Ziggy our Iguana!!

snosrap5

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Ziggy came to us from a family who's teenage son moved out about a year ago and didn't want his Iguana anymore. His mother took care of the lizard but Ziggy was becoming increasingly aggressive with no handleing or interaction with people. So she came to live with us.

She is adjusting slowly to being handled and we have started working with her in a harness and leash. Which for right now she hates but is adjusting.

I just had to get the hot pink harness!!




We are going to start remodeling her cage over the next couple of weeks in making it more Iguana friendly. Trees and logs will be added and the shelves removed.
She is 41 inches long but I don't know how much she weighs yet. I do know that she hates the dogs.
 

arlyn

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After rescuing so many iggies that were bought as impulse buys, I am SO happy to see an adult in such great shape and in an adequate enclosure too.

Kudos to you on having such a beautiful girl.

I honestly don't think pet stores should even carry juvenile iguanas, their mortality rate is just too high.
 

katiemae1277

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just looking at the pictures strikes fear in my heart! I'm deathly afraid of reptiles, but she does look like a lovely girl
 
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snosrap5

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She has been with us little almost 6 weeks. They are a tremendous amount of work. I have read that she may never be completely comfortable out on her leash.

We never knew they had such powerful tails.
She uses that thing as a baseball bat.




Originally Posted by Arlyn

After rescuing so many iggies that were bought as impulse buys, I am SO happy to see an adult in such great shape and in an adequate enclosure too.

Kudos to you on having such a beautiful girl.

I honestly don't think pet stores should even carry juvenile iguanas, their mortality rate is just too high.
 

arlyn

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My last iggy rescue was a ten year old male.
I cried when I saw him, he was so stunted and malnourished, I'm honestly surprised he lived so long.

For his age, he should have been around 5-6 feet and weighing about 25 pounds.
He was 3 feet long and less under 10 pounds

He was in a cage he could barely turn around in and had been fed crappy dry iguana food his whole life.

The only upside was that they did pay attention to him and socialize him.

I got him home (politely declining the offer of his cage as well) and got him to the vet the next day.
He was already in advanced stages of metabolic bone disease.
I gave him free run of the house since he was friendly and fed him only the best organic produce.
He was around another two years before he started suffering with brittle and soft bones.
He was very much loved.

I highly recommend Melissa Kaplan's website and books if you haven't already gotten the books or visited her site.
 
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snosrap5

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Originally Posted by Arlyn

My last iggy rescue was a ten year old male.
I cried when I saw him, he was so stunted and malnourished, I'm honestly surprised he lived so long.

For his age, he should have been around 5-6 feet and weighing about 25 pounds.
He was 3 feet long and less under 10 pounds

He was in a cage he could barely turn around in and had been fed crappy dry iguana food his whole life.

The only upside was that they did pay attention to him and socialize him.

I got him home (politely declining the offer of his cage as well) and got him to the vet the next day.
He was already in advanced stages of metabolic bone disease.
I gave him free run of the house since he was friendly and fed him only the best organic produce.
He was around another two years before he started suffering with brittle and soft bones.
He was very much loved.

I highly recommend Melissa Kaplan's website and books if you haven't already gotten the books or visited her site.
Thanks I'm going to check out her site. The previous owners said she liked grapes and fed her commercial food. Everything I read said not to give them commercial food so we only feed fresh vegetables. Lots of greens and fruit. She does love anything red.

I do have one question. They said they fed her every few days. That doesn't work at my house. I feed her twice a day. Is that ok? I feed her in the morning before I go to work. Everything is gone by the time I return home and she is waiting at her door for a bath and food when I get home.
She actually acts like she's starving all the time. I will post a picture tonight or tomorrow of her food bowl.
 

arlyn

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I always fed as much as they would eat.
Remember, being vegetarians means they eat a lot more than an omnivore or carnivore.

Is there room in her cage for a standard cat litter box?
I've never met an iguana that didn't prefer to poop in a pan of water
 

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Wow, she is stunning. (and a beautiful harness as well) I have always found pets like that very interesting, but I dont think I would ever have one. A few years ago a friend of mines mother had a huge male Iguana named Iggy that occupied her sons old bedroom. He had to of been at least 4ft long. The first time I saw him he scared the snot out of me because I was going in the room and didnt expect to see him lounging on the bed. After our first meeting I always loved to sit and watch him eat though!


