Kira-

Tail autotomy is a purely defensive reaction. Baby and juvenile iguanas will drop a tail to escape perceived harm quicker than adults.

And as Merlin suggests, once they get older, they have other defenses. The only time they would willingly drop a tail (as an adult) is if they couldn't fend off the attacker with a whip, scratch or bite. If the attacker had a good hold of the tail, the iguana *might* drop it in order to retreat. But, by doing so they are losing a serious defensive weapon and also causing stress to their system. So, IMO they would only do it in the worst case scenario.

While Rex (at about 6 years old) was walking at a fair one day, on his leash, his tail naturally sweeping back and forth as he walked, he caught it under the tire of a parked Fire Truck. Realizing it was caught, his first reaction was to try and yank it out. This didn't work. His next reaction was to crock-roll to try to dislodge it (Tammy had already seen what happened and was trying to free the tail), this tore up a few spikes on the tail and he was able to dislodge it and walk on. I should mention that he is not fond of red Fire trucks anymore. LOL

But, even after having his tail caught, being on the ground with many people walking around him, he still didn't choose to suffer the trauma of autotomy.

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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

Thanks for the info, Dom. That's kinda what I thought. I've just been thinking more about Ig tails as of late, I'm adopting a couple Igs that were put up on the GIS adoption page. They're only 15 or so miles from me and their owners want them to go to a new home with someone that is able to pay more attention to them and spoil 'em. I visited them on Saturday. They both have dropped their tails at some point. The female is 15 and hers never grew back, the male is 4 and his has. I'll be bringing them home next week, after my trip this weekend. They're cuties.

Glad to hear that another couple of igs found a good home. Congratulations.

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Jan. 25, 1963 - Sept. 10, 2006 (R.I.P)

One other tidbit that I read (I think it was in the green iguana ultimate owners manual) was that there are hairline fracture seperations in some of the tail vertebrae, and these fuse together as the ig grows older.....so the young igs drop their tails along these vertebral "cracks" but it isnt as easy to do so when they are older and the cracks fuse. Has anyone else read this?

Anthony-oh my god, you need a permit to have an iguana???? why?

Roynan, because they are listed in appendix II of CITES. It's the law here.

Ok, now I will expose my true ignorance, but what is CITES and why is the appendix 2 significant? Sorry.

Roynan, Replover lives in Hong Kong.
CITES= Convention on International Trade In Endangered Species
http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/what.shtml

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

i leave for a few days and my post makes the "hot topics" list lol.

Fluffy is doing as well as can be expected, she still wont speak to me, and every time I walk in the room and start talking she gives me the "i'm sorry...are you addressing me?..well lick it, stamp it, and send it to someone who gives a ****!" look. Surely after a while she'll calm down. I have gotten pretty good at getting her out of the cage without having to chase her.

Step 1- mist iguana in the face so that it closes it's eyes
Step 2- simply pick up your iguana while it thinks that it's invisible.

it really works for me, hopefully ya'll can get something out of that too. I wanted to think up something else besides the old SNEAK UP AND GRAB trick...thats how she lost her tail.

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

LMAO! That is one I never would have thought of,
An Iguana that thinks its invisible !! Thats just tooo good!
Thanks for the idea

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Natalie & Iggie LaLa
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0.1.0 Green Iguana ~ Iggie
0.1.0 Chow Dog ~ Kieko
1.0.0 Chow/Malamute Dog ~ Chubbers
0.1.0 Six toed Cat ~ Barbie,(decendent of Ernest Hemmingways cat)

Pic's of Iggie

Dizzy goes into invisa-mode as soon as I get touch the zoom on the camera...he really doesnt like the noise, but I think if I tried to pick him up during that time he might kick my butt! Haha!

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"If you're not falling, you're not trying." - Sonni Trotter

~*~Lacey~*~

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