Bobbit At The Iguana Spot

Bobbit The Metal Shop Iguana
(And Habib Too)

This is the story of Bobbit the green iguana, and of how he came to live at the metal shop. His story has a happy ending, but it could have ended in tragedy had we not had the help of our friends at The Iguana Spot. Although they live almost two thousand miles away, when they heard that Bobbit was in trouble they stepped in and helped me get him out of a bad situation at the pet store. Together, we gave him a second chance at a happy life.

Josh and Bobbit in front of the CNC milling machine at Josh's metal shop where Bobbit lives.

Diana and Bobbit just hanging out.

The following story and pictures belong to Diana Smith and are used with permission. Please do not use the text or photos without her written permission.
Feel free to send her some mail.

My Iguana Background

My name is Diana and I live in Utah, near Salt Lake City. My boyfriend Josh got our first iguana, Habib, when she was just a baby. Josh's sister went away to college and couldn't take her with to the dorms so she gave her away to us. Since we had no prior experience with iguanas, we had no idea what we were doing with Habib. We followed the misguided information given to us by Josh's sister, who in turn, had gotten it from the pet-store where she had purchased Habib in December 1998. Eventually, Habib started dying from the bad care-information we had followed.
Out of urgent necessity, we started doing our own research and found out the correct way to care for a green iguana in captivity. We threw away the hot rock, stopped feeding her iceberg lettuce, and began mixing together many kinds of calcium-rich vegetables and greens in her bowl two to three times a day. We got the right UV light bulbs, the proper heating elements to keep her warm, and Josh built a microprocessor controlled misting system in her cage to keep her well hydrated. Happily, Habib bounced back and is doing very well now. She lost some of her fingers (probably due to malnutrition) and although they will never grow back, we still think she's a beautiful iguana. She's robust, healthy, and a great eater. She likes to lounge in the sun, go on walks with us while riding on Josh's head, and eat her favorite foods: collard greens, hibiscus flowers, green peppers, squash, and blueberries. For an occasional treat, her very favorite thing is a tiny piece of pancake or wheat bread (she even lunged for my Krispy Kreme doughnut once, but I
got away). While her's has been a happy life, the tale of Bobbit is a very different story...

Here are Bobbit and Habib with my mom and my 80 year-old grandma at
a family party.

Habib and Bobbit going to Josh at his request during some
supervised roaming time out in the machining area of the metal shop.

The Week of Thanksgiving 2000

     I could see it in his eyes; he was not happy. His green, scaly nose was rubbed raw from trying to escape from the tiny fish tank which held all three feet of him. The loose skin hanging from his belly and the rows of countable ribs told the story of long underfed days there at the pet store. His feces-covered back legs and tail had given way to the unhealthy look of one who had lost his will to survive; he looked as though his days were numbered. The green iguana staring back at me from the glass was in trouble, and I knew it at first glance.
     Surveying the scene, I saw that there were none of the elements iguanas need to thrive in captivity. He had no UV lights, no heat source, nothing to climb on, nowhere to hide, and nothing nutritious in his bowl. Rather, the cold, boney, lethargic iguana was offered iceberg lettuce from a large chewed-up dog bowl, with some dirty, stale water on the side.
     I bent down to the low shelf on which his cage was perched and whispered to him how sad I was to see him like that. At my sudden appearance, in slow motion he bobbed a hesitant "hello" with his head, and then laid it back down on the feces-dotted repti-bark substrate he was forced to live on. I was at once filled with very different, yet somehow related emotions: outrage and deep sadness. How could the store keepers force this iguana to live this way? Something had to be done.
     I found a sales associate and pointed out the many areas in which the care of the iguana was lacking, noting how there was no UV lighting for him, no source of warmth, except for a dangerously hot dangling light bulb, and none of the right foods. He nodded and said, "I'll tell the reptile specialist to get right on it." I bought some cat food and then left the store, very disturbed at what I had seen.

