Spunky

We adopted Spunky from our vet's office as a rescue situation in March 2000. I had taken Kiwi in for a minor ailment and the receptionist and I got to talking about exotic pets. She told me about another client of theirs who had an iguana, but was completely afraid of it, therefore did not take proper care of it. The iguana had already been in the office for several problems including a broken arm. This time the client had called saying the iguana's tail had "fallen off." When told the office visit would be $45 the client said the iguana was not worth the money and she would rather let him die in his cage. I was truly horrified that someone could be so cruel.

Being the good person our vet is, she told her client she would treat the iguana for free if the client agreed to surrender the poor animal and let her find another home for it. The lady agreed, and was supposed to be bringing the lizard in that evening.

Even though we had no room for another large reptile, I left my number with the receptionist on the way out and said if the iguana looked like it had a decent chance of surviving, then to call me. I figured I could at least rehabilitate it, then have them help me find another home for it.

The vet's office called that evening and said the iguana definitely had a chance of living, but he was thin, had a broken tail and skin rot. When I arrived to pick him up, I noticed the 10-gallon tank he'd been dropped off in had about a half-inch of water covering the bottom and the iceburg lettuce in his bowl was completely brown. There was nowhere for him to escape the water and getting to the food in the tall-sided hamster bowl was not easy. I felt so sorry for him! What a rough life he'd had so far.

Spunky (then known as Carmine) was tiny. He was only about 7 inches snout-to-vent, but the vet said he was over a year old. At a year, he should've been at least half-again that size and certainly not in a 10-gallon tank. Judging from what they were feeding him, it's a wonder he lasted that long really. His eyes were sunken in, his sides and the base of his tail (what was left!) were so thin his bones were no mystery, and the lines of black rot on his skin from sitting in the water too much were gross. He sure was fiesty though!

We carted him home with a bunch of antibiotic and antiseptic skin wash from the vet. Although I've given injections to Kiwi once before, I'm not comfortable with needles at all. I held him while Katy gave him the injections in his tail twice a day. She did a fantastic job, and Spunky only flinched once. He also took daily baths in the tub with the antiseptic wash. He loved swimming in there! We found a very low-sided food dish for him and started feeding him the proper greens immediately. You could tell he was feeling much better by the third day as his appetite improved ten-fold.

We had to wait a bit to afford better housing for him, but finally we were able to shell out a few hundred for the long-overdue "Kiwi condo" and Spunky inherited Kiwi's 80-gallon aquarium, complete with a few new pieces of "furniture" (natural wooden logs). He looked so tiny in there, but he was loving all the room to move around, and Kiwi was equally happy with her new digs. I let Katy pick his new name since we wanted to erase everything we could from his previous experience with humans. She named him Spunky because he was obviously full of attitude and had a great will to live.

Spunky was already looking much better after a month - his tail started to regenerate and the skin rot on his sides was almost gone. He quickly advanced from his low-sided dish to a large plastic plant saucer. The more he ate, the more he grew. When he was finishing two of those saucers in a day, we started giving him regular table serving bowls like Kiwi has. This boy can really pack it away!

After a year he probably could've been placed in a new home. He was physically healed for the most part, but his mental state was not what I would've liked it to be despite his apparent practice of zen meditations. By the time two years passed it was obvious his attitude was not going to improve any further. However, he had made a place for himself in our home and hearts, despite his never-ending displays of head-bobbing, tail whacking, a couple bites here and there... so he officially became a permanent part of the family. He has enough attitude to fill three iguanas, I swear.

Spunky is now roughly 12 1/2 inches snout-to-vent, and has regenerated 12 inches of tail besides the 7 inches that remain of his original tail. Overall length at approximately 4-5 years old: 31 1/2 inches. He's almost tripled in size since coming home with us. He needs his own condo now, so we're working on putting together the money for that. He has a very impressive dewlap display that he's happy to show anyone who walks up to his cage. He doesn't let many people know it, but he does have a soft side and can be convinced to show a little love. If you can get your hand in the cage without scaring him, he will close his eyes while you give him a scratch on the bumps, or a stroke down his side.

Spunky says when he grows up he wants to be on the cover of Reptiles magazine, or perhaps start his own version of GQ (Guana Quarterly). He's already practicing his pose for the cover shot. Spunky's been known to get into some tight places when he's allowed to free roam, but mostly he enjoys just hanging around his cage, practicing his karate moves, and scaring the chinchillas.

Spunky says bye for now but he hopes you'll enjoy the rest of Dragonfly Wood. :)

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