iguana escape story

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Posted by ducky on April 27, 2002 at 17:47:51:

Last September my boyfriend had our young iguana, Zilla, outside on a warm day to get some UV while we were waiting for our UV light to come in the mail. Zilla caught him by surprise with a burst of strength and broke free from his hands. My boyfriend chased him around the front yard but Zilla was much faster and managed to run up the tallest tree around which was probablly about 30 ft. My boyfriend sat under the tree for hours waiting for zilla to come down. When he tried climbing the tree, Zilla ran further up into it and we lost sight of him. Every day we searched for him but we pretty much figured he was long gone. He was still very small so he wouldnt be easy to spot. Well two months past, and the temperature started dropping. Some nights it was down to like 15 degrees. We figured the poor little guy was gone forever. Then we got a call from my boyfriends roomate. Zilla came back! He was found in a pond right in the same front yard where he had first escaped! We couldnt believe it. He looked amazingly healthy, hadn't lost much weight, but he was very cold. When we got him home we realized that he was injured. He couldnt move his back legs. The next day we took him to the vet and he got an xray. He suffered from a dislocated spine and internal parisites. It took a long time for him to recover, but now he is able to walk again and even run (although not as fast, and with a lack of coordination.) I still cannot believe that he was able to survive for so long on his own in the cold weather and that he found his way home. I am so happy he is doing good :)

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: Last September my boyfriend had our young iguana, Zilla, outside on a warm day to get some UV while we were waiting for our UV light to come in the mail. Zilla caught him by surprise with a burst of strength and broke free from his hands. My boyfriend chased him around the front yard but Zilla was much faster and managed to run up the tallest tree around which was probablly about 30 ft. My boyfriend sat under the tree for hours waiting for zilla to come down. When he tried climbing the tree, Zilla ran further up into it and we lost sight of him. Every day we searched for him but we pretty much figured he was long gone. He was still very small so he wouldnt be easy to spot. Well two months past, and the temperature started dropping. Some nights it was down to like 15 degrees. We figured the poor little guy was gone forever. Then we got a call from my boyfriends roomate. Zilla came back! He was found in a pond right in the same front yard where he had first escaped! We couldnt believe it. He looked amazingly healthy, hadn't lost much weight, but he was very cold. When we got him home we realized that he was injured. He couldnt move his back legs. The next day we took him to the vet and he got an xray. He suffered from a dislocated spine and internal parisites. It took a long time for him to recover, but now he is able to walk again and even run (although not as fast, and with a lack of coordination.) I still cannot believe that he was able to survive for so long on his own in the cold weather and that he found his way home. I am so happy he is doing good :)

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