I began my journey into the world of iguanas in the early 1990’s with a juvenile that we took care of exactly how we were told to... unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the poor ig didn’t survive. Many years later, my son came to me and said, “Mom, I want an iguana.”

Thus began the next chapter. I knew I didn’t want to make the same mistakes, so the first order of business was to get a book. I made my son research what we would need to provide for an ig not just to survive, but to thrive. Plus, I made him save up to buy everything he'd need; it took him about a year to raise all the money he needed to properly house the ig.

I did the research right along with him because I knew eventually I’d be called on to get involved. Sure enough, about three months after he bought the ig, my son had decided he no longer wanted to care for it. I became Gil's primary care-giver and promptly fell in love. Boy was I glad I’d done all that research!

In 2005, Gil and I received a visit from James W. Hatfield, III, author of Green Iguana: The Ultimate Owner's Manual. What a treat to spend several hours with the “ultimate” iguana man! In subsequent years, I've had a number of visits with Jim.

During the summer of 2008, I spent two weeks in Grand Cayman voluntering at the Blue Iguana Recovery Program.

I live in California with Ken, my partner; Lovey, our black lab; Gil, my sassy green iguana; and Cisco, my juvenile California Kingsnake.

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck