Ok everyone, this is going to be a long one but I really need your help.
While looking through a local paper today I found an add for a green iguana and out of curriosity I decided to give the number a call. My boyfriend and I have researched them for a few months now and wanted to get the information to consider it but this is what I found:
The iguana is approximately 4 years old and is about 3 ft long, his cage is 4ft x 2ft x 3ft and they have no idea what light they use for him. He apparantly only goes into his cage to poop and otherwise sits on a window sill. He has only ever bitten once and apparantly is pretty friendly but there's more. He has mites, has had them for about 3 years and his owners won't take him to the vet. They stopped trying to treat him and the woman's exact words were "it dosn't seem to have hurt him so we stopped, they couldn't do anything about it in the wild anyway". (Please do not think I believe that, my stomach turned writing it.) He was sick 2 years ago and wouldn't eat and pooped once for the whole month, once he was put on organic lettuce he was fine but they never give him water, they believe that he gets all the water he needs from his lettuce. The only time they did was when she put him outside and left him for a few days then let him back in. She gets frustrated that he eats half a can of peas and lettuce as well.

What do I do? The woman is sending me pictures of him tonight and I will post them on here. I know I can't let him stay like that but the last thing I would ever want to do would be to put my own pets at risk. please help me, anything you can tell me I would really appreciate it. Please reply as soon as possible.

so, do you want to adopt him? is there any way you could quarrentine him at your house somewhere else, like in a far off room or even a detatched garage while you get the mites treated?

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

I would grab that poor thing in a heartbeat. There must be some way you can isolate him until it's healthy. I'm really surprised the poor thing has survived this long under those conditions.

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Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

I have the bottom floor of a house, and the room farthest away from the room my wd is in would be a carpeted laundry room.. theres not a room in here that dosn't have carpet.

I would love to adopt him, but I must say.. you all have me kind of scared of igs right now, reading about the posts and through research, but even if I had to have him until I could find someone else to take him I would do it. i can't let him stay like that. My boyfriend just emailed me the pictures the woman sent and you can see the red on him from the mites. I'll post them as soon as I get them. Promise.

Here are the pictures of him.

Attached Images

	Ig.jpg (10.4 KB, 23 views)
	his cage.jpg (8.9 KB, 20 views)
	ig again.jpg (11.6 KB, 23 views)

this ig sounds pretty tame, it may get stressed in a brand new environment, but it would calm down. Can you set up to take the ig directly to the vet for a mite treatment so you don't have to stop at home first?

and for the laundry room, you could put down a big plastic drop cloth to try and keep the mites off the carpet. get the biggest one and make it go all the way up the walls.

looks like he is in a big dog kennel?

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

I'm trying to make arrangements as we speak, I'm even seeing if my parents can keep him at their place for awile until it's under control. I can't promise I know what I'm doing but I'm giving it my best shot.

you know the basics and all the research you need is here in friends and caresheets. You know to start out it needs to see a vet, get a UVB bulb and a proper diet. Thats a great start.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

Have you considered calling animal control to file an abuse/neglect report? I'm not sure there'd be any value to it at this point, unless the lady has other animals that could be at risk as well. In my opinion, the grossest neglect she's commited is not getting the mites treated. As a local example, there was a horse not far from our house that was pathetically skinny, whereas his companion was just fine. We sent animal control to check out the skin-and-bones one, and it turned out that the owner had failed to treat a worm infestation for several months. I'm not sure what followed from that, but the officer with whom I spoke said that consequences for the owner were pending. He also said that several other passers-by had already called him about the poor thing.

Here in Indy, confiscated pets are handed over to rehab places before being adopted out. Those rescue organizations deal with every kind of problem under the sun. So, maybe they could help get it up to speed, then pass it on to you as a loving new home.

On the other hand, the lady would probably know it was you who reported the matter, so who knows what kind of weird retaliation might follow. It's obviously your judgment call.

Jennifer

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Leopard Geckos: Gravy & Noah
African Fat-tails: Mocha (gravid) & Csikos ('Striped')
Russian Tortoise: Dude
African Dwarf Frog: Anon
Firebelly Toads: anonymous (3)
Guinea Pigs (adult): Autumn, Butterscotch, Nudger
Guinea Pigs (juv.): Linda, Heidi, Scruffy
Netherlands Dwarf Rabbit: Kobe
Small Mouth Bass: Cupcake
Beta Fish: Indigo & Chelsae

Thanks for the help. Apparantly his cage was "custom made" by the woman's husband but it only has a wood floor on it. you've gotta love the little mealworm feeder he has for a food dish in the one corner of the picture huh? Poor fella. But I'm going to go and make a few more phone calls and then head to bed. I'll post in here again in the morning with an update on what I can do. Have a good night and thanks again.