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Pictures to come.]]> http://www.politickles.com/frogcity/iguanablog/index.php?entry=entry081010-184504
Her claws are getting harder to handle and she needs to have them clipped more often for easier handling. I'm thinking about experimenting with covering some of her logs with the same type of sand paper material used for those sand perch covers for birds. I think this may help keep her nails filed down. I'll update on how it goes.]]> http://www.politickles.com/frogcity/iguanablog/index.php?entry=entry080915-184425
It's a wonder you can't actually SEE her grow. She's almost outgrown the yard stick...

I give you, Esmerelda. Now measuring a whopping 32 1/2 inches!








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She is eating well and shedding regularly and is pretty calm with other people, Her claws can be very sharp though, so those need to be clipped at least monthly for comfortable handling. I have just been using regular people nail clippers with no problem. She can be a little fussy, so I just wrap her in a towel, only exposing the foot I want to work with.

She really seems to like this Juvenile Iguana Food I got her at an exotics pet store near us. The brand is Rep Cal and it has a very ripe fruity smell. All I do is pour some out into her bowl and moisten it a little with one of my spray bottles.

If you're having trouble getting your iguana to eat pellet foods I'd recommend this. She took to it very quickly.




^Rep Cal food shown with Mustard Greens

On the other hand, she didn't seem to care particularly for the Zilla brand:
http://www.cheappetstore.com/Reptiles/R ... er-164932/

She would eat it, but not as readily as the Rep Cal:
http://www.cheappetstore.com/Reptiles/R ... -oz-151969





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Esmerelda grew just slightly over two inches this month. She is now just a little over 26 inches!


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The cage breaks into three parts for easier moving.

It's 6 ft tall, 4ft wide, and 2ft deep.

It also has a storage space at the bottom which could easily be converted into another reptile cage!

Plus, it has display and heat lights built in. It even came with a timer so that the lights will go on automatically at a specific time in the morning and a specific time at night.



It came with all the basking branches, bowls, ledges, and the fake banana plant.


The viewing space could be bigger, but this is something I could probably fix.

Now guess how much I got it for. Only $50!!! If you're looking for an iguana cage, go to craigslist.com. I have gotten amazing deals there and this one is probably the best yet! You can even find iguanas in need of homes.

Esmerelda seemed a little awkward in it at first, but she warmed up to it a few days later. She likes to spread out on the top basking branch, her legs hanging off the sides.




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If you're currently looking for an iguana cage, search craigslist first (unless you have something very very specific that you want). I see iguana cages up there all the time. You could even search for large aquariums and ferret cages that you might be able to convert into a suitable iguana cage.

Now for the neat iguana cages I've found. Maybe you can get some ideas from them:


Made of PVC pipes:
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/9008/pvccage.html

Iguana Mansion!
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/74/20140 ... cf.jpg?v=0

Most like what I want. I would like doors like this for easy cleaning and handling and I also think the wheels would come in handy.
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/6333/Rex.gif

http://flightline.highline.edu/biologyl ... s-cage.jpg

The first one is really neat, especially if you had a tiki theme going. I like the idea of a corner cage.
http://www.iguanacageplans.com/gallery.html

I may have to get one of these. I think it would make a great summer house and I think the price is pretty reasonable.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... catid=6062
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At this rate... imagine how big she'll be this time next year!]]> http://www.politickles.com/frogcity/iguanablog/index.php?entry=entry080621-221149 http://www.politickles.com/frogcity/iguanablog/index.php?entry=entry080529-153830

I was a week late measuring her this time, but I guess I wasn't wrong when I thought she looked bigger. She's grown a whole inch! Esmerelda is now 22 inches long from her nose to the tip of her tail.

At this rate she could be 30+ inches on the anniversary of my taking her home!

She has filled out since I brought her home and her colors have been brighter. She is getting calmer with time. Last night she actually crawled onto my hand when I put it into her tank.

I will soon be moving her into a larger tank. I have one that is slightly larger and just need to measure it to get the right sized top.

She is still a little picky about her food, but is eating good. She really likes carrot and banana baby food. I have some iguana pellet food for her that I bought from the petco that she likes to ignore. But she will eat it when she thinks I'm not looking (she does this a lot of the time with the collard greens too).

But I did catch her a few nights ago:

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I've found a few things that help to calm her down.

