Lectures!

As I have said before, I do try to educate the public about

keeping reptiles as pets. Here I am lecturing at the

Museum of Science over at US 1. I go to Lizard Day every year!

Let's Have A Contest!

I can't think of an intresting name for my new iguana. I want it to do with the fact that he is lame from the hind legs back. Make your suggestions in the comments link just below this posting and I will announce his new name in about a month.

Thanks!

A New Rescue!

My neighbor next door stopped me the other day. "Come and see my iguana! Something's wrong with it. It can't use it's back legs."

Of course, I ran to help.

Going inside, I was shown to a hand-built wood and wire cage, way too small for a baby iguana, with wood chips on the bottom and plastic leaves for decor. The leaves were fine, so was the log. But the worst thing you can do is use a bottom filling that isn't easily cleaned. I always say newspaper! It's easy to change and better for the animal. The iguana could choke, trying to "chew" on the wood and it holds bacteria very well.

Sure enough, this tiny, little baby iguana's hind legs and tail were paralyzed. He had spunk, I got to give him that. He would drag himself around with his front legs and had the nerve to gape at me in fear. His eyes were wide and he was scared. You could tell by the look on the poor thing's face.

My first thought...due to the paralyzation and the tremors was MBD, metabolic bone desease. It is the bane of all pet iguanas. They don't get enough sunlight or calicum-rich food (he was giving lettuce), and their bones deform and they get paralyzed.

"Let me hold him for a week," I told him.

I've had the little guy almost a week now, and I believe otherwise now. I think that their teacup sized dog somehow got to the animal. The iguana is eating well, he drags himself to the food and water bowls. He has no deformities to suggest MBD.

He is tough and fiesty and, other than the yellowish color he had when I first got him, he actually looks pretty good.

The one serious problem he does have, is that he can't do his bathroom. He can not straddle and push the waste from his body. I have had to run very warm water over his belly as I hold him and press on his belly gently to push the waste out for him. He can't do it for himself. If I don't, he would die from the feces poisoning him.

This is a little iguana that is in alot of trouble and would die a horrible death from not being able to go to the bathroom.

I plan to buy a healthy baby iguana for my neighbor, help him care for it properly, and keep this little one for myself. Who else would sacrifice the time needed to care for this handicapped animal but me?

I Learned a New Trick

You can't tell me that iguanas aren't smart! In their own way, of course. Pugsley likes to look at his reflection in the full length mirror on my closet, but he wants to meet this other iguana as well. He swears that there is another room in the mirror.

So, he learned how to slip his long iguana fingers inbetween the sliding door and the wall, and he slides the door open.

Now, he can climb into the closet and look for this new iguana, not knowing that it is only a refection of himself. He hunts the closet, then comes out, looking very disappointed.

"No, no iguana in here." he seems to say.

The Graphic Iguana

The Graphic Iguana is the name of my computer graphics company. I sell calendars, prints, all sorts of cards so that I can fund Iguana-Mania.

If you e-mail me with the request, I will send you a pdf of my website.

All e-mails are to be directed to:

joanpolsino@comcast.net

This is my new e-mail, not the one at yahoo. Do not send mail to yahoo!

Reptile Rescue

Iguana-Mania is the name of my iguana rescue. I have opened my home to abused and unwanted reptiles and go around to lecture on iguanas. Unfortunately, this costs money and I can barely afford to run this.

I do accept donations so that I can continue this work. If you are an iguana lover and are willing to help my cause, please e-mail me at:

joanpolsino@comcast.net.

Do not contact me through yahoo! I no longer use their e-mail services.

I will respond at once with information on how to send in a donation. It will be used for food, medicine and whatever other bills that the iguanas need paid, such as electricity to run their heating lamps.

We all thank you for your help!!!

Halloween

Christmas

Iguana

Just to let you iguana lovers out there know...

This photo is to be published in a national publication

called "Endless Journeys" in 2006

and is in the national finals conducted

by the "International Library of

Photography".

Friends

Pugsley

Zilla

Zilla

Timias

Timias is Pugsley's son. Pugsley and his dad run the house. They share the alpha male position between them. I had removed the females to a friend's house during the breeding season, not wanting to incubate eggs.

Unfortunately, Pugsley got to her as soon as they were returned and since she was so young, she was still interested.

Dolly laid only 5 eggs because she was only 3 years old herself, as Pugsley was, and I had to incubate them. Only 2 survived to hatching and I kept one.

