This is not your typical missing iguana story.
This has been gnawing at me for months and I just need to get it off my chest and maybe get some advice and reassurance.
Some of you may remember me from a while back. My own iguana Bud is doing great and is heading toward what (I think) will be his 4th birthday!
But you may also remember that last summer I found a juvenile male iguana in a tree outside my boyfriend's Philadelphia apartment. I caught him and named him Fulton. Since Bud could not stand Fulton (and vice versa), and we do not have the means to move to a larger apartment where they could both have rooms, we put Fulton up for adoption.
His first adoptive owner returned Fulton to me in six months. How could I have been so wrong about someone?? I felt horrible. I was more careful with the next person.
The next adoptive owner we found for him seemed to really love him and be knowledgeable about iguana care. We wrote to each other periodically, and seeing photos of how well Fulton was doing assuaged my guilt about not being able to keep him.
Everything seemed to be going okay, with the exception that the room that had been shown to me as "Fulton's Room" became "Fulton/storage and other junk room" and the big cage they planned on building for him when he outgrew the one I had made him, well... it just never seemed to materialize.
They also got two kittens, explaining to me that their old cat had got into the habit of peeing on things, and they had to "get rid" of him. Uh-oh. How do you take back an iguana?
I didn't know how to do it politely, and besides, Fulton seemed to be doing great. Better than he would have been doing at my house, where Bud and Fulton had spent their days directing reptile hatred and angry head bobs at each other, or even at the SMELL of each other.
Then the new owner wrote to me to say that his wife was having a baby, and he was concerned about whether or not Fulton should have contact with her. I gave him the best information I could, told him what I would do (keep him, of course! and step up the hygiene) and the last I heard was that Fulton had tested negative for salmonella and that everything was okay.
How I wish I had said then, "...And if you ever find you can't keep him, call me immediately." But I didn't. I thought the owner should tough it out without an easy exit, if he was really as committed to keeping Fulton as he seemed.
I wrote to him at Christmas, no response. At Easter, no response. I wrote to him last month, since I have an old cage and lights I thought he might like. No response whatsoever.
His cell phone has been disconnected, his home phone was answered by a Spanish-speaker who didn't really understand what I was saying and who sounded very suspicious of me. The person said that yes, she knew the owner, and she would try to get my message to him. I asked if the family was okay, and then she would not talk to me anymore.
I have not heard anything since. I am trying to dig up the phone number of Fulton's vet, to at least try and relay the message through the vet that if Fulton is in trouble, or something bad has happened to the family, to just call me and I will take Fulton.
How can my intuition about people be so incredibly off?? I waited and waited for what seemed like the best person available to adopt Fulton. If I could have kept him for myself, I would have, but that wasn't in anybody's interest or best health.
I feel incredible guilt and I just want to know that he's okay.
Am I crazy to try and find these people? I check this board and I check the adoption boards periodically, and no luck. Any adopters out there had a similar experience? I just feel so bad for this little iguana.
If you see Fulton on the adoption boards, wherever you are, PLEASE let me know. Especially if you are in the NY area- that's where the owner used to work before moving to Philly. The family visited there often. This worries me a lot, since you aren't allowed iguanas in New York City.
I guess the lesson here is that if you are adopting out an iguana, don't let him out of your hands until the adoptive owner has committed to keeping him as a large animal by providing an appropriate cage for him. Make sure they know you will always take the animal back and make it clear that you will ALWAYS want updates, if that is what you really want.
I wish I had made that more clear somehow.
-Erin
