Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I just got back from a pet store getting crickets for my geckos... When I was there I decided to check out the iguanas, and to my dismay I found 12 iguanas in one 30 gallon tank. I asked the one of the employees why they are all in one enclosure like that and he said... "They seem to get along fine.". In the tank I saw about 3 1.5 yr olds and about 10 more of younger age (all the way to tiny babies!). Several of the igs seemed to have MBD and looked malnurished if anything. All of the igs were a nasty dark olive green color with a lot of brown/grey. None were bright green and happy looking like my Miles. I wanted to take all of them home and care for them until they were healthy enough to give away to good homes.

It makes me very sad that even the 1.5 yr igs were cheap (12.95). The lizards arent sold to anyone under the age of 19 I believe but still! What if some careless adult comes in and decided to get a cheap lizard for target practice with his bb gun or something. HORRIBLE! And to think that there are young adult IGs out there in such condition! Should I buy all of them and find them good homes? Would anyone help me and take some home with them to nurse them back to life until they can be adopted to a good home.

Along with the Green Iguanas, I saw a bunch of casque-headed igs and basilisks. They appeared healthy and each had their own enclosure.

The casque-headed igs were in great shape (of what I saw) and were priced around 50 dollars. How come they get the better treatment?
Do people not care about Green Igs? What is wrong with people?

Along with

I am sorry to say but I dont agree with saving a bunch of animals from a pet store...it will just invite them to do it over and over again...it just wont work...instead, try reasoning with the manager to improve the conditions of the habitat or at least separate the older lizards into another tank...I think that Pet stores should have the permits to get to sell iguanas and have to pass a difficult test before being able to sell them...not the people who own them...Lyn

I know exactly what you mean. The pet store where I live that I used to love to go to seems to have slacked on their iguana care too. We used to go there to see all the animals and iggys at least 3 times a week. I paid them to pet-sit my 2 iggys over Christmas and I don't think they even had a uvb light or any light in the cage they were in for the whole time they were there. They were skinny when I picked them up and they jumped right to me when the person got them out. Anyway, what I was going to say is that they have a plexiglass cage(3ft/dia X 1ft tall) for their juvie and semi juvie igs. I saw over 100 juvies in there at one time. There were at least 2 dead laying in the bottom being trampled. Also they have 6 big iggys(3 1/2ft-4 1/2ft) all in the same encloser. It's a plastic cabinate type that has 15 or so enclosures built in. They are only 3ftX2ftX1ft in size. All of the big iggys have rubbed noses and bite/scratch marks all over them. Not to mention this is during breeding season. I haven't been in there since. They used to take care of their iggys. I always saw healthy juvies and their bigger igs were all in there own enclosures and looked healthy. They do have a new person working in the reptile department, but even so how can they let this happen. It's terrible what these iggys go through. There should be a limit to how many pet stores can keep at one time. Why do they need over 100 juvies? I'm getting 1 or 2 more iggys, but I'm going to a rescue to get them. I wanted to buy 2 bigger ones from there, but they will just get more and make them suffer. It would be like rescuing them from the pet store, but that would make room for more.

Another thought. Each time I bought my iggys there they never offered any advice or instructions for care or anything. The only information they gave me was answering the questions I asked them. They never even told me about uvb light, temps., food, or anything unless I asked about it. It's a good thing I did research before I decided to get iguanas or I probably would have fed them cheeseburgers or something. I wish pet stores would care more about their critters than making money or how many they can sell in a month.

and report neglect of the petshop. If you call your local
animal shelter they can give you the number as most shelters
do not handle petshop abuse/neglect.

I would do it ASAP

Linda

I should have called right when I saw all that, but I didn't. I just decided not to go in there anymore. I should go back in and see how it is now. Maybe even take some digital photos. They probably wouldn't have done anything about it because everything else in the pet store is perfect. I used to love going there because it's the cleanest and most well kept pet store I've ever been in. I remember a while back someone posting something about nothing being done about abused or mistreated iguanas because there are no laws protecting them. I'm not exactly sure what it said right now, but it was along those lines. I will go in there and if it is the same condition then I will definately call. I just can't believe that as perfect of a pet store as it was they could keep their iggys like that all of a sudden. It doesn't make sense.