Iggy the Iguana

I was reminded of one of Phil's childhood pets while reading a travel letter sent by friends Wayne and Linda from their trip to the Galapagos Islands.  Wayne sent many pictures of iguanas, large, small, on rocks sunning themselves, others on rocks in the shallow water, others hanging from tree branches.  For the most part, the iguanas they saw in the Galapagos were brown.  Our Iggy, was green.

Phil was about 9 years old and had an interest in animals.  He loved our dogs, but he also liked anything he found outside:  pill bugs, snails and birds come to mind.  Somehow he got the idea in his mind that he would like an iguana.  Always the willing mother who wanted my kids to have all kinds of experiences, we researched iguanas and determined one would do well in the Southern California climate.  So, my dad, so handy with building and fixing everything, built the future Iggy an elaborate cage.  It was a beautiful thing, so we went to the pet store and purchased our first Iggy.  Phil loved the little iguana, only about 4 inches long.  Iggy would sit in his cage, munch on leaves and fruit, and sleep.  Phil liked to take him out and let him climb on his arm.

All seemed to be going well, except for the fact that Iggy never seemed to grow.  I was expecting him to grow to about a foot long, but he did not.  The months rolled by, and Iggy was thriving, seemed happy, but small.  Summer came, and Phil was going to summer camp for a month.  He put me in charge of Iggy, gave me explicit instructions on how to care for him.  One thing I was told to do was to put him on the balcony in full sun for about an hour, to warm him up.  Iggy seemed unhappy with Phil gone, and he was snapping at me and would not let anyone touch him.  Then one day, I lost track of time and gave Iggy a four hour sunbath.  That was just too much for him, and he died.  I can still remember how I felt. How was I going to tell Phil that I had killed his iguana?

He wasn't as upset as I thought he'd be, especially when I told him we could get another iguana to replace the one I had killed.  We bought Iggy 2 the following week, but he fared no better than Iggy 1.  He only lived a few months.  I determined iguanas were meant to live in the wild, although I have heard of numerous people keeping them as pets.  We decided there would be no more Iggy's for us.

Fast forward 30 years.  Phil still has interest in animals, although it is really his son Lennon that wants to know anything and everything about all creatures, large or small.  So, Phil is now in the process of building a chicken coop, where they will house 6 egg laying chickens.  They want to add ducks to the pen, if the two can coexist.  I'm hoping they do better with the chickens and ducks than we did 30 years ago with the iguanas.