Iguanas and Color Sensitivity

Iguanas can see a wide variety of colors. Living in the wild, they are surrounded by lush green tree tops with colorful flowers and fruits. Bright blue sky above, grass or jungle floor below and most likely sparkling running water nearby. When I feed Iggy, I try and give her orange squash, red bell peppers, blue berries, and other bright fruits and vegetables because not only is it better for her but she enjoys the variety. Another way that colors effect iguanas are during breeding season.

I have heard many stories of iguanas becoming extremely sensitive to a wide variety of colors, and not only colors, but patterns, too! Iggy never seemed to care about any colors before. And, nothing that I have ever done has ever scared her, either. However, today Iggy got completely freaked out!

I was on the phone with my Grandma and Iggy was basking on the foot of my bed. She was looking pretty comfy and it was almost time for bed. I decided to put on my fleece pajamas bottoms:

I never, let me emphasis that- NEVER- wear red. I hate it. It's so abrasive and mean looking. I also never sport patterns other than a few forgettable stripes, so these pants are definitely out of the ordinary (but oh, so warm!) So, as soon as I put them on I notice Iggy is standing up looking at me with this glimmer of craziness in her eye. As I came closer, Iggy backed up. Within 3 seconds, I sat down- leaned forward- and Iggy had jumped off the bed and flew right into the wall. She landed with a plop. At this point, I had stopped listening to my Grandma as she babbled on about visiting my mom and told her to "HANG ON!" I knew it had to have been the pants, so I torn them off as quick as I could and ran over to pick up Iggy.

She was definitely spooked but she was okay. She hit the wall with such force that she rubbed off some almost shedding scales on her snout/chin area. After that, everything was fine. I put her to bed and she was off in la-la land within seconds, hopefully not dreaming about scary (ugly?) pajama pants.

Here is a picture I took of her after she had been sleeping for an hour. (It's very bright due to the flash) She has been sticking her tail up in the 1 inch space that's open below her windows. It's like perfectly nestled in that little area there, so funny!