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Index
Updated 3/17/03
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3/18/03 - Measured Igor - 14 1/2" svl, 33" stl (regenerated tail)
3/17/03 - Igor has been a bit subdued as of late. He's been calmer since Helmut passed away in November. He doesn't headbob much anymore. I'm not sure if he actually misses Helmut for the ritual headbobbing and posturing, or if he's just getting a bit old. He is eating very well, which is good. I did walk into the room within the last few weeks wearing green and he postured and headbobbed at me like his old self. I think he just doesn't have anything to headbob at right now. The other males aren't as easy to see (Chester & CDR, & Brigadune is still a bit too small for him to care). He does occasionally headbob at the females that are also loose in the lizard room (Julep & Picasso) and they all get along just fine basking and eating together. They even sleep together in a pile under Chester & Hemme's cage. I do have to get back in this page and write about the really bad injury he sustained from Helmut in January 2002. I really thought I had written about that here, but I see I was mistaken.
Below is his story - about how he came to live with me. Below that are some previous journal entries about him.
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 Click on Igor to see more pictures of him |
I got him home and into his new cage. He seemed to perk up once he got heated a bit, but was still a very well behaved ig.
Igor got out once when Hoot was out and they fought. I didn't find this out until I got back from classes. Initially I couldn't tell who was injured because there was blood on both Igor and Hoot, but then found that Igor had the worst of the injuries. Hoot had just about ripped off Igor's little finger. He also had several bites on his arms from which he still bears scars. After a vet trip and some antibiotics, Igor's wounds started to heal. His finger started to itch. He would hold it out in front of his face as if admiring a ring, then proceed to chew on it. I ended up having to tape a rubber glove finger over his hand to keep him from chewing. It eventually healed fine.
Igor also had some strange thing happen with his tail in which it would seem to abcess and the antibiotics wouldn't completely kick it. Our vet had to amputate it a couple times to keep it from spreading. Again, as it healed, he chewed. I taped the rubber glove finger over the tail as we did the hand. It finally healed. His tail was regenerated when we got him. He lost about 6" and it didn't regrow.
In early 1994, Igor made advances on Hobbes resulting in him getting bitten below his right eye. Despite the fact that I cleaned the bite thoroughly right after it happened, it abcessed. At first it wasn't that bad. I took him to the vet, who cleaned it and prescribed antibiotics. It came back, again and again. I kept taking him back in to have it cleaned out only to have it get bigger everytime. Finally it was so big that it pushed his eye shut and was able to be seen from the other side of his head.
The vet took x-rays and said he thought it was in his bones and the prognosis was poor. I scheduled the surgery for 4/15/94 anyway. The vet had to remove his eye because there were so many pus pockets behind it. He didn't feel like he would have been able to remove them all without taking the eye. Igor survived the surgery and while he was coming out of anesthesia he bit the vet tech.
His recovery was a long process. I had to give him three different injectable antibiotics of which none of them could be drawn up in the same syringe. Occasionally the medication schedules would all fall on the same day and poor Igor would get three separate shots. In addition to the shots, I had to flush his eye socket out with Nolvasan solution and Peroxide.
Needless to say, he hated all of this and would turn this horrible gray color. His good eye would sink in and the skin around it would turn black. He'd stay like that for up to half an hour, breathing slowly but heavily. He was really stressed and I was really worried about him. I stayed a few nights in his room, just to keep an eye on him.
As the weeks went by, he improved and healed. He did have problems with eating and drinking for awhile. I think he felt the food kept moving on him. He'd see it, then move his head to go eat it, and it wasn't there. I also had to splash my finger in his water to get him to drink. I continued until I saw that he knew where it was and how to get the water without my help. He has no problems with eating or drinking now. Actually, when he gets in his breeding season and makes his advances on me, I just hop over him and it was like I was never there.
Igor's not a very large male, 13" svl. He was probably stunted from the diet his previous owner gave him. He's got a great temperament, even during his breeding season, and as you can see he has beautiful coloring.
12/1/98- I was cleaning cages in the lizard room and Igor wanted out. Oobleck was up where he couldn't get to her, so I let him out to free roam while I cleaned. Igor sometimes reacts to colors ranging from a yellow-green to teal. I think he sees those as potential threats, like another iguana.
