Iguanas are first...and foremost...wild animals...through and through. An iguana's
behavior can be unpredictable and often down-right dangerous. A lot of people don't even realize they have teeth, but they do and they can do serious damage. Their teeth are compared often to those of a tiger shark...they're sharp, serrated and they are replaced when lost. The following pictures are not meant to scare, though being a little afraid of the damage that can be inflicted warrants serious respect from all of us.
The first two pictures are my daughter's own encounter with Zair. We got him as a hatchling in 1998. It was breeding season '04' and I was trying to remove the female from his enclosure who he was housed with for well over a year. He was causing serious physical damage to her from what I can only call "testosterone overload". I had a small male iguana rescue at the same time...out of sight, but not out of scent. Amber was blocking him from following me taking the female out. I quick warning bite was all it was, but it went to the bone of her thumb. This was about 10 minutes later when the blood quit squirting. Fingers are often bleeders even with small cuts and she healed quickly...but it was a 1/10 of a second bite...just a warning...
These next set of pictures are from a respected rehabber in the iguana community. He's been doing rehab for many years. He let his gaurd down for an instant with an aggressive male and the resulting injuries incurred. He is also a designer and main distributor of the Mega Ray lighting series and owner of
Welcome To ReptileUV - Mega-Ray® UVB lamps for reptile lighting worldwide . These are Bob McCargars' fingers...or BobMac as many of us know him as. Someone who knows better and he still got hit.
These are from an adult female who has been spayed. She has become completely aggressive with her male keeper. An older bloke with a lot of heart. His wife can handle Zig with not even an iota of aggression. She bit through the leather glove BF was wearing...the second pic being his hand right after being pulled out of the glove.
This bite occurred in early Jan. '07' and now the owner is pretty scared of her ig. She had no idea they had that kind of bite power. When I asked her for a picture she wasn't even sure she could because it made her physically ill to look at her arm. This pic was taken about 2 days after the ER trip. If Kirsten ever sees this post...thank you for giving me permission to use this. That's her ig in the window. I asked for that to to show how big this ig was.
Here's a link to Henry Lizardlovers page on a nasty attack he'd received...and he's been around igs a very long time, too.
(dial-up beware) Henry's pages are always high graphic content and can take awhile to load:
Male Iguana Aggression Types & Bite Wound Photos
A link to Steve Woodward's site from across the pond at what exactly the teeth look like. It's an actual skull:
Iguana Teeth
On another forum, Merlin had said he would...well...let me just get the direct quote:
Quote:
I have been nailed by a 14ft Retic and, trust me, I quarantee you that I would take that over an adult iguana any day of the week! Iguana teeth are designed for cutting, in this case tough leaves, but it also works the same on human flesh! Not all of them will bite like this. You just have to keep in mind the possibilty of what they can do to you if the mood hits and treat them with the proper respect.
Don't get complacent and assume it won't happen.
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I've never been bitten by anything larger than a 4' black racer...but I know how snakes bite...and I have to agree, with Merlin...I would take a large snake bite over an iguana any day...especially when the ig decides he/she would like to hold on and shake like a dog would a rag.
