Double D’s story starts out a rough one. Some person saw a cute little iguana in a pet store. That pet store decided that to sell this iguana to some person off the street with out ANY knowledge of caring for it wasn’t the only problem. Not only did this store sell the person a 10 gallon aquarium, a hot rock, and canned iguana food, they also did not tell them the importance of a balanced diet, proper UVB lighting, and proper heating. Due to the ignorance or carelessness of the new owner and the pet store Double D’s life began in horrific conditions.
We are unsure of Double D’s age due to the mistreatment of her and the nature in which the pet store got her. After spending anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 years with her first “owner” we are unsure of her exact age but it is estimated to be 2 1/2 to 3 years old. Her first years of life caused her great pain and suffering. The previous “owner”, and I do use that term very, very loosely, tortured her for the time they had her. Hopefully they started out caring for her but its highly doubtful. The “owners” brought Double D into a local pet shop one day and sat this 10 gallon aquarium on a counter and said “Take it we don’t want it”, and walked out. The manager took one look at this poor abused and neglected iguana and rushed her straight to the vet.
When our vet first saw the condition this iguana was in he was appalled. Double D’s tail was amputated 1/2 way up her tail and just hanging on by a small portion. She was a grayish brown, you could see every bone in her body, her spikes that were still there were brown and dead and fell off in the vets hands. She was suffering from severe malnutrition and MBD, her belly was covered in thermal burns from her hot rock. She also had chemical burns on her back and head caused from what we believe was someone pouring ammonia on her. The 10 gallon aquarium she was in was filthy and according to the store looked like it had never if rarely been cleaned. Due to Double D only being fed canned iguana food and having no UVB light her body and growth were severely effected. The day they store walked into the vets office the vet didn’t think Double D would live the night. Her tail had to be amputated to remove the dead and hanging portion, she had several broken toes that couldn’t be repaired, and she lost all of the spikes on her back and tail.
After that first night the pet store took her back with them, tube fed her for a bit and gave her daily injections to help fight off the infection and skin disease that had resulted from her burns. It took them a full year of working with her to get her to the point they felt she was ready for sale. Now I’m not advocating pet stores, most of them are horrific places that could care less about there animals, there bottom line lies with the cash in there pockets. The thing I do have to say is this pet store is one of the better ones, even though I see things in there store that I wish would change like selling hot rocks and canned iguana food. They did however tell me about the proper diet that was needed along with the heating, uvb lighting, and her bath/misting requirements. I do have to commend them for giving her a chance at life, it cost quite a bit of money for two tail amputations, daily medicines, and working with her severely damaged skin, it could have been easier and cheaper to have the vet put her to sleep her.
To give you a bit of background on us, My name is Christy I am a 24 year old Stay at home Mom to three beautiful daughters, Christy 6 years old, Brittany 5 years old and Melissa 3 years old. We have a large German shepherd mix 7 years old male named Grizzly, a small Pomeranian 3 years old male with epilepsy named Shadow , a 1 1/2 year old Dutch male rabbit named Fluffy,, and a 7 week old abbyisian Guinea pig male named Patches, of course our female Iguana named Double D. My husband Jason who is 27 years old and I have been married for almost 8 years.
Five years ago my husband and I had a baby iguana that we got from a local pet store. We went by what we were told, given no information on UVB lighting, we were told to feed it lettuce and shredded fruit, use Repti-Bark, a product that is dangerous to iguanas as the substrate and told to house it in, you guessed it, the 10 gallon aquarium. Three days later that iguana died, with much sadness we decided to never again have an iguana. Flash to 5 years from then, 3 children, a large dog and a small dog, a rabbit, and a Guinea pig I wanted to get a pet for my husband as the other pets were mainly mine and our daughters. He had always loved iguanas so I started calling to get prices and started doing research on the interment. After having much better knowledge of iguana care I made some phone calls. I didn’t think I could handle a “rescue” iguana, I didn’t feel I had the knowledge, I also didn’t want to deal with a “problem” iguana. Boy was I in for a shock, not all “rescue” iguanas are some wild untamed unhealthy animal, actually its usually the opposite, from qualified rescuers the iguana is usually in the best of health, and all ready tamed when you adopt them.. Being that we got Double D from the pet store not all the above applied to her.
I was told Double D’s story by the pet store (Formerly known as Rupert) . It was originally thought that “Rupert” was a he and turned out to be a she. We decided to go as a family to look just look, I just couldn’t get her story out of my head. When we saw her I had to bring her home. When the lady at the store got her out of the enclosure she was tail whipping and acting like a mad woman, I took her in my arms and she calmed down clung to my coat sleeve. After putting her in and out twice and hearing a couple of teens talking about how it’d “fit” in there 10 gallon tank at home, I knew she had to come home with us. It took quite a bit of convincing my husband as he wanted to wait till we moved into our new house, my daughters swore that she would turn into an alligator and eat their pets (my girls are 6,5,3 years old).
Being that we were totally unprepared for her in the equipment department, we had to make some fast purchases. She came home that day in a cardboard box for the long drive. I got her home and ran straight to the store to purchase some basic thing to secure a make shift enclosure and food to get her through the night. That first night at home with her was eventful she tail whipped us, head bobbed and snapped at me. We spent at least an hour at a time off and on all day for the first week holding her, talking to her, bathing her to get her to be use to us. We took her in within a week of bringing her home for a vet check where she was dewormed and checked out. The vet who had seen her just the day before we had her couldn’t believe the change in just a week with us. Double D weighed in at 13 ounces and measured at 16 1/2 inches from nose to tail. We brought her home that day with the new knowledge of him actually being a her. Double D was all ready name changed from the pet stores name of “Rupert” to Double D given to her by my 5 year old after the Ed, Edd, & Eddie Cartoon (the Edd with two D’s was nick named Double D) So we kept it. We had some trouble with her at first as she didn’t want to eat anything but her greens shed turn her nose up at any and all vegetables and fruits. Several calls to the vet, several to the pet store, much research on the net and I found my double d was being stubborn. With patience’s and time we know have her eating a good variety, although to introduce any new food it MUST be a tiny portion, finely shredded and mixed well with other foods, we then just gradually increase the amount of that type of food with each meal some times we have to revert and go back but it usually works eventually.
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