Hello all! A friend introduced me to this board today, because I recently resigned from my post as community leader on ivillage.com for their Reptiles and Amphibians board. She thought I might enjoy this forum, and so far it looks pretty cool! Bear with me while I introduce myself.
I am Amy, mama to my iguana Green Guy (obviously) and my funny little cat, Plucky Lucky. My 18-1/2 year old dog Drexel died in January, my hamster Little Tiny died in November, and my 18 yo cat Penguin, the love of my life, died a year ago. So I used to have a houseful of pets, but now I just have the two juvenile delinquents.
I rescued Green Guy from a neglectful home where they were slowly killing him; they offered him to me for free. Never having kept a reptile before, I went home to do my research and two weeks later brought the little guy home. He had his first vet appointment three days after I adopted him. I had to learn a lot about his care. That was in August 2000; he was barely six inches long STL and 78 grams. Today he is over five feet long and probably weighs a hefty twenty pounds - about 22 inches SVL. He has been on basically the Ig Den/MK diet almost since the day he came to live with me. He is my babydoll. He has a big house in my living room where he spends most of the day, because he is too large to free roam without supervision, but at night he sleeps in bed with me and the cat. He cuddles right up under the covers with his head on my shoulder and my arm around him. It's very endearing. He gets two baths a day; morning and evening in the regular bathtub and has a plastic tubby of water in his house. He eats two pie plates of his special salad every day, with a fruit garnish every other day or so. Other than his occasional acts of thievery of food (his last escapade was half a piece of pumpkin pie that I had eaten just before going to bed and left on the night table, he saw his chance and he took it, and ate it while I was showering in the morning) he has never had anything other than his salad and his fruit treats.
His salad usually consists of two bunches of collard greens, one bunch each of turnip, dandelion, and mustard greens, a head of escarole (all leaves hand torn into dime sized pieces), 1/4 pound chopped flat China peas, two grated yellow squash and one grated butternut squash. This lasts three days at the most. I read on the Ig Den site that an iguana on a good diet will have explosive growth and eat you out of house and home, which was difficult for me to believe when he was so little. I believe it now!
Green Guy opened up a door for me to a whole new world. I never knew much about iguanas, but he taught me so much, and my education is ongoing. Last year I went back to school (I already have a BA) and became a veterinary assistant with a focus on reptiles. I am now finishing my clinical externship at the vet hospital where my vet is. So you could say that this one iguana changed the direction of my life.
I never thought I would fall in love with a reptile; but I tell people now that Green Guy holds my heart in his little green hands. He is a blessing in so many ways.
I am glad to meet you all, and hope to make some friends here! How do you post pics? I would like to share some of my baby with you. He is big, fat, and sassy. Green Guy is truly the Lizard King. We have had our little disagreements, but for the most part he is sweet and a total joy. Iguanas are fascinating creatures and I never hesitate to get up on my soapbox about them. If anyone has any additional advice on his care, please do let me know.
Oh - and he also has heat lamps and two 48" Repti-Sun UV bulbs about eight inches over his high shelf in his house. I buy them from Big Apple Herp online and get a much better deal than buying them from a local reptile store - almost half price. He also gets natural sunlight out on the balcony whenever possible - and here in New Mexico the sunlight is pretty strong.
Looking forward to getting to know you all!
I am Heather I have two mischevious little green devils. 