IGUANAS ON VIDEO...Good Edu & Morons Deterrent?.....long....

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Posted by IGUANA JOE on March 17, 2003 at 22:18:13:

A common sight on this forum is soon-to-be owners or new owners asking us info on husbandry, or additional info after reading MK and/or Hatfield.

It is great to see homeless iguanas being adopted by folks willing to give time, money, and love to these animals.
The sad thing is, their previous captive conditions were either pitiful, or the previous owner(s) could not picture how demanding these animals are.

Enters the VIDEO. Our human natures makes us more attracted to visual aids than words or letters alone. Why else did TV become more popular than radio way back?

I think people, even after reading MK or Hatfield, still cannot fully picture in their novice minds what it is like to house a 6ft+ male in breeding madness, or a rapid growing juvie.

Actually, books and pictures can sometimes attract and intrigue more than they should.

A long, fully detailed video is probably not only an excellent tool to educate owners-to-be or current, but it will give a detailed, visual example of how much an iguana will grow from cute little hatchling to large adult, and what it takes to make them grow and prosper.

Also, personal interviews and videos of actual, experienced reputable owners to show both the bright side of owning a large reptile and "painful" side (lashes, bites, scrathces, salmonella).

Also, it will show in real life the HUGE enclosure size they need from young adult on. People have a hard time picturing a 6x7x4 enclosure. They think in "gallons" which leads to tanks, which leads to buying horizontal aquaria not suitable for iguanas. They often just picture the frame alone of the cage, without considering lamps, shelters, substrate, and climbing accessories.

This can act as a "morons-deterrent". That is, it can help prevent people not suitable for owning iguanas from buying one. The video would have to be realistic, so no Santa-Clause dressed igs or "cute" scenes that might cause the opposite.

These are serious animals that need serious care.

I have yet to see such a video widely available. The problem why so many people view large reptiles as "cool" only, is beacuse those who own them (or breed them) show them as such. After a few months, these animals will die or be abandoned.

What do you think? A lot of people are too lazy to read hundreds of pages on iguana care. A professionally done video can save a lot of iguanas, and help the iguana community grow positively.

It's a lot like learning guitar: it looks easy done by Hendrix, but when u give it a try, u sit down and weep.

Sorry for the long post.

-IJ

Follow Ups:

Videos, forums and reading material, whatever it takes... catsandlizards 03/19/03 (0)
Videos,Info,And human nature>>>>more highlander1 03/18/03 (0)
Re: IGUANAS ON VIDEO...Good Edu & Morons Deterrent?.....long.... PHFaust 03/17/03 (1)
- I know the video is having distribution problems girlzilla 03/18/03 (0)