Timias is 1 year old and we don't even know if he is a boy or girl yet. I have to wait until he is 3 years old to be sure. He is a fiesty, head-strong iguana, having to live with a bunch of adults.

He loves to explore and shows no fear.

He should grow to be well rounded animal.

Bubble Baths

can be

Fun!

Here you see Pugsley and Zilla

getting a bubble bath.

Zilla's story

Zilla has quite a story to tell. He was a street iguana. He was probably a pet at one time, but he outgrew his welcome and was released into a canal area. Aside from the fact that this is illegal, ex-pets usually get into trouble when released.

It seems that Zilla was mauled by a street dog looking for a meal, which is what usually happens to these iguanas. Zilla got away somehow, but the bites were very serious. His hand was useless after that and he couldn't climb up the trees to escape harm. He also had a very serious infection in his shoulder that got into his bloodstream and he was very ill.

When a friend of mine found him and caught him, he weighed 2 pounds, was full of worms and was a very sick iguana indeed.

He was brought to me and I began fixing him up at once.

Zilla is now a healthy iguana, has finally healed and is very happy living here with me and the other iguanas.

He still can't use the hand, nerves and tendons were ripped apart, but he can walk around the house and I do help him to climb up on the dresser where he likes to sleep with Pugsley.

He will let me pet him, but he does not want to be picked up and cuddled.

Whether this is because he was wild when he was bitten, or the fact that I had to keep opening and draining the wounds, treating them with antibiotic ointment...which I'm sure was painful to him...I don't know.

But he does come over and beg with Pugsley when I'm eating something they want a piece of, so he can't be afraid of me.

I'm sure that it will work itself out in time.

Pugsley's Story

Pugsley's story is really quite a simple one. His father Goliath and a friend of mine who owns a female iguana, mated. It was during breeding season, but when we saw him mount her, we broke it up, thinking we were in time.

6 am, Easter morning, I get a phone call from my friend. Her iguana was laying eggs all over the house!

Of course, I rushed over to her house and we spent the morning having an Easter egg hunt of our own.

I took 40 eggs home and set up an incubator for them.

They hatched about 3 months later and since Goliath was getting too big to take around with me, I decided to keep one of the tiny babies.

Pugsley is now almost 4 years old, spoiled rotten and as sweet as his dad is.

Iguanas Love to Eat

As you can see, my iguanas love to eat. Here, they are sharing some romaine lettace that I bought them for a treat.

Pugsley is on the left and Zilla is on the right.

My Book
Taking vet classes was a must, and I passed with flying colors. So much so, that I turned my thesis into a pdf on disk, that tells you how to care for iguanas and other reptiles. I've sold over 50 of them already.
They are $10 dollars.
You can e-mail me at: joanpolsino@comcast.net if you are interested in buying the e-book...
or are intrested in seeing my two websites. I can e-mail them to you as an attachment.
One site is about Iguana-Mania, the rescue shelter...
the other is my graphic arts business...The Graghic Iguana.

Strawberries Taste Nice

This is Pugsley, Goliath's son. He loves strawberries. If you are eating some. he likes to come over with such a look on his face.

"Can I have some?" he seems to be saying.

How can you say no?

He will gently take it from your hand and swallow it, then look for more.

Some Background Info

I am an Iguana nut! I love them! I feel that they are the noblest animals in the world. They look so much like live dragons, that owning one is like owning a dragon.
I began my rescue of these beautiful animals 15 years ago, when I met a lady that was only 4 & 1/2 feet tall and owned a 6 & 1/2 foot iguana named Bolo. It almost floored me! These animals were so cool.
A few weeks later, she gave me my first iguana, one who had been mauled by a dog and was terribly frightened of me. He was young, fortunately, young enough to adapt and he became my teacher and my friend. I named him Goliath, as a joke. He was a small-sized iguana.
Little did I know the joke was to be on me!
He is now over 15 years old and is 6' 10" and 40 pounds! He grew up to his name. He looks more like a Komodo dragon than an iguana, and he is the sweetest iguana you would ever want to meet.

Over the years, we have had a great partnership, with him teaching me how to care for them and just how they react to living with humans. I never caged. I don't believe in it.
If you locked me up in a 9 by 12 room, with nothing to do all day except wait on a meal...well, I'd probably bite you, too!
My iguanas are treated like children. They are house-broken to newspaper and have free roam of my house. We are family, all of us. And, we all respect each others needs.

The best way to show you out there that iguanas can be loving, interactive animals, is to tell you.
Read my log and look at the pictures, then e-mail me with your responses.
Let me know if you agree with me or not...do iguanas think that they are human?