down my baby ig (I have noticed progress), I have trained him to "ignore" people by mistake.

He occasionally flares up, but is much more docile in general now than when he first arrived. I've been being firm and not letting him go when he struggles etc. and I wasn't scared at all of him ever, so that's not the problem.

The problem lies in when we used to hand feed her, or talk to her, and she would eat from my hand and sometimes she would stop and close her eye facing me (The other eye is open, I know), and I took it to mean that it was full and didn't want any more food. So I would put him down and leave him alone.

I think the by product is that he is thinking that by ignoring me and closing one eye, I would leave him alone. He's now in his new enclosure, and a little stressed from the move. But I notice now when I approach him, he doesn't fight anymore like he was doing a little of before. He's close his one eye. Perhaps he thinks that that is how he gets rid of me?? If so, is there any way to "Untrain" this response? Should I just keep going at it when it has its eyes closed? I tried but he can go for hours...

Sometimes, instead of closing one eye, he would turn his head to the side and look UP with that eye facing me.

By the way, I may add that, he opens his eyes slightly every few minutes to check if I'm there. If I am, he closes again quickly. I usually leave after a while becaues he's on a 6 foot high platform and I'm only 5'9" and I'm standing on my tip toes. But when I turn around to leave the enclosure, then look back, his eyes are always wide open again.

What is the correct method to behave with him when he does that?

A natural defense for an iguana in order to shed stress is to close an eye. By closing the eye you are no longer there, at least in the iguana's mind, and it is able to relieve the stress of the situation.

If the iguana is docile now, then it is in relocation stress and just wants to figure out the new surroundings. You will know when the relo stress is over, because it will act much more brazen and try to escape your grasp.

Iguanas are very finicky reptiles. They don't like human interaction much. So the trick is to gain his/her confidence and allow htem to begin to trust you.

Keep handling daily, using the methods you are already using. FOr all the progress you make, you will take big strides backwards when the iguana experiences first heat. It will alomst be like you made no progress at all. LOL But, deep in the iguana's mind, behind all the raging hormones and to the left of it's sense of reason, it will remember all that you did prior to first heat.

So, closing the eye is the iguana's way of ignoring the situation and hoping it goes away. I try this often myself, but I'm still married with children, no matter how long I keep my eyes closed. ;-)

Simply a natural response to a perceived stressful situation.

In addition for your second post: Interact with the iguana, or don't. Standing there "eyeballing" it is causing stress. Even if the interaction is simple, just using voice, let the iguana know you are there and that you actually see it. That way, they can process that the human is around and talking to it. If you choose more interaction, reach in slowly and pet him/her, always talking (IMO voice recognition is everything when trying to socialize an iguana).

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Regards,
Dominick
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"Do you watch too much television? Did you do so as a toddler? Evidence tonight that it could be the cause of learning disorders, like attention deficit and hyperact-Ooooh, a kitty!" - Keith Olbermann

I agree. By just standing there and staring at him you take on the appearance of a predator preparing to strike. Picture a cat stalking prey. It just stares at it,... right before it charges. Either go ahead and pet it, pick it up, or go away, don't just stand there leaving the ig uncertain as to what you are goin to do to it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!