male iguanas

[Lrptls]

i have read so many articles and webstites about green iguanas, they facinate me yet i disklike them so many times i see them. they are beautiful and powerful creatures that i wish were kept in the wild and never brought into captivity but humans have turned them into most people's impulse buy at a petstore and turned into a piece of trash thrown out dead or uncared for.

i have made this mistake myself, at a very young age i was given a 2 foot female green iguana that wasn't agressive but really thrased around when taken out of the cage and i couldn't handle her, only my cousin took her out and played with her but i did care for her. though i did not know they needed UVB so in about a year she passed away.

i got another iguana about 2 years ago, he was a very agressive male, about the same size as the iggy i had before. i could bairly handle this one either, he was lighting fast, i would have to throw a towl on him and grab him out. eventually, i had talked him into leting me hold him more often (i would literlaly stand by his cage and talk to him for about 10 minutes and then take him out, he seemed to enjoy my voice, if i sang he would go to sleep) he turned into a very sweet iguana, if i let him roam my room he would get back on my bed, crawl up on my chest and go to sleep) soon he got strange coloring on his skin, he started to not eat and was less active, i tried doing different things but he seemed to get weaker and weaker, i decided to make a vet apointment the next day but he passed away that night.

i know i shouldn't get another but i have fallen in love with quite a large deformed male at a petstore i frequently visit. i have a friend that works there and when i saw the ig i had to take him out so she let me and showed me a few deformities he had gotten from his last owner (maybe from lack of UVB or something) he just sat on my sholder and i held onto him, he didn't move or any thing, he was so super calm and sweet. BUT i dont want the same thing to happen again, i'm worried he was so calm because he might be sick. i dont want to take him without knowing hes sick, then he springs back to health and tries to kill me.

what do you think i should do? leave him, keep checking on him at the store and keep thinking about getting him? i can't make up my mind alone.

[mudflats]

I would have to say, no. I wouldnt get it, no sence in getting an animal,loving it for a few weeks then getting "bored" with it. It doesnt deserve that.There are to many being neglected. jon

[HeatherRose]

The one thing to keep in mind here, is that once you've purchased this 'deformed' and neglected iguana from the petstore, you can bet that they'll just replace it with another deformed and neglected iguana.

It's up to you in the end, but it sucks that we can't save them all.

Something you CAN do is attempt to educate the petstore and petstore employees on proper iguana care. I know it seems silly and useless, but you might be surprised what a little persistance can achieve.

Good luck :)

-Heather

[Lrptls]

it wasn't them that did it to the iguana, they get alot of their animals from people who give up on them so sometimes their store looks bad cause they will have a few beat up animals but it really isn't them doing it. Kevin owens the store and knows much more than i and many people know about reptiles, he helped me with my first snakes, he is a great man full of knowledge. he would never let any animal get like that.

to mudflats- i would never buy an animal and get bored with it. i can say i have boring pets, for example, my pacman frog who does NOTHING but sit and eat but i still love him and would never neglect him. no animals deserve being neglected and i would never do such a thing, if for some reason it happened i would find it a new home and make sure who ever is taking it really wants it and will give it the best care.

i have changed my mind about geting it because i'm moving soon and i know i'll be more busy. the least pets i have the better.