Just After Christmas 2000

     A little while later, I returned with the hope of finding the iguana moved into a larger,
clean cage, the proper vegetables and greens in his bowl, and the warmth of a heating element radiating into his UV soaked scales and spikes. My hopes vanished when I saw the same sad looking iguana peering back at me from his tiny waste-filled cage, his bowl almost empty except for a few strands of wilted-brown lettuce.
     This time, I approached the manager and asked why nothing had changed. He replied that the reptile specialist had said that the iguana set-up was just fine the way it was, and he added that they could not use the lighting and heating elements there on the store shelves for the long-term shop pets. It was just too expensive.
     Angrily, I went home and printed up twelve pages of iguana care information and took it into the store that same week. I had hoped that the reptile specialist would read the pages and see that he needed to make drastic changes in the way he was caring for the iguana. I wondered how he got to be a "reptile specialist" in the first place.
     I waited two weeks, hopefully enough time to give them time to correct the insufficient care the iguana was getting, and then I went back to the store. Sadly though, when I returned I found that nothing had changed except that they had moved the iguana into the slightly bigger cage in which a dozen or so tiny iglets had formerly lived. Now they were the ones cramped into the small filthy fish tank cage that the bigger iguana had once called home. But there were still no UV lights, no heat source, no humidity, and none of the right foods in his bowl. He just sat there and looked at me peering in through the glass.
     Although I knew I didn't begin to have the money, I immediately asked if I could buy the iguana -I couldn't stand to leave him there another day. The reply from the head manager was, "Oh no, he's not for sale. He's been very good for iguana sales and we're not interested in letting him go. We use him as a sort of floor display model and it really gets the kids' interest level up. Since he came to live here, iguana sales have really taken off." I left the store, feeling disgusted, defeated, and dismayed.
     I began visiting the iguana regularly at the store. Smuggling in hand-fulls of collard greens and other freshly chopped vegetables for him, I went in and held him as often as I could. He seemed to respond to me, and to really enjoy the foods I brought him. He was ultra tame and he seemed to trust me. Sickened at having to leave him there locked inside his tiny cage after each visit, I soon became so frustrated that I went home and told my story to the folks on an iguana forum I visit regularly on the Internet. Enter Mr. D and Ig Chick, the folks who run The Iguana Spot...

Early February 2001

After reading my story on the forum, and hearing that I was getting nowhere with the
managers of the store, Mr. D wasted no time by getting on the phone and calling the regional manager of this particular national pet-store chain. He found out that the store was breaking its own company policy in keeping the iguana as a "shop pet". After making a few more phone calls to those in authority, he called me and said that the iguana would soon be put up for adoption, and that I should expect a phone call from the store manager that week.
To think that two people I had never even met before, and who lived clear across the
country, cared enough to help me get this iguana out of the pet store made me very happy. I couldn't have done it without their help. Just as I was feeling powerless and without hope, they stepped in and made the difference. Imagine the relief and joy I felt as the day came to pick up the iguana from the pet-store. I was so excited! I sewed him his own set of three little matching pillows to lounge on, we got an additional food bowl, and chopped some extra fresh vegetables for his arrival.

This was taken about an hour after bringing Bobbit home. I had just pulled him from his first warm bath. Notice the large scab on his mouth, andhow dark he looks. I couldn't get all of the feces off him in just one bath.I had to gently scrub it off with an old toothbrush, and then let the rest soak off gradually.

Morning of February 17, 2001

     As I opened his horrible tiny cage for the last time and reached in to get him, he bobbed hello once more and looked up at me sweetly. Since he lived at the pet store and was exposed to many different types of people, he was quite tame and didn't seem to mind being held. Socially, he couldn't have been better. His health, though, had me worried. He was so thin I could count every rib, and I could easily feel that one rib had been broken. Covered in feces, I knew his health would have only deteriorated had he stayed in his cage much longer. He had a large scab on his mouth, and another very large one on his vent. He felt flimsy and rubbery when I held him, and all his movements were in slow motion, from being kept too cold there at the pet store.
     I took him out to the car and told him not to worry, and that we were going home. Slowly, he climbed up on the dash board and seemed to enjoy peering out at the cars as they whizzed by. He suddenly seemed alert and happy- almost like he knew he had been rescued. He licked every square inch of the car interior and then, throwing his arms back, he settled down in the back window where he was warmed by the morning sun. We got many stares at stop-lights; I just smiled and waved, happy at his arrival.

Later that same day...

