A few years ago I lived in Alabama, and knew nothing about lizards. Before I left though, I did a web page for a cartoon iguana that a friend of my drew and made a story about. Then I moved to Florida, and finally saw my first iguana. That begin my fascination with iguanas and other lizards.
I started with just one iguana, and her name was Macy. The man I was dating at the time had Macy in a cage outside to get some sun. She got out of the cage, and was gone for hours, before we finally found her. Macy later died from a impaction. WARNING #1: Never leave your pet lizards outside unattended! Her death was really hard on me, but I finally got Iggy. Iggy is now a healthy 2 year old male iguana.
I felt that Iggy needed a mate, so I bought Angel from my friend, Pat, that had a pet store at the time. Angel is now a healthy 2 and 1/2 year old female iguana. I hope that Iggy and Angel will mate sometime this year. I plan to hatch the eggs and sell their CB offspring.
In Febuary of 1997, a friend of mine gave me ET. He had rescued ET from a pet store, where she was in a cage with smaller iguanas, and took very good care of her. He finally decided to downsize his pet collection and sold ET to someone that did not take good care of her. He met me, and knew that I would love to have a large iguana. Iggy and Angel were just babies at the time. My friend repossed ET from the lady that he sold her to, and gave her to me, along with the cage and supplies. I was so happy to have this large iguana, and she soon learned to like me too. ET is now a healthy 4 and 1/2 year old female iguana.
A few months after I got ET, I learned that a man was looking for a home for a large male iguana named Stinky. I contacted my friend Pat, that had the pet store, and she said that she would love to take Stinky and sell him in her store. I fell in love with Stinky when I picked him up, and considered keeping him for myself. I brought Stinky home and had no where to put him, except in the cage with ET. ET climbed on top of Stinky and started biting him, so I took him to Pat. I visited Stinky in Pat's pet store, and found his new parents who bought him from Pat. Pat was pleased, and told me to pick out a baby iguana of my choice. Angel and I picked out Kaya, and brought her home. Kaya is now a healthy female iguana that will be 2 years old in Febuary.I soon made a hobby of visiting the pet stores and looking at all the different types of lizards. I was fascinated at how many different types there were. I also became involved in looking up any information about lizards on the WWW. I then found my calling, and knew that I wanted to do something involving lizards.
I bought my first lizard that was not an iguana from my friend Pat. She had some tokay geckos that she said would run loose in your house and eat bugs. I named my tokay gecko Elbert, and I think it is a he, and would guess that he may be 1 and 1/2 years old now. He free roams in my kitchen, and appears to be healthy.
Pat's pet store burned down nearly a year ago, but none of the pets were injured. I helped Pat sell the pets that she had left, and ended up buying an other one for myself. I bought a blue tongue skink, and named him George Blue. None of my iguanas liked George Blue, and I felt like he needed a mate. A friend told me of a pet store that was getting rid of all their lizards and I bought a red fire skink from them. I named the red fire skink Ruby Red, and put her in with george blue. George Blue really loved her. Ruby red came with 2 flat rock lizards that I named Bonnie and Clyde.
For Easter of 1998, I bought myself a yellow breasted plated lizard that I named Rainbow. I felt that Rainbow also needed a conpanion, but could not find an other lizard like him. I finally bought a schnider's skink to go with Rainbow, since they both had yellow undersides. I named the schnider's skink Sunny, and he and Rainbow seemed to get along great.
When I bought Sunny, I saw one more lizard I just had to have. It was a jungle runner, and I finally made room for him in my house. I named him Velvet, and I am not sure that it is a he. That brought my lizard collection up to 12 lizards, and I knew I would want more lizards when I visited the herp show in Orlando in August. Due to financial problems and other reasons I decided to sell George Blue to Jammie, who I knew would give him a good home. George Blue, who Jimmie thinks is a female, is now happily living in WA state, at Jammie's house, with a couple of other blue tongue skinks.
When I went to the herp show in August, I bought a club tail iguana, and named her Tina Maria. That brought my lizard count back up to 12. Tina Maria lives in the tank with Bonnie now, because they are the same size. Clyde has escaped his cage and seems to be healthy and happy just free roaming the apartment. He is way too fast for me to catch. Tina Maria and Bonnie get along really good, and seem to love each other.
After George Blue left to go to WA state, I put Sunny and Ruby Red in the same cage. They seemed to get along fine, and were the same size. Then Tuesday night something awful happened! I came home to find Sunny dead, and Ruby Red hurt very badly. I guess they were both males, and fought. I was so shocked and upset, that all I could do was cry and pass out. I felt totally useless and hopeless to help Ruby Red. I also did not have the money to take her to the vet, so I tried to find someone to give Ruby Red to. It was late that night before I could find someone that would pick up Ruby Red the next morning. When my friend came pick Ruby Red up, she was already dead. WARNING #2: Use extreme caution when you house multiple lizards together! Thus on Friday, October 30, 1998, the LZARR was born.
Update 3/2/99: ET, turned 5 years old this past month, and Kaya turned 2. Everyone is doing good.
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the LZARR