agressive baby green iguana.

Question
QUESTION: hello,
 my boyfriend and i have purchased a baby green iguana from a pet store called Superpetz located in Frederick, MD. It was about 10 inch when we got it, now it's about 13. We've have it about 2 months now. I feed it fruits and veggies everyday. We have a very nice habitat set up, and we let it go swimming daily. When my boyfriend goes to pick it up, it wips and bites. He wore gloves and it bite one, shaking it about 2 or 3 times and let go. When we put ours hands in we talk to it, and go slowly. Everytime we go near the cage it flips out and runs. I dont know what else to do. We also have an almost full grown iguana. He is not agressive at all. Hes actually a big baby. We are currently building him a new cage. Can i put them together? I dont think so, but i would just like to ask. What should i do about the baby?

ANSWER: Hi Kayla, congrats on your new Iguana

He could just be stressed or just naturally aggressive. He might have been recently caught from teh wild, giving him an automatic bad experience with humans. I would not house the two together and I would give the younger a little more time with no handling. Let him find out that you are nto going to hurt him and then try getting close to him after a month or two of no contact.

Slowly gain his trust.

Other then that, I am really not sure what you can do.

Sorry,
Good luck

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi again, Thanks for your answer. now my only question is. would it make a diff if the full grown iguana is very very very tame and dont reallycare that the baby is around him? my full grown iguana is great and he dont get pissy about anything.? im just woundering if theres anyway possiable? tanks are taking up alot space and my full grown iguana is about to be moved to a custom cage thats 5 feet tall 4 feet wide and 2.5 feet depth.

if anything i would think my grown iguana would think the baby iggy is its own?

Answer
Hello Kayla,

You're welcome.

If they are both male then it will make a difference, if the larger one is male then it will make a difference. You can try to introduce them in a controlled environment (living room?) where you can separate them at the first sign of aggression. And slowly let them get used to eachother this way.

But Iguanas like most other reptiles are solitary animals and do not live in groups and can be very territorial. They prefer to be alone, so introducing a young Iguana can bring out the natural instinct of the larger guy, to fight for his territory.

Try and introduce them in a controlled setting, let me know how it goes.