Working with my shelter girl Angel has given me a new perspective on a “Wild” iguana. She must have been treated so badly in her past that taming her is a going to be a commitment. I think the reason God put her in my life is to comprehend the ultimate struggle of other in their taming the most frightened and unruly Iggy.
It’s going to take time, repetition and a lot of patience.
Whispering once a day produces amazing results. I am witnessing that. After our meeting of the minds, she begins to calm and for about an hour we are in harmony and all is good.
She lies next to me and we rest together. She allows me to pet her and hold her. We relax with eyes closed and when finished, she walks gently and slowly away from me. But then her old habits and instincts kick in and it seems the progress is short-lived.
I become disappointed in my efforts. I so hope a miracle could occur and just eliminate all her past memories of abuse, but it doesn’t work that way. She is about a year and a half old, which make her about a 4 or 5 year old in human age.
I get frustrated and just like a child, she need lines drawn. She needs a strong “No” and a firm grip to understand bad behavior. I would like to just be a nice Pollyanna, but this doesn’t teach her right from wrong.
Being in the room with her and just talking things out, seems to help as well. It is the energy of the conversation and the thoughts you throw at them that are amazingly absorbed when your minds are focused. Food offerings and car rides prove to keep her from concentrating on efforts to escape from the confines of the house and gives her the stimulation she craves.
All she really wants to do right now is get out of the house and run away. Yes, all she wants is escape. Since she’s probably been a stray for most of her life, freeeom is all she craves. Domesticating her will take time and I am in for the long haul.
At night I find it hard to put her to bed. I want her to sleep in safe in a half open drawer, instead of cold hiding under a piece of furniture on the dusty floor. I have a small electric blanket and try to introduce her to it. She fights it. She is head stong and wants to sleep where no one can find her. She just feels safer that way. We have to figure this out and I hope soon cuz it causes stress for both of us.
One night she found refuge on a blanket on top of a rocking chair, this was ok with me, I placed the blanket over her and she slept there all till the morning. I was thrilled and hopeful that she would return to the same place the next night, but she didn’t. She has a need to sleep in a new place every night. Perhaps in the wild this was safer for her and it worked well, but it isn’t working for me. She has to be kept warm, she is sneezing a lot and I fear she has a cold. So every night the struggle continues.
I am very frustrated.