Eddies learned to hiss

[Rhetoric]

The last couple days he's been out all the time. No more hiding. I added a regular light bulb and I think it may have just been a little too dark for him. Even with proper temps.
I've been kind of feeding him by hand, I will grab leaves of greens and hold them near him and he eats off of it. When I try to touch him he likes to puff up and hiss at me. :'( Could this be a reaction to me being in "his" space? He seems fine when I take him out, no hissing when he's in my room. When he does this should I be persistent or just leave him alone? I'm not sure how I feel about force handling him, I'm very worried I'd somehow hurt him or his tail. At the same time he's at an age/size where I don't want him to develop a habit. Again, not entirely sure of his age. Most likely 2 years. Could it be a puberty thing? I dont want to compare different species but Guru went through a similar phase but quickly grew out of it.

He'll come right up to me when I have food and be completely fine with me. It's only when I go to touch him.


Here are some more pics of the stinker and another one from a few weeks ago I found of his head.

 

[TeguBlake]

that is a great looking iguana, good job on the husbandry.

 

[dragonkeeperblue]

Beautiful iguana. Maybe its because he out running free. Don't know anything about what you have there. But my male Tegu does that also once you let him out he gets grumpy when you try to put him back. I personally think its because they like the freedom and don't want you to bug them. When my Tegu gets grumpy I know its time to put him back in his enclosure.

 

[TeguBuzz]

Eddie's looking great! I'd jump right into the handling, he may not like it at first and throw some hissing, but that will all go away if he realizes all is well. I experienced the same things with Buzz and he grew out of it within weeks of me being persistent. I found that holding him against my chest just petting him would calm him down real quick then I could hold him freely. He's a puppy dog nowadays and I should be posting a vid tomorrow of getting in his cage. I didnt really experience the same attitude with Luna -she was flighty at first, but within a month became reallt calm and handleable with little to no work. I think Buzz's actions on how he reacts around me rubbed off on her.

I wouldnt worry about the whole tail thing, the handling won't drive him to go to that point - not in what Ive dealt with at least. My rhinos a little devil and he hasnt even gotten to that point. Most hes done with his tail is whip me and run away!

Keep us posted. And sorry if there are some typos in this post, all done on my iPad - messes me up quite a bit.

 

[Rhetoric]

Thank you all for the comments! He has definitely grown a lot when I compare pictures.
More hands on it is then. I've kicked it in his enclosure before and he didn't mind me. He wouldn't come running over but he would check me out. Maybe I will try that again and see if that helps. I'm not afraid of the biting, scratching, tail whopping, pooping, etc at this point. He's my first iguana and I'm extremely careful about his tail, the whole popping off thing.

To dragonkeeper, he's only moody like that when he's in the enclosure, "his" environment. Outside of his cage he's pretty easy going.