My Iguana, Quila's Story

[CaGirl5]

Hi guys. I'm bored so I thought I would share with everyone Quila's story.
This is Quila! She's a green iguana, about 12 years old and 6 pounds!


She showed up at the vet hospital that my boyfriend worked at a couple years ago because she wasn't eating. She was really skinny, dehydrated and would not move. It was clear she had multiple tail breaks near the end of her tail. The doctor X-Rayed her belly to check for eggs.. no eggs.. and then doc decided that her tail might be infected and the best thing to do would be to remove the tip. Unfortunately, Quila's owners made the decision to sign her over to the vet hospital because they weren't able to foot the vet bill. The next day we brought Quila home!

Here she is on her way home... She LOVES riding in the car.


Quila was put on a lot of medications before and after they removed the tip of her tail. Trust me, she did NOT like these meds. Not to mention, she was grumpy all the time and has a major attitude, especially during this time frame. Things got better. She started eating again. But just when we thought things were over... things got worse.

I woke up one morning to give her her morning bath. Her tail was swollen and oozing green stuff like crazy! Her scales were peeling off! I freaked out and immediately brought her to the vet. (Best part about having a boyfriend who worked there, no need to make an appointment!) This time they X-rayed her tail and found a break about 5 inches from the base of her tail. All the bones from the base of her tail to about 12 inches down were fused together, kind of like one long stiff bone. This time the doctor had to amputate ALMOST the whole thing.

The day after surgery:

Let me just mention, having to re-do her bandage every day was a NIGHTMARE! She would never cooperate. We had to throw a towel over her head to keep her from attempting to bite and scratch us... and she still squirmed like a worm!

The doctor decided to keep the wound open instead of stitching it closed, in hopes she would grow it back. Over the next year, Quila gave her best effort to grow that tail back. It was amazing to see. Here she is about a year into the tail growth.

You can see it was similar to a long skinny grey pencil.. but nowhere near what a tail should look like. It was really fragile and really kinda gross. lol. Everyone was really excited though because there were no documented cases of Iguanas growing their tail back with this degree of amputation.

Then one day she got her pencil tail caught on something and it tore. It was just dangling there, bleeding. We rushed her to the vet once again, where they tried stitches, glue, bandaging it.. and nothing worked. So for the third time, she had it amputated! Here she is with her prosthetic tail my mom made her... lol


Quila has finally stopped trying to grow back her tail.. and here she is today. (She checks my homework)


And here is her definition of "Food Coma"


And her in our Xmas Tree


Quila's is very needy. Very! If shes hungry, she will escape her cage and eat weeds in the backyard. If she can see sunlight, she will do everything possible to get to it. 85% of the time, shes a grumpy old lady. She hisses at people she doesn't know. She's always interested in all the other pets and gets along with the dogs (She kinda is a dog). She is also very smart. She knows where the bathroom is and will walk there by herself if she wants a bath. She prefers to sleep at the foot of my bed. She goes NUTS for bananas. She will CHASE you for your banana! And she likes to lick EVERYTHING! and eat things she shouldn't. She tries to climb dressers and everything possible. She hates being picked up and her nails aren't very soft.

Well I hope you enjoyed this long post Thanks for reading!

[brobertson]

Great story! Glad to see her in a good home, so rare with iguanas.

[JCH979]

Wow what a story! And that prosthetic tail LOL! She's cute though. Hope she has a wonderful life.

[Valentine Pirate]

Always makes me excited hearing a happy iguana story When my boyfriend brought ours home from Petco I have to admit I panicked mildly. He had one when he was younger but I had zero experience with them or lizards in general. Little guy was very touchy at first, wouldn't eat, and we had to scramble for a good enclosure. However, it's been an experience over the last few months, and seeing your pics makes me look forward to when he gets to adult size. Will say nothing beats their personalities, haha

[Capray]

That's amazing!
So now she just has a nub tail? Can she climb and balance any different?

[CaGirl5]

Yep, it's just a nub lol. She's not the best climber but she wasn't any better when she had a tail. She's kinda clumsy. She can still swim fine too. Her walk/run is hilarious though!

[CaGirl5]

Not having a tail is a lot easier on me though. I'm 5'4" and she used to be able to sit on my shoulder and her tail would drag on the floor. I imagine it would get stuck in doors and stuff. She fits better in the bathtub without it too lol

[cathie]

Hello

Thank you for sharing Quila's story.

I have a 12 year old male iguana. His name is Dino. Such a gorgeous boy!
Yesterday, the vet had to amputate 6 1/2 inches of his tale due to an injury. I feel so heartbroken and wonder a lot about his full recovery. I saw the picture of the prosthetic tale you mum made for Quila and would like to ask you. Is it for esthetic or is it for helping her with balance and/or for avoiding further injuries of the thin regrowth of her tale.

I would love to make a similar one for Dino. Could I have some tips as to how she made it, please.

Thank you

Cathie

[BeelzeBall.]

awesome story. thanks for sharing.

[LightningPython]

4 year old thread :3 Oh well.

The story was really sweet. I love hearing rescue stories