Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Kismet seems to enjoy riding in the car and we are considering taking her with us when we travel this summer. Has anyone here vacationed or traveled for pleasure with their Cyclura? II'm checking with the hotel where we plan to stay and I can bring the collapsible dog kennel she sleeps in as well as her Mega Ray.

Kismet is very docile and part of the family. She is used to going on short trips with us, so I don't think it will stress her out too badly, especially since she'll have so many of her own familiar items.

My main concern is if we stop for to go lunches and bathroom stops and park in the shade with her in the kennel, would she be okay with the car in the shade and the windows cracked? Should I put cool packs in an ice chest in case we need to stop for more than about ten minutes? Does anyone have any experience with this part of it?

Susan

I just thought of another idea. My daughter has a really big tote bag that I could probably use as a carrier if we need to stop. It's not like she's a dog who will bark and give herself away.

I'm probably going to end up leaving her at home though. Unless we travel at night....

Where will you be traveling, and for how long? I know iguanas tend to be comfortable with routine so a long trip may stress her a bit, but if she seems to like car rides maybe a day or two wouldn't hurt. I would not recommend leaving her in the car as even with the windows cracked it can become an oven in minutes even if it's not extremely hot outside. I got one of those soft pet carrier bags(they have mesh on the sides and zip closed) for my cyclura when we need to make trips. The bag allows me to carry him with me if I need to leave the car. I've not had experience taking him into restaurants but he's been in grocery stores and office buildings without incident. Maybe you guys could do picnics or drive-thru when you're on the road and wait to go out to eat when you can leave her in her pen in the hotel room rather than alone in the car. Good luck and have fun!

Yeah, we were already planning to do drive through. We'll be gone a few days but she'll have her own kennel to sleep in at night or if we have to leave her in the room. I decided on a big breathable totebag for when we have to get out of the car. I want something that doesn't look like a carrier so that I don't get "What kind of animal do you have in there?" questions. While I never considered leaving her for longer than it takes to go to the ladies room or something, I keep thinking what if something happened like the keys got locked in the car (unlikely, but possible)or something happens to delay us from the car.

The more I think about it, the more I think taking her is the least stressful option since we don't feel comfortable with the back fence down letting her stay outside while we're gone so she'd have to stay in the kennel inside the entire time and the house/pet sitter wouldn't be able to evaluate her the way I can. She has traveled with us for one night trips before, btw, without negative results since she has worked as a display animal in the past.

Traveling with Kismet went really well. I posted some pics under "Kismet's travels". Kismet seemed to really enjoy the car and hanging out by the hotel pool with my husband. The hotel staff was amazing!