Feeding is a great way to get your rock iguana’s attention and teach it to be comfortable around your hands.
It is normal for very young juvenile rock iguanas to be afraid of your approaching hands. They see your hands as a predator and their survival instincts kick in which causes juvenile iguanas to panic and run in fear.
You have to be very very patient in the beginning till your iguana gets used to your hands.
Feeding iguanas can be fun and it is also a great technique to train your juvenile rock iguana to accept your presence and loose fear of hands.
I like to show iguanas the food dish through the glass and move very slowly. They will watch you!
Then slowly open the cage and insert the food dish. Take your time. Try to move as slow as you can so iguana doesn’t feel threatened. Any sudden moves can spook baby iguana and it will start to panic and run around. Do not wear any loud print and bright color clothing while interacting with juvenile rock iguanas. They may interpret such clothing as predator print and will feel threatened and stressed when you are approaching the cage.
Do this feeding routine daily till your iguana stops being afraid and eventually will start looking forward to this ritual.
When watching iguana eat you can slowly place your hands against the glass and just let iguana get used to them being around.
Then progress to offering an irresistible treat by hand and see if iguana will come to you and eats out of your hand. I like to use very bright flowers in red, orange, yellow and pink colors like hibiscus and nasturtium. Bright colors of the flower will get iguana’s attention!
I made a video of two different one month old baby rock iguanas. You can see that one iguana already goes to eat just after a few seconds of replacing the dish. And another baby rock iguana already eating a flower out of my hand at the end of the video.
Since each rock iguana is a little different it may take a few days or weeks or perhaps months for your iguana to get completely comfortable with your hands. You need to be very patient, move very slowly and keep offering food and bright color treats till your iguana feels safe around you.
