Roxy passed away today. We woke up and she was gone.
Roxy had a semi good life compared to others. For her first four years she had two owners. A teenager who got her as a baby. During this time Roxy was stolen by someone who broke through the window and rolled her up in a carpet. The police returned her.
Her second family, and the family we got her from, lived in a small apartment in the city. Roxy was friendly with their two small dogs and they took pretty good care of her. Roxy was one of our VERY first reptiles.
Roxy was a very interesting iguana. She was calm and confident around humans. She never showed aggresion from fear. She learned two hand signals with us and responded to them daily. Roxy like to tease the cats walking by her enclosure, and once I swear she laughed after smacking my small dog in the face with her tail and then standing her ground.
Roxy would sit on the couch and look out the window towards the street, when cars would drive by, she would slid sideways down the coushins to hide. Roxy's favorite thing in the world was fish tanks, and watching them constantly, even going to other locations in the house she knew other tanks were to sit on them and watch.
Roxy loved soft things like pillows, and blankets. Once she snuck into the bed when my boyfriend was sleeping and had a four hour nap under the blankets. I had a fun time trying to find that brat! She enjoyed having her own pillow in her cage, and if it wasn't her special horse pillow, it would be pushed off the basking site promptly. We finally got her another acceptable pillow after the horse one was destroyed.
Roxy only got more confident and "friendly" as she grew. Confident is the better word. She was well aware of herself the larger she got, and today she is over five feet long. Not only was she huge by the end, but if I add up all the ones I know of, Roxy laid just under 300 eggs in her lifetime. The biggest perfect clutch being around 53 eggs before we got her. The vet was even suprised they told me as she had no trouble at all. All eggs laid by her with us were calmly laid on her basking shelf, usually while she was asleep. Such a clown.
She had 8 good but short years, four of which were with us. Here are the best photos of her.
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/iguana/roxyjune.jpg">
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/iguana/2roxyaugust.jpg">
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/iguana/roxy.jpg">
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/iguana/roxy5.jpg">
In these photos she was younger and more green. As she got older she became more male looking with BRIGHT orange skin, huge spikes, and a giant dewlap.
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/iguana/roxyeat.jpg">
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/iguana/roxyeat2.jpg">
<img src="http://8snakes.myftp.org/marisa/Reptiles/iguana/roxypillow.jpg">
Thanks for looking, and if anything, remember....iguanas aren't pets. They are a house addition.
Marisa
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