#1 is showers. In my shower there is a rack to hang the towel on. I let her sit on top of the towels there and I run the warm water. She really loves the humidty. It calms her down and helps with her shedding.

I also mist her and try to distract her. Baby food is a good distraction. She loves it and will calm down for me and eat it out of the syringe.]]> http://www.politickles.com/frogcity/iguanablog/index.php?entry=entry080419-184711




In the above shots, Esmerelda enjoys some lettuce while she sits on my arm.


The above shot was taken when I first measured Esmerelda. She would often take on this "threatening" position when I would get close to her or try to pick her up when I first got her. She rarely does this now and she hardly ever tries to whip me except when I am trying to take her out of her cage.


Here, Esmerelda enjoys looking out at the great outdoors. Maybe in the summer I will be able to set her up with a little summer house for warm days.
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I brought Esmerelda home March 16th 2008. It is now April 19th. I measured her around this time last month so I decided to measure her again today to see how much she has grown.


Here is the shot I took in March (date is approximate, could have been a day earlier or a few days later that it was taken):

She was approximately 20 1/2 inches from her nose to the tip of her tail.

Here is the shot I took today:

She is now approximately 21 inches. She's grown about a half an inch.


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I remembered a time when I was at the Walgreen's buying baby food for my crested geckos. One of the clerks there told me about how she used to feed her iguana banana baby food. I happened to have some because of my cresteds so I gave it a shot.

I fed it to her with a syringe and she lapped it up. She's also eaten carrot and the mango and assorted fruit flavors. I mixed in some calcium too to make sure she was getting good vitamins.

Now Esmerleda is being better about eating, probably because she has settled in more, and will eat lots of pieces of the same thing. She's even been daring enough to try some of her dry iguana food, but she only likes to eat out of her bowl when she thinks I'm not looking.

The first time I caught her I had opened the door and she had a big piece of lettuce hanging out of her mouth as she stood over the food bowl. As soon as she saw me she dropped it back into the bowl!

So if your iguana is being a little stubborn about eating, try baby food! Try flavors like carrots, banana, assorted fruits, and other tropical flavors.]]> http://www.politickles.com/frogcity/iguanablog/index.php?entry=entry080404-190308
The purpose of this blog is to share my iguana experiences with other current or up and coming iguana owners. As she grows, I will share all sorts of my experiences with her, from nail clipping to that looming problem for all owners of a juvenile iguana - the future cage setup!

I bought Esmerelda from the most recent reptile expo (March 16th '08) for just 12 dollars! The dealer said she was around 3-4 months old.



I was a little worried about her when I first brought her home because she kept sneezing. I though that, since she had been a moist plastic container all day at the show, that that could be a part of the problem. But I looked up "sneezing" in Melissa Kaplan's "Iguanas For Dummies" book and realized that it's quite natural! So don't worry, sneezing is just how they expel salts!

It is amazing how sharp their little claws can be! I clipped Esmerelda's nails about a week after I brought her home. She was giving me cuts all over my hands (and forgetting about them later and putting hand sanitizer all over them doesn't feel good at all!). I used a regular people nail clipper to do it and had someone else hold her while I did the back feet.

To do the front feet, because she was getting skittish, I wrapped the back of her body in a towel. This worked pretty well.

I used the drawing in Melissa Kaplan's Iguanas For Dummies to see where you were exactly suppose to clip them (a very good guide and book to have on hand) and I had no problems. Though it was only the very tip that needed to be clip, it makes a world of difference!

For the most part, Esmerelda is very calm, but she does try to whip me with her tail from time to time. But she will usually only do this if there is some sort of fast movement nearby. If I'm worried that she is going to whip me (someone's walking by quickly, or she just raises her tail like she is about to) I just gently grab her tail and she gives me a funny look and usually lets her tail go back down.

She is 20 inches long from her nose to the tip of her tail and I will post some images of her by the measuring stick soon. Right now she is in a bit of a makeshift 20 gallon long tank with a heat lamp, towel flooring, and a rubber ten gallon grid tank top, leaned against the side which serves as a good basking spot, with a bowl of food. This won't last long though and I have a larger tank that I will probably move her into soon.



I have some info I could share on feeding, showers, and how she has responded to my water dragon but I will save those for another post for now.

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