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Posted by Harry's Dad on December 09, 2000 at 05:04:54:
In Reply to: Hey! I bet that you will never quess how old I am. . . posted by Tmom on December 08, 2000 at 23:49:55:
You may think it's stereotyping, but it's really based on majority. You may fall under the minority.....but facts are facts, more iguana deaths are found in young owners than older owners. It may not be their fault, in my opinion, it's the parents fault, for allowing the child or young adult, to purchase an iguana in the first place! With many parents view of an iglet as a disposable pet, "hey, it didn't cost much, if it dies no big deal and it entertains my child". As bad as it sounds, you wouldn't believe how many parents think this way. I've been at a few pet stores and have over heard a parent asking the pet store employee "I'm looking for something to entertain my children" "How about this lizard?" ( it being a green iguana) And do you know, most of the time the parent steers completely away from a snake, it's their mental image of "danger" referencing a snake. They'll look first at an iguana, then if the pet store employee explains any of the truth, they turn towards a turtle. And you wouldn't believe how many turtles are rescued just in VA alone. Most (not all) parents don't take the time to do research on the reptile WITH the child or young person and this is where things go wrong. They take in the 10 minute speech from the pet store employee and they feel they're ready to care for the iguana. They have the 10 gallon tank, a hot rock, a can of iguana food and a light bulb.......oh don't forget the bark substrate!! Some owner's decide they don't want to keep buying canned food and start feeding the iguana regular lettuce. The life of this iguana is found to be under 2 years of life!!!
If you don't believe what I have stated above, do some research on your own, go to pet stores and ask what the average age of new iguana owners are. Then ask around at school (if you're still in school) how many kids HAD or have iguanas. You'd be amazed at how many HAD iguanas.
Fall is one of the busiest times for rescue groups, why? Because young adults are heading off to college and they have to get rid of their iguanas. We've had over 2 dozen in the VA area alone, contact us because of this reason.
When I learned my lesson about being responsible for caring for animals, was back when I was seventeen I had a hamster named "Bud". My hamster died and the loss was a shock. I thought long and hard about what I had done, I purchased an animal and didn't properly take care of it. I swore from that time on, I wouldn't purchase another animal unless I did research and could care for it properly. It comes down to knowing the your limits, for example: I'd love to have a large turtle (one of 2 types) but since they can live for 80 years, I most likely won't ever get one because I most likely WON'T live that long and a making a 80 year commitment to an animal is really hard to do, since you never know where your life will be going for that long. We all need to take the time to really think honestly about "is it right to purchase this animal/reptile, based on my knowledge of it?"
So in ending, you may think I am stereotyping, but facts are facts, more iguanas are lost from the age group of 10 to 22 years of age. Feel good that you DON'T fall into the majority!
HD
