Posted by Dishy on August 16, 2000 at 21:01:48:
I have seen a few, and I know there are many more out there, of those horrible cheap “care” books with *really really bad* info in them, and until now I could have only imagined the toll this takes on the animals. On Monday, one of my son’s friends called and asked if I wanted to take an iguana from his stepbrother who moving and “couldn’t” take it with him. He assured me the ig was taken care of and that it was healthy, and it would be brought over on Tuesday. When I got home from work last night, the ig was there and some supplies were left with it, including the previously mentioned horrible book.
When I first looked at the pretty little ig, I could clearly see it was not in the best of health. She is missing many spikes down her back and has a slightly recessed lower jaw and a curve on her back. She is missing at least half of her tail and she appears maybe a little stunted otherwise as well. I couldn’t quite grasp why I was told she was healthy, but it wasn’t that big of a deal considering the woes of iguanas.
She is a sweet and gentle little thing and when I finally forced myself to put her down to get some sleep, I decided to browse this book that was left here with the supplies. Needless to say, I was appalled! It’s the same old stuff, feeding crix, etc., feed every 3 days, etc., etc., I had planned to quote some of the stuff, at the risk of violating copyright laws, because it is just to unbelievable to paraphrase. But now I’m tired and this is already way long, so I’ll get my quotes together to post at a later time. The main point of this really is that I now have a strong suspicion as to the why the ig’s health is in shambles, in addition to some obvious neglect on the part of the previous owner, I am convinced that for the most part he consulted this really bad cheap book and followed its horrible advice, thinking he was doing the right thing. Now, I’m *really really appalled*!