Max and Lilah, Iguanas

Hi folks, I had another opportunity to do TTouch on Max and Lilah. Lilah is pictured above - again, she had a more extreme reaction than Max, and was REALLY leaning into my hand, almost verging on appearing to be over-stimulated. After I did the TTouches for a while, she was leaning into my hand but in a more gentle way, so it seemed like she was calming down. At the end of this clip, she started to walk towards me, so I decided to give her a break at that point. You also see her walk in the beginning of the clip, so I waited til she stopped to continue touching her.

Max is pictured below. He also leaned into my hand and you can see his eyes relaxing. Later on I tried a little Reiki on him as well and he seemed to respond to that as well, moving his body a little closer to where my hand was (my hand was four or five inches from his body. He also began to walk after I did TTouch for a bit so I gave him a break when he did that. Max in general seems to be a more low-key guy but both these animals appear to be quite accustomed to humans. As I mentioned in the previous post, Anthony, who works at the shelter and has had more experience with iguanas than I have, remarked at how chill and these guys were, as he had petted both of them and they responded well to that.

As you can see, I'm mostly doing circular touches using the back of my hand, and some Noah's March (plain strokes straight down the body) with the front or back of my hand. I hope to work with these creatures more, it is such an interesting experience.

Max and Lilah the Iguanas

Robert, the owner of Social Tees Animal Rescue shelter, is a wildlife rehabilitator in addition to an animal rescue person, and is a reptile expert. So we often have some very interesting inhabitants in addition to the cats and dogs. The reptiles are not adopted out to individuals, though - they go to reptile sanctuaries of various kinds.

Two of our recent arrivals are Max and Leon, who are both iguanas. Mas is pictured directly above and below, with sort of a mohawk look, and Leon has an extremely long tail. They both turned out to be quite friendly and quite receptive to TTouch.

Anthony, who helps keep things clean for the animals and does a multitude of tasks at the shelter, had petted both of these fellows and told me they were friendly. Still, I was a bit cautious because I am not too familiar with reptiles and their personalities and body language.

First I decided to touch Max. I did some connected clouded leopard touches down each side of his back, and he relaxed right into it. It was really a different experience from touching a furry creature - the skin feels like loose thick leather, and the mohawk-looking thing that goes down the center of his head and back was kind of bristly but flexible at the same time. I continued doing the touches, down one side of his back and then the other, and he seemed to be quite relaxed.



Then I decided to check out his friend Lilah. Lilah is really kind of a character - she dramatically leaned into my hand, whichever side it was on. Anthony had said she did this when he was petting her, but with the circular touches she seemed to have even a more extreme reaction. After doing the connected touches down one side and then another, she walked around a bit, then stopped and I tried doing the touches again.

I look forward to trying more with these guys and seeing what can happen! thanks boys for letting me have such an interesting experience.

Milton, the Savannah Monitor Lizard

Social Tees Animal Rescue Shelter does reptile rehabilitation (the reptiles are not adopted out, they are rehabilitated and then generally go to a reptile refuge or sanctuary) as well as rescue of cats and dogs, and one of our current reptile residents is Milton, who is a Savannah Monitor Lizard. He is a very chill guy, and sometimes you would swear he is smiling. I had the unusual experience of holding him and doing some TTouch on him the other day.



I was instructed to hold Milton rather like a baby, with his head facing over my shoulder, one of my hands under his rear end and the other behind his shoulders. What an interesting texture of skin, I had never felt anything quite like it. It felt a bit like thick, scaly leather.


Very slowly I began to do some abalone touches (circular TTouches which use the whole surface of the hand, which can be very soothing) on Milton's back with the hand that was supporting his shoulder area. I would do a circular touch, then slide my hand to the next location, going down his back a ways and then moving to the side a bit and coming back up, pausing at the end of each circle and a quarter. At first Milton felt as though he was a bit unsure, as this must have been a new sensation. So I would pause for a bit, then start again. After a while I felt his body begin to relax down against my body. His tongue was coming in and out of his mouth, and at one point he actually kissed my cheek with his tongue.


After perhaps about five minutes (remember, with TTouch it is moments, not minutes, that we strive for -- quality, not quantity), I felt that Milton had had enough of this new sensation, so I returned him to his enclosure. He soon settled down for a nap.

Thank you Milton, for giving me this very different experience. I look forward to further contact with Milton and lessons from him. And thanks Estee, one of the very kind and dedicated volunteers at the shelter who took several of these pictures, and who does so much to help!