Anyway- as I was saying, I was cleaning cages when I hear this rustling, like someone picking up one of those supermarket plastic bags. That's exactly what I was hearing. Here was Igor, attacking the garbage bag- a blue supermarket bag. He would posture and headbob, then he'd make a charge at it and back off. I had to double the bag because he tore it in several places. Geez!2/8/99- I took Igor to the vet because the nip Mandelbrot gave him got infected. There was this huge Mastiff (only 9 mo. old, but still huge, especially in contrast to Igor) and he desperately wanted to check out Igor and if it had been any of my other igs, they would have been terrified, but Igor climbed up my arm, sat on my shoulder and headbobbed at this dog as if he could take on the dog and win! He bobbed at all the dogs there like that. Such a character!
3/24/99-Igor has been in his breeding season since around February. He’s been pretty mild. When I go into the lizard room, he’ll come running at me, but doesn’t try to attack or mate or anything like that. He does headbob a lot, but is always like that. He does get aggressive around green and some blue clothing. I wore a pair of kelly green pants in the lizard room on St.Patrick’s Day and got attacked. I changed clothes before reentering. Also, Igor has been jumping off Hobbes cage (he hangs out on her cage most of the time) onto me as I pass by. This has been an increasing occurrence lately. We’ll see what happens as the weather will be warming up soon.
4/14/99-After I get the kids to bed I like to go into the lizard room to clean cages. I let Mandelbrot out to clean her cage and Igor was all over her. He's pretty much half her size and only has one eye, so he wasn't really getting anywhere trying to mount her. I hurried up and cleaned her cage and got her back in it, but she was able to get one nip in on Igor's arm before that. She didn't hurt him. She just wanted him to leave her alone. I moved on to another cage and was cleaning it when Igor came out of nowhere and nailed my forearm. He was looking to mate and not hurt me otherwise the bite would have been bad. An arm for an arm, I guess 8-). You can click here to see pictures of the bite. Poor Igor can't find a female that will let him mate with her. The only one that is his size is Oobleck, and with her history, I don't think it's a good idea. He's never shown any interest in her in the slightest. He likes the females that are bigger than him; Hobbes and Mandelbrot. Mandelbrot and Oobleck are the only ones I would let out while Igor's out, and now Mandelbrot's been added to the list of igs I won't let out when he's out.
If you haven't figured out by now, Igor's a free roaming ig. He's been free roaming since around Christmas 1998, when I never got a cage built for Oobleck (things were very hectic) and she needed to be in one because she pooped all the time, everywhere! (just like Helmut does). Igor's been a very good free roamer in that he poops in a litter box and is small enough that if he climbed anything, it wouldn't topple over. The thing is, he doesn't climb anything except a low part on Hobbes cage where he camps out (he has his pillow and heating pad/basking spot set up there).
He pretty much wanders around in front of Hobbes and Mandelbrot's cages, headbobbing, then heading back to his basking area for awhile. That's what he does all day. And then he chases after me and headbobs at me when I'm in the room.
He's been very good about his stalking. He chases after me when I walk in the room, whether it be to spray everyone or change water bowls and feed lizards. He runs after me and then waits behind me to be petted. Then he goes about his business.
4/16/99- I took Igor outside the other day when it was very warm. I took him out on a leash and he did very well. He didn't like Anson running outside or jumping near him, but didn't go into a panic. He just puffed up and threatened Anson and then did a lot of headbobbing. Then later after he was back loose in the lizard room, he would slam himself hard into Hobbes' cage door and then about-face slam into the gecko cage door right across from Hobbes' cage. I think the real UV made him nuts! I heard him do that yesterday when I walked by the room in the hallway. Silly Igor! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that lizard. His nose and chin are a bit scabby looking. I'm keeping an eye on it. Igor's nose and chin seem to be doing okay- just scabby, but not infected or swelling or anything like that.
4/20/99-I needed to get CDR out and check out a raw patch of skin he's been having problems with. I had to wrap CDR up in a towel since he hates me checking him out. I had him out and Igor kept circling around. I would move Igor out of the way and he'd come right back. CDR never saw Igor since I kept him covered with the towel, but Igor knew he was there. After getting CDR back into the cage, I cleaned up a mess Helmut made. While I was doing that Igor was circling me all laterally compressed, as males do to make themselves look bigger. They look rather skinny from top view, but very big from the sides (gives the illusion that they're bigger than they really are). He would circle me and then lunge, but with his screwed up depth perception having only one eye, he sometimes got the pant leg of my jeans, and a lot of the time he missed.
The interesting thing I noticed with him when he was attempting to engage in battle with me was that his eyes would sink in. I know he's not dehydrated, and his eyes before the attacks on me and on other days are normal. I'm wondering if part of it has to do with protecting the eyes.
He has increased his speed when he chases me since this morning. It has a different feel to it than when he would chase me to have me pet him or to attempt to mate with my arm. I can tell he means business today. I'll see how he acts this afternoon when I go and feed them.
