LARRY, DRAGO, AND SHAMROCK: OUR THREE IGUANAS

I remember when I thought that the best pets were either dogs or cats. Well I still love dogs, but I can't stand cats anymore. Problem: what do I replace cats with? IGUANAS OF COURSE!!!!!!!

I was introduced to the wonderful world of iguanas when my girlfriend and I were given an iguana that was roughly 2 1/2 feet long. A little big to start with but we thought that he would make a nice pet. Little did we know what was to come. To see how thing progressed from there continue on down the page.

To return to Iguanas: A Basic Care Guide, click the above picture.

CATEGORIES

OUR STORIES

For Larry's info. click on the picture of him above.

For more info, pictures, and length data click on the picture of Drago above.

For more info, pictures, and length data click on the picture of Shamrock above.***NOTE: Shamrock is the little one!***

OUR HOMES

OUR MEALS

Some general information on our Iguanas

*We give our iggies a bath about once a week in the bath tub. We simple fill the tub with warm water and turn a heater on so they don't get chilled and put them in. The love it and it is a good way to keep them disease free and clean. It is also great exercise and great way to clean their cages when they are entertained. You should always give them a bath, at least four hours before night time, so they have ample time to get dry and warm before the temperature drops for night.

*We clean their cages when ever they have a bath.

*Our Iguanas are given a variety of fresh food DAILY. We feed them once a day, but give them enough so their is just a little left over the next day at the same time.

*Our Iguanas get 12 hours of UVB lighting and 12 hours of black or night lighting. They also get natural sunlight when it is possible due to weather conditions (we live in New York). We don't dare let them sit in the window ledge for long in the winter because it is so cold there and haven't come up with a better idea. If anyone has a good idea to allow Iguanas nature sun light in the winter please e-mail us and let us know.

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Meet and Greet Larry

The run down on Larry:

*We adopted him on 4/20/99 and he was 2 ft. 4 in. snout tail length or STL, we have no idea what his previous life was like, but appears to be rather health.

*Larry is green with touches of gold on his back and feet. He has very pronounced black strips and a blue head. This is one awesome looking iggy!

*Measured again on 12/20/99 he was 2 ft. 10 in. (STL) an had calmed down some.

*Measured on 3/17/00 he was 3 ft. (STL) of which 1 foot was snout to vent or SVL length.

We rescued Larry from a friend who had gotten him from a friend for her daughter. Her daughter had lost interest in a month and she wanted to give him to someone who would pay more attention to him so we got him. When we got him he was 2 feet 4 inches and was very rough around the edges. We were given his cage that was entirely wire mesh and one plain light fixture. At this point we had a lot to learn in a short amount of time, so we picked up a book and looked for info. on the net and soon found out the a wire cage was not what he needed. We got him into a glass cage and got the right lights for him. He seemed to be doing much better, but was VERY unwilling to allow us to touch him.

Of course, we wanted to touch our new friend, but he seemed to have a different idea. However, eventually we "tamed" him some, but I don't think he will ever be "tamed" fully. Now we allow him to roam the house and we can pet him and hold him, but he still has his good days and bad days from time to time. On occasion he will become somewhat violent, but nothing like the first few months. We believe that he may have been captured from the wild due to the many attempts to leave his cage and his violent attitude, but it may simple be that he wasn't held much when he was young.

Larry's Escape Attempts!

Larry has had two escapes from his enclosure! The first one was shortly after he was placed in his new home. The whole front on his cage is thin plexiglass making it somewhat weak. He was able to push on it enough to leave a space to crawl out of. We noticed this some 30 minutes later (we think). Darby, our black lab, started acting somewhat strangely (we always put her outside when Larry is out), but we thought nothing of it. We were working on the computer and Darby came into the other room and was still acting strange and my boyfriend looked down and said: "LARRY'S OUT!" It was funny because he was the whole way across the room and we didn't notice until then! We temporally remedied the situation by placing a piece of wood in front of the plexiglass with some weights behind it.

This is are cute pup, Darby! Isn't she sweet?

The next escape attempt was a few months later. We had taken him out for over an hour and then put him back in his cage, but we had neglected to put the wood up in front of the glass (we are procrastinators and still haven found a permanent solution to this problem) and he did the same thing. This time we were yet again in front of the computer and didn't notice until we heard our recyclable pop can bag rattling! He had gotten up on it and at first, we though it was Darby, but we soon found out that it was Larry. Being that Larry is somewhat jumpy still when I tried to get him I knocked a pop can off the counter and scared him, causing him to jump onto the stone wall an climb up behind the refrigerator! At this point I had to get my boyfriend to help me.

Drago, the littlest, but kindest of our group.

*The facts on Drago: Drago was bought on 2/12/00 in a pet store in Erie P.A. although we live in New York.

*Drago has a light green color on all her legs and is slightly "brownish" on her back and has a beautiful blue head. This is one beautiful iggy!

*On 2/12/2000 she was 18 in. STL and 4 3/4 SVL.

