I'm Kelley, and when I was a teenager I decided that I wanted an exotic pet of some sort.  I already had the sweetest dog in the world, but I couldn't help but be attracted to the different kinds of reptiles there are in the world.  I looked at a few options, and then I remembered iguanas.  I thought, what could be better?  You feed them lettuce, they've got a sweet disposition...  So I did my research here on the good ol' Internet, which was a fraction of its current size back then.  Nonetheless, I networked with other iguana-keepers in the Reptiles forum on AOL, and I read as many iguana-related care documents as I could get my hands on.  My observations?
          More like revelations.  First of all, you don't feed them "lettuce," you have to spend a good deal of time and money on a delicately balanced, homemade "salad" of many different leafy greens, veggies, vitamin supplements, and the like.  Don't be fooled by the "iguana foods" you'll find in pet stores today -- the nutritional content has proven to be less than beneficial, and can even be harmful. Secondly, you can't just throw any old light on top of their cage.  They need a basking light which keeps the area around 95 degrees.  They need a fluorescent light that emits certain levels of UVA and UVB.  They need an incandescent light that will provide the proper ambient temperature within the enclosure.  They need a nighttime heat source, whether that's a ceramic heating element (CHE), a black light, or some other non-light emitting heat source.  Thirdly, they need an enclosure that will not only keep the heat and humidity in, but that is two times as wide as their total body length, 1 to 1.5 times as tall as their total body length, and at least three feet deep (from front to back).  The ideal enclosure, which is really a necessity if you want your iguana to be happy and healthy, is 9' wide X 3' deep X 6' tall. YOU CANNOT BUY THIS TYPE OF ENCLOSURE, and if you can, it is usually not made of the right materials to hold the heat in.  Dog cages, no matter how large, are not acceptable.  You must use your own building skills (or that of a nearby carpenter) to put together an appropriate habitat.  This is the part that most people neglect to do, and they can't understand why their iguanas are cranky, injured, not eating, not warm enough, etc.  If you cannot afford to spend between $250 - $600 on an appropriate cage for this little lizard that will soon reach 4 to 6 feet, then save the life of a lizard and save yourself from some guilt -- don't get the iguana. Iguanas are NOT easy-to-care-for pets.  Get yourself a hamster if you're looking for ease of care.
          In addition to all the things I listed above, you'll have to bathe your iguana daily (or at least a few times a week) if you want them to shed properly.  You'll have to spend exhorbitant amounts of time playing with your iguana, even as they're scratching, biting, and scraping you with their razor-sharp tails -- either that, or you'll end up with a 15-pound lizard with a REALLY bad attitude.
 

BEFORE THE BUY...
          As I said, I read everything I could get my hands on about iguanas.  When I felt that I was truly ready to take on the responsibility of owning a feisty wild animal, I went to the pet store to choose my "baby."  She cost $19.95 -- her supplies and enclosure exceeded $200, and that was just the beginning of the money I have spent on this girl.  The pet store sold me a 20-gallon terrarium (far too small), a small climbing branch that I later found out was infested with mites, a two-socket heat lamp that held two standard lightbulbs (basically a shop light -- why they market these things for igs, I'll never know.), a UV light, a black light, and some "lizard litter," which is not only unnecessary, it's downright dangerous.
         You may ask why I accepted these things when I had already done the research?  Here are your answers... The 20-gallon terrarium was the largest enclosure they sold.  Being an impatient kid, I didn't want to look around at other stores for a larger one -- I wanted the iguana right then.  If you find yourself feeling that you NEED that lizard NOW, take a deep breath and realize that it's going to take some time to learn all there is to know, and you DO need to know it BEFORE you get your ig, not AFTER.  The climbing branch was an appropriate size for the hatchling iguana that I picked out, and I didn't treat it for mites in the beginning because I trusted the pet store to provide quality, clean merchandise.  I've since learned to clean, disinfect, boil, bake, bleach -- whatever it takes -- to ensure that all objects I place in Maugee's cage are totally free of germs, parasites, and whatever else might find its way onto it.  The heat lamp seemed reasonable to me, and it actually was for that size enclosure.  It just wasn't a very practical model.  Now about the litter -- I knew how dangerous it was, but the owner of the pet shop convinced me (and he was convincing!) that if Maugee were to ingest pieces of the litter, it would pass through her system without harming her.  Never believe anybody that tells you that.  I used up the bag of litter and then switched to plain old towels for her safety.  I've since found out about a much better substrate -- but if you want to know what it is, you'll have to read the rest of the site.  :)  Trust me, it's the best thing I've discovered so far.
          When it was time to choose the iguana I wanted, I pointed to the one that I liked best and the store employee plucked her out for me and placed her in my hand.  The way I was holding her, my thumb was right in front of her face.  Probably not a smart move, since she easily could have bitten me, but instead she just looked me up and down and licked my thumb a few times.  She looked so intelligent and alert, and was so responsive to my voice, that I just had to have her.  To this day I have never held another iguana, though I would love to.
 

