At one point our zoo had grown to 11 snakes (including two 8-foot boas), 7 lizards and a Rottweiller puppy in a small 2-bedroom apartment with three humans. We were also breeding our own rats to feed the snakes and the meat-eating lizards. How we ever lived with that many cages, I'll never know. By 1994, we had sold off all our animals except Kiwi, Geco and a burmese python. Even then space was tight since Kiwi had grown to about 3 feet and needed an adequate sized cage.

When I left the boyfriend I left the snake with him, but there was no way I was parting with Kiwi and Geco. They moved with us to our new apartment in Mesa and we all squeezed in. Kiwi was very happy to spend time basking on her hanging light fixture above her cage most evenings. She had really outgrown her 80 gallon tank, but I had no money or space to provide her with bigger living quarters, and was not willing to let her free roam when I wasn't home.

Kiwi and Geco both travelled with me in the car across country when we moved from Arizona to the Philadelphia area. I'd let Kiwi out in the hotel room to roam at night (there's a pic in the gallery of her stealing my pillow on the bed), but she was definitely stressed and it took some coaxing to get her to stretch her legs. Eventually she would move around a bit, but she wouldn't eat at all. I made her sleep on her heating pad overnight to warm her up, but during the day in the car there was no way to provide heat. I do not recommend putting iguanas under that kind of stress unless it's absolutely necessary.

It took four days and was quite a journey. Every time Kiwi would do her business in her travel carrier, I would have to get off at the next exit, find a gas station and take her into the bathroom to clean her up. I think I gave a few nice ladies between Arkansas and Georgia a scare they'll never forget when they saw what was in that carrier. :) At least we usually got the bathroom to ourselves after that. Despite her lethargy from being cold and uncomfortable, she always seemed curious to explore the bathrooms. I, of course, was always freaking out about her crawling around on such nasty floors. We had a few arguments about whether or not she was getting a quick rinse in the sink before going back in the carrier, but I usually won.

I was a little afraid one or the other of the lizards wouldn't survive the trip, but they both came through just fine. We were only in Philly for a week before plans changed and we moved to Georgia. It was another long haul down there, but at least once we were there we stayed awhile. Kiwi finally settled back into her lizardly routine, although she was "on protest" for almost a month (ate very little and was generally upset and lethargic).

We moved to New Jersey in less than a year... it was another long car trip she was not happy about, but again, we've stayed in New Jersey for quite awhile now. I finally managed to buy her a proper sized cage when we moved into a large apartment with an enormous kitchen. She forgave me for all the hardship I'd put her through by growing even more - she is now four feet long from her nose to the tip of her tail. She still fits in her "Kiwi Condo," but one of these days I'd like to make an even bigger enclosure, and a second one to go outside in the yard so she can have real sun once in awhile.

Kiwi seems to be a pretty happy lizard for all I've put her through. I know most people think lizards are simple creatures without personality, but I beg to differ. Kiwi communicates quite well and visits me frequently in dreams if she can't get things across in waking life. She's my guardian as much as I am hers. We stopped keeping tabs on who owns who long ago, she's just part of the family.

She'll be 11 years old this September (2003), and although I know she's probably on the down side of her life span, I will make every effort to stretch that span to new limits. I only hope some of the things I did in my ignorance during her early years will be counter-balanced by the knowledge and wisdom I have now. I am so grateful to her for being the impetus to learn all I know about iguanas (which helped me save Spunky too), and I can honestly say they make great companions if you're willing to put in the time, effort and space to make it work. And it IS a lot of work!