My New Madagascan Spiny Tail Iguanas!

[Rafini]

Got a great deal on a pair, male has amazing colour potential, he is starting to get pale blue come through on his throat and tail. the female is much smaller and is still in juvenile colouration and appearance. They get along just fine together and they are really cool to watch climb around.

They are quite skittish at the moment but I will be handling them regularly to reduce that. The female is much much tamer, if I get her out she really doesnt like being picked up, but once I get her she just sleeps on you.

male

Female

What do you guys think ?

 

[Rafini]

Some better pics, you can see the nice blue colouring

 

[Chub_by]

Awesome!

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[crayfishguy]

If she closes her eyes and rests on you it may mean she is stressed


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[Rafini]

No i'm pretty sure shes fine. They have been at my LFS for a few months now and the female has been handled more regularly and is quite tame. whereas the guy behaves like a baby water dragon. although when you get them in your hands and hold them calmly they just sit on you and relax. kind of like baby beardies.

 

[crayfishguy]

As long as she looks alert it should be fine.


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[Rafini]

Yeah she is very alert and today I watched her eat for the first time which is good because I was a little worried at first.

Time for an update I guess.
Both lizards have settled into their new home very well. tehy are both eating and showing all the normal behaviours the only real problem I have is lack of information on this species. They both like to head bob at eachother. sometimes they are happy to just sit together or sometimes the female lays ontop of the male but there are other times where the male will assert his dominance and shoo her off. I'm pretty sure there is some interest in the two becoming a pair. They are calming down and I can approach the tank and move around infront of it without freaking the male out which is really good.

Only issue I guess is with what little research I could find, based on colour and the structure of the tail scales it looks like my female is Oplurus Cyclurus and my male is Oplurus Cuvieri. I know there is little difference between the two species and that they are closely related with Cuvieri being slightly larger (largest of the madagascan spiny iguanas) but as far as what I can find zoo's have cohabbed various species of Oplurus together succesfully.

 

[crayfishguy]

if the male is harassing the female i would seperate them.

 

[Rafini]

if the male is harassing the female i would seperate them.

Doesnt seem to be harassing her, he just shoos her away around once a day. I used to keep a pair of beardies and the male would harass the female much more than these guys. they seem to be pretty content but if he was to harass her too much I would seperate them

 

[cl0wn knife]

Very nice not seen these before keep us updated.