THE WONDER YEARS (ACTUALLY, THE FIRST FEW MONTHS)
          Over the next few months, I spent time every day handling her, playing with her, showing her around the house, etc.  I wanted her to be as comfortable with me as I was with her.  I even took showers with her -- careful not to let any soap get near her, I'd place a piece of driftwood on the towel bar and let her sit there while I showered.  The humidity was great for her, and she loved listening to me sing.  She'd close her eyes and sort of raise her body up in a very relaxed pose (not to be confused with male posturing, which is used to indicate aggression).  She still does that whenever she hears music, and especially when I sing.
          A few months after getting her, I walked into my bedroom and saw little red dots crawling all over her body and on the branch she was resting on...  she had mites.  I double-bagged the branch and threw it out, and put Maugee in the bathtub with enough Betadine solution to make the water look like dark tea.  I cleaned the enclosure with Listerine (that was what everybody recommended back then -- now I'd probably tell you to try hydrogen peroxide and white vinegar, or possibly bleach, but with the latter you'd have to let the enclosure air-dry for twenty-four hours.  I know that peroxide and vinegar, sprayed on one after the other, kills salmonella, E. coli, streptococcus, and other strains -- I don't know its effects on mites, but it would be worth a try if you're afraid of using bleach around your ig.  And just like back then, Listerine would work fine.  The mites never returned.
 

A TURN FOR THE WORSE
          As Maugee got older, I did too.  I went from being a lonely teenager to having really great friends who I wanted to spend lots of time with.  So I cut my time with Maugee short in favor of seeing my friends.  She grew less social with each passing week, though she eventually became a free-roamer.  She'd use her cage to eat and sleep in, but she'd actually use our bathroom to defecate (which I found easier to clean up than if she used her cage), and she'd sleep on top of her UV light.  I DO NOT RECOMMEND letting your ig sit on top of ANY light, and looking back, I shouldn't have let her either.  It was never hot (UV lights shouldn't be), so there was no danger of burns, but I know she wasn't absorbing much UV through the vent on top, and there were a few occasions in the middle of the night in which she fell off the light, pulling the light down with her -- we had to replace it twice.  I think that free-roaming iguanas are just fine, as long as they get adequate heat, UV, food, water, etc.  But you really need to be there to keep an eye on them all day long -- sometimes I'd find her under my bed, on the kitchen table, in the kitchen sink(!), eating our houseplants (which were all perfectly safe for her to eat, by the way), sitting on top of the living room curtains...  she could've been seriously injured in any one of those situations.  I was a very irresponsible mama to my growing girl, and if I could turn back the hands of time, I would.
 

WHICH BRINGS US TO TODAY...
          I am writing this paragraph on December 7th, 2000.  Maugee will be five years old on January 19th.  It took me until very recently to make the decision to keep Maugee... that is, not give her away to someone who would take better care of her.  I decided to be that person.  On December 1st, I bought Maugee a new basking light and fixture, UV light and fixture, black light and fixture, and new food/water bowls.  I purchased two books on iguanas for myself, and have read them cover to cover, implementing all the new things I've learned.  I've spent time every day cleaning/disinfecting her enclosure and bowls, and making her new, healthier food.  She's a big girl now -- I'd like to tell you that although I may have neglected Maugee, I am deeply indebted to my mother -- she took care of her during the time that I was off being an immature kid.  Maugee was NEVER unhealthy -- she may not have been in perfect health, but she was always well provided for, and to this day she is just as alert and intelligent as she was the day I brought her home.  I thank the Heavens above that she waited for me to come to my senses.
          She is not tame enough for me to hold her at this point, but she'll let me pet the tip of her tail while she's in her enclosure, and she listens attentively when I sit by her cage and talk to her.  I sing to her as much as I can, since I know she loves it.  I'm spending as much time near her as I possibly can, so she gets used to the fact that I am not going away this time, and I am a part of her life.  I'm just getting to the Domestication section of "Green Iguana:  The Ultimate Owner's Manual" by James W. Hatfield III, so I hope to make lots of progress with Maugee in the coming months and years.  As I do, I will update this section, along with Maugee's Journal, where you can read the day-to-day progress I make with her.
          I hope for this site to be a working example to all of you who plan to get iguanas, and to those of you who already have them and have found yourselves in over your heads.  They are extremely complicated creatures, and they do take up a lot of time... but if you try hard enough, you'll have a wonderful companion in your pet ig.  Any questions or comments can be sent to misskelley@aol.com and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  :)  Until then, bookmark the site and read as much as you can.  Your ig will thank you for it.  :)