Index
Updated 3/17/03

3/17/02 - Brigadune is still a bit afraid of me, at least while getting him out of his cage. Once he's out for awhile, he calms down. His favorite place to be when he's out is as high as he can climb on me, either my head or my shoulder. He has never tried to bite. He occasionally tail whips, but it's very half-hearted. Since I last wrote here he's filled out a lot and is looking great. I have to measure him again as I really think he grew a lot. I have his measurements from another date written down somewhere and will post them here with that date as well as his updated measurements.
12/09/02 - Brigadune's eating is getting better, but he's still trying to mate any chance he can get. I'm just very happy he's eating better. He's been looking so thin.
11/25/02 - Oh my, it's been ages since I worked on this site. I've been so busy, but it's really time to do an update on little Brigadune.
Well, sometime during the end of July/beginning of August, Brigadune was beginning to be a questionable male instead of the female I was thinking he was. He was getting some suspicious tailbase swellings and what I thought could be some enlargement of his femoral pores. By late September it was obvious he was a male and by mid-October Brigadune was mating with anything he could... small pillows I put in his cage (almost everytime I entered the room I found him mating with one), but his favorite is ME!
The first time I realized he was in breeding season was when I was very surprised and pleased that he ran up my arm instead of running from me when I opened his cage door (He had been very skittish since being moved to the lizard room around March. He had outgrown the tank he was in in the other room.). The next thing that I knew, Brigadune was clamped onto my shoulder and looking to mate. I unhooked him from my shoulder, set him on the floor and threw my T-shirt down on the floor for him which he ran right after and mated with. I've added a video clip of Brigadune trying to mate with my jeans (while I'm still wearing them) to the video page

1/8/02 - Brigadune is this little mite coated iguana I talked my husband into saving from a local pet store. When I saw this little iguana covered with mites on December 9th, 2001, I begged and pleaded with him to let me take him in so he wouldn't die (there were that many mites on him!). I told Jim he could make it my birthday present (He was going to get me another tattoo, but a couple months had already passed and I still hadn't figured out what my design was going to be. So I still hadn't actually gotten anything for my birthday. I told him he could get him for me for my birthday. I knew Jim didn't want more iguanas in the house. I mean I'm up to 9 right now as it is. I spent the morning trying to find somewhere to place him, so I could show Jim I had a home for him to go after he was rid of the mites. I have two possible places for Brigdune right now. The following day Jim arrived during his lunch hour at home with a cardboard box. All he said was that he had to get back to work. I found out later that Brigadune is my birthday present - so I don't know if that means I'm allowed to keep him permanently or not ;-) If nothing else, Brigadune now has a page on this site with his story and pictures of his recovery.

Brigadune has three photo albums... <1> <2> <3>

As soon as Jim brought him here, I took some quick before pictures, and then soaked him in the sink for at least 45 minutes. He put up no fight in the sink. Maybe he knew I was helping him, maybe he just didn't feel like fighting. All I know is he now hates to be in the sink and will jump right out of it. I think I killed off all the mites in that one soaking. I sprayed Provent-A-Mite in his sterile cage and hide (a small aquarium with a PVC tube for climbing and hiding). I repeated the soaks at least once a day, with an extended soak exactly every week to ensure the mites don't come back. I haven't seen a live mite on him since before that one soaking. I have quite a few pictures I'll be adding here shortly... before and after pics as well as pics of him

I found out from the pet store that Brigadune had been a drop off from someone who no longer wanted him. I also found out that he had been at the pet store for at least 3 months. I measured him and he's only 5.5" svl. I think he should be a bit bigger, but I could be wrong. He was initially put in with other baby iguanas there and from what I was told, he was separated because they were picking on him. I'm not sure when he exactly ended up with mites, but they had been there for a long time because there was some extensive damage to his skin, especially his one inner thigh, partway down his tail and his spikes. I was told they were trying to get rid of the mites, but there were several branches for climbing and wood chip substrate in the cage, so unless they were using Provent-A-Mite or a No-Pest Strip, I didn't see how it could be possible.

He most likely will have lasting scars. He's been shedding nonstop since he came here, and the poor guy lost a ton of spikes off his back.

Brigadune has been a sweet little iguana and not very skittish at all. Once I have him out he's very calm.

I have a lot more to add about him, but this is a start for now.