Re: CA Press: Big, green lizard takes a stroll

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Posted by zelda on April 02, 2003 at 11:19:39:

In Reply to: CA Press: Big, green lizard takes a stroll posted by W von Papine�u on April 01, 2003 at 18:28:39:

Uggh, I hope he doesnt feed him insects. And 8 ft??? Where do these people get their info. At least he is cared for for the moment....Good day everyone...Lyn

:THE CALIFORNIAN (Salinas, California) 01 April 03 Big, green lizard takes a stroll - Was it lookin' for love or just company?; Man finds 2-foot-long iguana on Capitol Street (Scott Faust)
:A two-foot iguana that Alain Pompey found striding down a Salinas street on Saturday apparently comes from a good home.
:It's just a small fry, but Pompey doesn't plan to keep it.
:Fully-grown iguanas can extend six or eight feet from their scaly noses to the tips of their tails, said Christine Crumm, who works in customer service for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Monterey County.
:Is that your idea of something to cozy up with?
:"They're not particularly cute," Crumm said Monday, "but they can be a nice pet as far as a lizard goes."
:Animal-lovers who are allergic to furry friends often find comfort in a reptile, she said.
:Iguanas thrive on a diet of fruit and insects, not meat. They can even be litter-box trained.
:"We actually have a lot of requests for iguanas as pets," Crumm said. "They come in, they look at the ones that are ready for adoption and they take them home."
:But it's important to train and nurture an iguana, Crumm said, "so they don't become tail-whippers and biters."
:She said baby iguanas' steady growth once they leave pet stores is more than some folks bargain for. They either hand them over to the SPCA -- or just abandon them.
:Sometimes iguanas just wander off.
:It's not clear how the lizard Pompey found ended up on the 500 block of Capitol Street.
:The iguana let him pick it up -- carefully -- without snapping at him, said the 38-year-old catering chef for Hullaballoo Restaurant.
:Now it's in an enclosed aquarium in the garage of his brother's Creekbridge home.
:"It looks like a little Kimodo dragon," Pompey said. "I've got it in a cage with a heat lamp and I'm feeding it grapes and stuff."
:Eager to unload the lizard, he said he first called Salinas Animal Control, who referred him to Salinas police. They told him the SPCA could help, but wouldn't be able to pick the iguana up.
:That's not true, Crumm said. The organization will pick up wild animals for medical care and possible adoption.
:Pompey said he's been too busy with his catering job and a pawn shop business to make his next move.
:But he's not in a panic, he said, because the iguana is "pretty tame," suggesting good care by its rightful owner.
:"Whoever lost this thing I'm sure is pretty upset," Pompey said.
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