*On 3/17/2000 she was 19 1/2 in STL and 5 1/2 SVL length.

We decided we love having Larry, but wanted an Iguana who would be tamed by us so we went to the pet store after Larry was in his new cage and pick one out. We got this tiny little perfect Iguana. Drago had good clear eyes and was very alert, but seemed gentle and tame. She has charmed our hearts thoroughly. Drago is the easiest Iggy to get along with because she has a genuine calm nature, but she loves to climb up and sit on top of my head. She will willing eat out of your hand and loved to crawl all over my body.

Shamrock are minty green friend

*The Facts on Shamrock: Shamrock was bought in the same pet store on 2/20/00. We decided that Drago needed a friend.

*Sham has a different coloring then our other two iggies. Sham is "minty green" with some brown on his back. His head in less blue then the others and more green. This is one cool iggy!

*Sham was 22 in. STL and 5 1/2 in. SVL on 2/20/00.

*On 3/17/00 she was 23 1/2 in STL and 6 1/2 in SVL.

Shortly after getting Drago we decided she needed a friend so we purchased Shamrock. When we first got Sham he was very dry, but other wised seemed alert. He was jumpier them Drago, but we figured he would get calmer. After a week he was much softer and had much healthier skin. After about two weeks we noticed a small cut on Drago which appeared to be a bite mark on Drago's mouth. The next day it was obvious that Shamrock had attacked Drago again because Drago's middle toe of her back foot was badly hurt and she also had a couple of other marks on her. This proved to be a dilemma because we knew we had to separate them, but we only had two cages suitable for iggies: Larry's cage and the little one's cage. We were leery of introducing Larry and Shamrock because of the size difference, but we had to try something. So we introduced Shamrock into Larry's cage to see how that would go. Larry was very gentle with Shamrock and, in fact, was very anxious to meet him, however Shamrock was very scared and didn't want anything to do with Larry. It was funny because here is this 3 ft. Iguana walking slowing up to the 22 in. Iguana and trying to "smell" him with his tongue. Well, we kept a close eye on the two, and by the next day Larry and Shamrock were the best of friend! We woke up to find Shamrock sleeping on the branch with Larry directly behind him resting his head on his tail! HOW CUTE!

Our Homes

Larry and Shamrock's home was built by my boyfriend and my father. It is about 5'x5'x5'. It has a wood bottom that is covered by plexiglass (for easy cleaning), 1/4 of each side is plexiglass, and the entire front is plexiglass. The back is a strong tin and the other sides are wood. The top is entirely wire mesh which has a door built in and an indent to place the lights in. The plexiglass is also very easy to slide up and allow for room to get the Iguanas out. Eventually we want to have a special room for Iguanas in our house with the front being glass so we can watch them. We are planning on making it a 10'x10'x10' (at least). Let me tell you thought it took months for Larrys present cage to be built so you may want to think about that before getting an Iguana.

Drago's home is a yard sell hand me down. My mom bought it at a yard sell for $10 and we have used it for years. It was originally a fish aquarium, but had a crack in it (that has been sealed). The cage measurements are 4'x3'x2 (length, width, height). Although this cage isn't as high as it should be she has several pieces of wood to climb on. The top is a handmade frame, made of wood, with mesh for breathing. The mesh also allows for the lights to set on the top preventing Drago from burning herself.

We also have a very fine mesh cage outside for the Iguanas to sun bath in. NEVER allow an Iguana to be outside in a glass or plexiglass cage. This WILL, endanger your pets life because it will become too hot. It is like leaving a dog in the car with all the windows rolled up. We have this mesh cage set in the yard where there is areas of both sun shine and shade. Do not set it directly in the sun without supplying any shade for your iguana because it can become too hot for them. We also have rocks where they can lay. Eventually we want our big cage to connect with an outside habitat so they can choose, well at least in the summer time. Back To Top

Our Meals

If you want information on what to feed Iguanas go to Nutrition on our other page. It has "recipes" on what to give Iguanas and many great tips.

BUT if you want to know how our Iggies eat then stick around. Well our iggies eat a variety of things and we like to feed them by hand. Usually we feed them at the same time everyday and try to give them enough so that a little will be left 24 hours later. Our Iguanas eat really well, meaning they like to eat and eat basically everything we put in their dishes. We usually feed them around 6-7 at night and they usually are hand fed their fist serving at that time. The we put more food in their dishes and they eat it later when they want. Every dish of food we give our Iguanas has, at least, two different foods. For example one day we will give them apples and endive plus it will be sprinkled with dry Iguana food, and a calcium supplement. The next day we would give spinach, green beans, peas, and corn. We also sprinkle a little dry Iguana food over all the food they eat, and we give them a calcium/vitamin supplement 3-5 times a week.

Links

Iguanas: A Basic Care Guide

Iguana Town

Love My Iguana

Mellisa Kaplan's Page

Iguana Care

Wong's Green Iguana Heavan

People have visited this site since March 25, 2000 BACK TO TOP