     Once home, Habib made it known that the new iguana was not welcome. She lunged at him and bit him faster than I could stop her. I know iguanas don't particularly like the company of other iguanas, but I hadn't expected such a violent introduction. Habib was so unhappy about his presence that I thought I might have to quickly find him a new home. Since my apartment is so small, I didn't think it was fair of me to rescue him from the pet store, only to force him to live in such close quarters with another angry iguana and my four cats. (Mr. D and Ig Chick's rescued iguana Jimmie can testify to how quickly a cat can injure an iguana. She's blind in one eye from having been attacked by a house cat.) As much as I wanted to keep him, I knew it was in his best interest to find him a safer place to live.
     Sadly, reality says that there are more needy iguanas than there are proper homes for
them; I could not find anyone willing or qualified to take him in. Happily though, I soon noticed that he and Habib were starting to get along much better, and my cats seemed to leave him alone. Having no real alternative, I made the decision to keep him and to try and give him a good life.

How Bobbit got his name

Soon after rescuing him, I noticed that the large scab on his vent wasn't healing very well. I made a vet appointment for him, and tried to keep a close watch on his health. One day, while he was going to the bathroom in the bath tub, I noticed a funny shaped flesh-colored piece of tissue about to go down the drain. I quickly reached in and got it before it could be washed away. It was about an inch and a half long, was tube-like shaped and pinkish. Puzzled at what on earth it could be, I wrapped it in plastic and put it in the freezer so the vet could have a look. She said that it was one of his two hemipenes, (male iguanas have two penises tucked inside their tail) and that it had prolapsed and fallen off due to a wound he got from being kept on the bark substrate in his cage at the pet store.
Due to the iguana's "personal loss" Josh named him "Bobbit", after the infamous John and Lorena Bobbit court case. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, ask someone. They'll surely know the story and fill you in on the details.) The name Bobbit actually pulls double duty; Bobbit bobs at everything. He bobs at our shoes, at dogs, cars, books, me, the coat rack, his food bowl and at the world. He's such a funny little guy. His bobs are inane; he hasn't an aggressive bone in his green scaly body he just likes to bob. Dogs bark, cats meow, babies cry, and Bobbit bobs.

Bobbit and Habib move in at the metal shop

     Having decided to keep both iguanas, but still having concerns about keeping them at my small apartment along with my cats, (I knew I couldn't always be there to supervise.) Josh and I weighed the options and decided that the best, safest, and most spacious place to keep our little green guys was out at Josh's metal shop. Josh owns a small high-end audio company in Utah County where he makes speakers out of metal. We decided that the metal shop would be a good place for Bobbit and Habib because there, they'd be safe from the neighborhood children and my cats.
     We made them an iguana-safe room, complete with the correct lighting and habitat. We included a large roaming area so they could get some exercise, and several warm basking spots. Josh built them an 8'x4'x6' outdoor cage so they could get some unfiltered summer sun. They spend their days and nights out at the shop and have been remarkably healthy and happy there.
     As you can see in the pictures, both iguanas get a lot of attention at the shop. Often, one will even sit on Josh's shoulder as he loads the metal billets into the CNC milling machine. They get many comments from customers, businessmen, and solicitors (we'd like to train them to ward off salesmen but so far, no luck) and it's been really fun having them there at work. This way, I can keep an eye on them all day long, I can make sure to replenish their food bowls several times a day, and I can spend time holding them as often as I like. It has turned out to be an ideal situation for all of us.
     Often, I ask Bobbit if he's happier with us than he was at the pet store. Judging from his sweet personality and his charming behavior, I'd say he is one happy iguana. He keeps us guessing with his antics, and can always make us laugh. When I go into his room each morning he's always there, having positioned himself perfectly on the carpet to be aligned with the first tiny cracks of sunlight coming in through the window. Although he's a sun-hog, a chronic bobber, and he sneaks extra bites of banana when I'm not looking, (bananas are supposed to be an occasional treat) he really is a fun beastie to have around. I hope he has several more years of pampered living to look forward to, and many more happy, sunny days to spend with us at the metal shop.

If you have any questions or comments about this story, feel free to email me at
16diana@excite.com

Josh with Bobbit and Habib

Bobbit perching on Diana's brother Dan's head.

Josh and Bobbit taking a nap.

We keep trying to tell him this isn;t how a fax works but he just won't listen!

Here's Josh working in the outside cage behind the shop.

Copyright � 2001 The Iguana Spot
All Rights Reserved
All photos used with permission. Diana Stanley text written especially for The Iguana Spot no reprint may contain our names, likenesses or website information without the express written consent of The Iguana Spot, Mr. D and Ig Chick.