Hi all
I have a 2 year old ig.
She is not tame yet. I have tried twice but not succeeded yet.
Cause every time I start to get somewhere work seems to get hectic and I get home after dark.
I have since started my own business and have more control of my time.
I have once again started the process this time I have started by giving spike a bath every afternoon to try and potty train her so far it is going well.
I am looking for any advice to speed the process up as much as possible..
I know it takes time I just want to get her fairly tame in the shortest possible time.
I have noticed that lots of the ppl start by hand feeding their iggies??!!??
Is this a good thing?
I have read it could cause the ig to expect it all the time and not want to eat otherwise!

Any advice would be appreciated.
Also how long will it take to get spike to roam freely safely??
Just an estimated as I know all iggies are different.

In my opinion, the two year old ig is just like the two year old child, lol. Always trying to test the boundaries, trying to show you they are the boss, lol. I have two free roaming igs at the moment and the rest come out supervised. Taming an ig is a lot of work and you just have to keep trying, eventually she should come around.
As far as hand feeding, I do, it helps them to trust me. I dont feed their entire meal to them, just treats, say for instance I have one that really LOVES apples, she hardly ever gets them, but I hand feed her her treats, she will walk right up to me and take them.
All iguanas are different so one may take a lot longer versus the other, but just keep up on it. Since you have a girl it should be a lot easier, at least that has always been the way for me. The males are a lot harder for me to tame, but it gets done, most of the time:

I personally don't hand feed Diz, not because I don't want to, but because he's nevertaken to it, even with treats.

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You have pretty much hit the nail on the head. The keys to socializing an iguana are time and consistency. This is something that you have to work on every day. Backslide and miss several days and you may find yourself back to square one. It may take a while to see progress. You just have to keep plugging at it.

And every iguana is different and will come around at their own speed. There really is no magic formula to speed it up. Although a few never seem to calm down.
It is just a matter of getting the iguana to trust you.
And we are talking a mutual pattern of respect here. The iguana will never be what most think of as "tame"
That said, hand feeding snacks is a great way of getting them to come around IF you don't let them get into a pattern of expecting all their meals to be delivered in this manner.
And trust me they are masters at training US to do what they want!

As to free roaming, do not even attempt it till the ig is socialized. Iguanas can be very dangerous animals and if you are chasing it around trying to catch it you are assuming the semblance of a predator! Not only will it undo the trust you are trying to build, if the iguana feels threatened it can seriously injure you.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I'd just like to add that this is a lifelong process. You can't just put an iguana through a training course, like you'd do a dog, and expect it to be perfectly trained.

Taming takes constant patience and persistance. It also takes making sure that they're very, very comfortable. As long as they are nervous around you, they will react unpreditctably. They never actually tame completely, but eventually you can learn to live together and handle the iguana's idiosyncrasies.

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"Let's eat, Grandpa!"
"Let's eat Grandpa!"

Punctuation. It saves lives.

Hi all
Thanks for the feedback and the advise
Will keep you posted on my progress...

One thing that I did with Gil when he was young was to take him out of his enclosure and hold him for a while AFTER he had already been asleep for a while. He would wake up a bit, but be drowsy enough not to care too much. While I was really working on socializing him, I did it about 3 nights a week for about 30 minutes each time.

I believe that it really helped him to understand that I was not a predator and that he could trust me.

It really does come down to consistency and confidence.

Best wishes!!

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck