June 4, 2010

White Dog sat on my shoulder and listened in as I called the zoo to talk to the Animal Behaviorist about the Smitten Iguana. "Maybe she and Quinn will have to be committed for observation," she speculated, "Let's do anything necessary to make sure they are mentally stable, no matter how long they must stay locked up." "Chill out my dear," I said, "Neither Milo or the Other White Dog are going to be committed." It turned out that our referral has just begun a three-week vacation and would not be available until the end of this month. "Maybe we should just sedate Milo...and Quinn, too, just to safe" White Dog suggested. "Maybe a certain White Dog should stop being so CATTY!" I responded and she left in a huff singing "When Quinn the Eskimo gets here, the iguanas gonna run to him!".

Steve noticed today when he put the Love Lizard in the tub that she is beginning to develop the bright orange/yellow skin tone that marks her going into season. Aha! Maybe that is the reason our green scaly girl has suddenly taken a liking to our fluffy white boy. Maybe things will cool abit when her time has passed (about 40 days).

Quinn is not totally disinterested in Milo, either. Today we left the Iguana in the tub to prevent her stalking TOWD but I caught him going into the bathroom to check on her several times across the day. In the heat of the afternoon, I found Quinn not laying on the cool concrete of the sunporch but napping with his back against the tub where Milo waded.

Several readers have asked how it came to be that Milo is three legged. When we took in the 5" long iguana 14 years ago as a rescue it was because she had broken her leg in shipment to a chain pet store and was destined to become food for the snakes because of it (iguanas were not worth the expense of a vet). The clerks tried to splint the leg with cardboard and a rubberband but ended up cutting off her circulation; by the time we got her to our exotics vet (we already had an iguana) her leg had necrified and it had to be removed. We spent weeks nursing her and administering antibiotics with an infant syringe into her tiny stump to prevent infection...all in preparation for her one day meeting our Reskimo and falling in love.