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.
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