I hope you two have a great time together, bless you for taking care of her the right way.
 
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snosrap5

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Originally Posted by Arlyn

I always fed as much as they would eat.
Remember, being vegetarians means they eat a lot more than an omnivore or carnivore.

Is there room in her cage for a standard cat litter box?
I've never met an iguana that didn't prefer to poop in a pan of water
She has a litter pan now but it's not a standard size. It's smaller. The problem is they used only a very tiny water bowl so she need to be retrained to use the pan. Which is doing great because most days she waits until I get home and I stick her in the bathtub. She now only has accidents every once and a while. I think I really should get her a bigger pan because her accidents look like near misses.

I'm really glad that I'm not over feeding her because what the previous owners say and how I feed her just don't add up. She has some pretty bad burn scars from a heating pad. At least that's what the former owners said happened. We have been adding lighting to the enclosure because she only had one red light. No UVB or UVA so all of those have been added as well as the litter pan. I actually have two one for fresh water and one for poo.

I really loved Melissa Kaplan's website. I'm going to get her books.
I have a few books but they are really vague on information.

We have a water dragon and except for their eating habits and size they are fairly similar in care.

Originally Posted by AbbysMom

Is it hard to get the harness on her?
It's actually very easy to get on. It's by the time you take it off that she is royally ticked off that you have a problem. So we are putting it on her every day for a few hours without removing her from the cage. Just so that she becomes more comfortable with it on.

Originally Posted by huggles

ohmygoodness - how big is that lizard
Hi Danielle
She is 41 inches long. I'm not sure on her age or weight.
She has a vet appointment next week with our reptile man. He takes care of all my babies cats and dogs but he specializes in reptiles.
He helped us save our water dragons life when we rescued her over a year ago.

Originally Posted by Stormysmom

Wow, she is stunning. (and a beautiful harness as well) I have always found pets like that very interesting, but I dont think I would ever have one. A few years ago a friend of mines mother had a huge male Iguana named Iggy that occupied her sons old bedroom. He had to of been at least 4ft long. The first time I saw him he scared the snot out of me because I was going in the room and didnt expect to see him lounging on the bed. After our first meeting I always loved to sit and watch him eat though!


I hope you two have a great time together, bless you for taking care of her the right way.
Thank you! There was a time we came home and she had broken out of her cage and we couldn't find her that she scared the snot out of me as well. They are so strong and you wouldn't think something that little could be so strong.
I love watching her eat.
 

sar

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Willow's been bugging me to find some more pictures of Ziggy and here they are!
He's happy to see his new best friend again!


Ziggy looks amazing - especially with her pink harness on!
I never realised that you could put harnesses on reptiles!!

Do the cats like to watch her in her enclosure?!
 
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snosrap5

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Originally Posted by Sar

Willow's been bugging me to find some more pictures of Ziggy and here they are!
He's happy to see his new best friend again!


Ziggy looks amazing - especially with her pink harness on!
I never realised that you could put harnesses on reptiles!!

Do the cats like to watch her in her enclosure?!
They love watching her move around her cage. Pooh thinks she is his new favorite toy. The only problem with that is Ziggy would beat the crude out of Pooh before Pooh knew what hit him.
So for now they only observer each other through the cage. Maybe in a few years we will see.
 

sar

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Originally Posted by snosrap5

They love watching her move around her cage. Pooh thinks she is his new favorite toy. The only problem with that is Ziggy would beat the crude out of Pooh before Pooh knew what hit him.
So for now they only observer each other through the cage. Maybe in a few years we will see.
I can imagine Pooh loves his 'new toy'!!
It would be cool - after Ziggy is more used to things - to see photos of your kitties with her!


Ziggy really does look large and must be incredibly strong - from what you say!

I'm not sure If I'd be a bit scared to try to put her harness on her!
 
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snosrap5

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She is very strong. Even now, that she is eating right and putting on weight it only makes her stronger. We have found excellent books on care/food and taming/socializing her. It's going to be a long journey but I think worth it.

She is begining to bond with us and it's easier to just walk up for a good scratching without her getting bent out of shape.
 
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