I pray for the iguana

I'm not sure if anyone remembers but I posted a while ago about the girl I sold my pastel female to a few years ago. Her original female normal died of a respiratory infection and the pastel female died of pneumonia. She doesn't take good care of animals, especially reptiles.

Well yesterday on Facebook, she posted that she was getting another reptile. I sent her a message (that she has not replied to) telling her to do a lot of research before she takes on another reptile. I don't want to see another reptile die in her care. (I will always regret selling her my pastel, Jora)

Well guess what she's getting now......an IGUANA! Ugh. Stupid people shouldn't own animals. I really hope that in a few months I don't see her posting that it has died.

Assuming the poor thing survives the first few weeks does she even know how big they get??? :O

That really sucks, I'm sorry she killed your baby. Stupid people shouldn't be allowed to do a lot of things that they are, but there is little we can do to stop them... :(

I posted to her status that she needs to do a lot of research. Iguanas are not easy to keep.

As common as they are, to me an iguana is a herp for someone with a whole lot of experience and a goodly amount of $$$$. Yeah, they're cheap to buy, but they are high maintenance--from caging to diet to heat to lighting.

If someone can't keep a ball python alive they have no freaking business moving up to iguanas.

Oh well, time will tell

I had an iguana that lived for 8 years. I did 6 months of research before buying it. My parents insisted. Started in a 20G tank, them a custom built enclosure in my, then...my room and In the end, he lived in a custom built "house" the size of a tool shed in our backyard.

They are certainly no joke and not the unprepared. That's why you hardly see any iguanas in the pet trade anymore. People realized how hard they are to tame and how big they got and got rid of them or they just outright died early due to lack of education.

I must have research BP's for 3 months before getting my first one.

I don't know why anyone would buy an animal they knew nothing about.

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Originally Posted by MasonC2K

I don't know why anyone would buy an animal they knew nothing about.

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It's because people are lazy. They assume it will be easy to care for or they just want it so they go out and buy it.

Eck...I really think igs shouldn't be sold in petco/chain stores...way too easy for some random person to just pick one up. I've actually fostered two iguanas, one from an owner who was going into the army, another from a 'friend' who wanted to get one because I had all these reptiles and it was apparently 'cool' - I ended up taking it after a month of neglect. Both are now happy and have wonderful homes and have grown a LOT.

I've owned a female Iguana for 11 years now, got it when it was a hatchling and honestly, I don't find them that difficult to care for outside of creating an appropriately sized enclosure when they are full grown. Perhaps I just got really lucky and got an easy one? Because I've never seen what all the fuss is about.

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Originally Posted by meekjz

I've owned a female Iguana for 11 years now, got it when it was a hatchling and honestly, I don't find them that difficult to care for outside of creating an appropriately sized enclosure when they are full grown. Perhaps I just got really lucky and got an easy one? Because I've never seen what all the fuss is about.

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I think most people live places where they can't live outside all the time. Plus, most people didn't know how HUGE they get to be in the first place. If you showed pictures of the size of your setup to someone who has only seen the cute little baby and they will probably have a heard time believing their little greenie will get that big.

I've known plenty people with iggies that bit, tail whipped and scratched a lot. Males can get aggressive depending on their temperment and whether it is iggy breeding season
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/breedi...on.html#freddy
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/season.html

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Originally Posted by meekjz

I've owned a female Iguana for 11 years now, got it when it was a hatchling and honestly, I don't find them that difficult to care for outside of creating an appropriately sized enclosure when they are full grown. Perhaps I just got really lucky and got an easy one? Because I've never seen what all the fuss is about.

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Originally Posted by darkbloodwyvern

I think most people live places where they can't live outside all the time. Plus, most people didn't know how HUGE they get to be in the first place. If you showed pictures of the size of your setup to someone who has only seen the cute little baby and they will probably have a heard time believing their little greenie will get that big.

I've known plenty people with iggies that bit, tail whipped and scratched a lot. Males can get aggressive depending on their temperment and whether it is iggy breeding season
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/breedi...on.html#freddy
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/season.html

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Re read meekjz's post.. They didn't say anything about iguanas living outside... A comma between "for" and "outside" would probably help that confusion..

Anyway... I've never owned an iggy but I've had 2 family members who have and my best friend did years ago. I do not think they are a good pet for someone who has had so many other reptiles die in their care. They are usually not nice either. I don't see this turning out so well.

iggies are no joke I had 3 at once , one I owned and 2 that somehow endup up in my care that were so far gone they died with in a month (one had no use of the rear 1/3 of the body) the other was so neglated that it was only skin and bones ( no a drop of muscle on it and died in the first week ) My personal iggy lived 10 years and only passed on when she had what we though was a seizure and fell off her cage ( heard a bunch of threshing around and a thud ( as I cam down the hall) with a sicking cracking sound. The iguana was so spoiled that a plate had to be fixed for her at dinner or she be going and trying to get some from everyones else plate. ( her plate had mostly veggies a couple noodles and very little meat ( mostly was some gravy from the beef or chicken on the veggies ) They do take a lot of research and time to care for them.

The biggest problem with iguanas is that most people who buy them are buying a cute cheap little green lizard that fits in a 20 gallon long. They have an image in their mind of a mini dinosaur pet and no concept of what it takes to maintain an adult.

They aren't willing to spend the money to provide an appropriately sized cage for an adult iguana. They aren't willing to spend the money to provide the heat and UVB lighting the iguana needs. They aren't willing to buy and prepare the kinds of leafy greens and vegetables that the iguana needs to thrive. They aren't willing to invest the time to work with an adult iguana that is becoming aggressive.

They see a pretty little green guy and figure that he's going to have a cute little disposition when he's an adult. When Iggy starts exhibiting normal adult iguana behaviors he's suddenly not cute, he's being deliberately hateful.

If I had a buck for every iguana that got dumped with MBD or that got dumped because of normal adult behaviors, I wouldn't be going into work again, ever. I almost wish that the things cost $5000 rather than less than $50. But because they're cheap, they're like Niles--magnificent animals that people ditch when they become difficult; they aren't worth the cost of providing for adequately because after all, they're so cheap to replace that it's not worth the price of a vet visit or a decent set up to some.

I've seen a few beginners take excellent care of iggies and Niles but they are in the minority. Most of the time these animals fall victim to the casual herp owner--they guy who wants something exotic and that is about all that he wants. The casual guy isn't overly motivated to provide the very best husbandry for his animal, he wants something cool to show off to his friends. He's not about to spend many times more than he paid for the animal to care for it properly.

My guess is that the green iguana is overall the most neglected and most dumped and passed around reptile there is. That really pisses me off. Like tegus, these animals are intelligent and responsive to owners who really take the time to work with them. Yet so many of them are discarded after they have suffered the consequences of ignorance and indifferent husbandry.

She claims to have had iguanas before and she knows what she's doing. Ugh! Then where are those lizards now. Probably dead or dumped on someone else.

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

She claims to have had iguanas before and she knows what she's doing. Ugh! Then where are those lizards now. Probably dead or dumped on someone else.

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So what happened to the ones she had before??

Since you won't be able to stop her, at least try to educate her. Make sure she knows they will get to be 5-6 ft and they don't eat bugs like the pet store says. Try to get her to come to this site or an iguana site, and tell her to go on it to post pics of it and who knows she might actually read some stuff and the iggy might live.