5/10/99- Now, last night, with the warm weather we've been having, I was in the lizard room with rather short shorts, which I don't think I'll do again with Igor out. I stooped down to clean up a poop he did and he charged out of nowhere and bit me on the back of the thigh/butt! It took awhile to stop bleeding and it seeped most of the evening. How embarrassing!!! The weird thing is that it only felt like a pinch and it didn't hurt after that. You know I think I take for granted that he only has one eye and his aim is off, but that one time out of 100 or so he really can land a bite. He bit me on the shin through my jeans a week ago. The jeans were very thick so he didn't break the skin though I think he meant business.5/12/99- Igor bit me twice on the way home from the vet through a heavy denim laundry bag that I took him in. One bite bled a bit. I couldn't believe it! He wasn't thrilled having me hold him down while the vet lanced the abcess, but the vet did get a huge chunk out. I'm sure it hurt a lot. Poor Igor! I don't blame him for biting me. And as usual, he showed he was king of the waiting room. I think he would have taken on any dog or their owner.
5/18/99- I think Igor's like he is because he's free roaming. He's been ornery since February, though not horrible. I can go in and pet him and whatnot, but it seems like he has to have his initial run at me and then he mellows- most of the time at least.
You know, it seems the more they're free roaming the more territorial they can get and all that power goes to their head. It's like the more they have the more they want. Before you know it they're controlling the house.9/29/99- It's been a slow summer as far as new things to write about, until now. Igor and CDR got into a fight the other night. They had been doing well out together at the same time and I let them out while I was cleaning. I got distracted (left the room for a few minutes) and when I returned, they were circling each other and had both sustained some bites- Igor got the worst of it 8-(. I'm hoping I cleaned all the bites well enough to prevent an infection. Time will tell. I wish they'd all just get along- then they could all being out and about in the room.
10/12/99- Igor's has healed nicely from his confrontation with CDR. CDR is fine too. His wounds were never that bad. Looks like I cleaned it well enough and caught it in time <whew!>.
1/7/00~ 11/99- Igor sustained bites from Oobleck when I first let her free roam with him. I'm assuming he cornered her or she was just in a "mood". I didn't realize he had been bitten until the following day and he's since abcessed in those areas. Seems I didn't get to the bites in time to ward of an infection. My vet wanted me to keep an eye on the bites and see if the swelling went down by itself. It's better now, but I'll be taking him back to the animal hospital to have my vet see what he thinks.
1/7/00- I measured Igor on 12/30/99 and he was 13 13/16" svl.
2/3/00- Igor is doing much better. As some of you may know, he has been mourning the death of Oobleck. The day after she died he wandered the room looking for her, wouldn't use their basking area (even if I set him down there, he'd walk off), and he wouldn't eat. The following day (1/23/00) I washed the pillows from their basking area. After doing so, he used the site a little more (and is now using it as he used to). It took him a few days to realize she was gone and that he wouldn't find her. He's not wandering the room like he was. He's still not eating much, but I attribute that to his breeding season, which he generally goes into during this time of the year. I was able to get him to eat a little- in particular raspberries. Igor and I finished off a 1/2 pint in no time flat! 8-) I let Hobbes out in the lizard room and he tried to mount her, then realized she had a look about her that she wasn't happy with him and that she could really hurt him (maybe he remembers what she did to him which in turn cost him his eye)- so he slinked off. They managed to free roam well together that afternoon, but I don't really trust Hobbes after the one time she pooped while sitting on top of the humidifier cage (I have a "cage" covering the humidifier since it's a warm mist humidifer and could possibly burn any free roaming lizards. I'll add a page about the humidifier, its "cage", and info about it- soon. Anyway- back to Hobbes- It went right into the vent of the humidifier and I had to take it completely apart to clean- I was not happy).
On Monday (1/31/00) I brought him downstairs to hang out in the living room while I was on the computer. I set up a basking spot for him on the couch with a towel (like an idiot, I put out a towel that was his exact color and he attacked it- sure sign that he's in season), a heating pad on low under the towel, and a heavy duty clamp lamp (I needed both hands to open the clamp) attached to a floor lamp. I put him on the couch and he would always walk down and into the dining room where I was on the computer- then crawl under a chair and get cold. I finally had to take him back up to the lizard room where it was toasty warm. I'll try letting him walk around in the living room this spring once it warms up.
I'm considering getting him an older female rescue who's on the smaller side (less chance of her hurting him), but right now it feels like it's too soon. I was just upstairs cleaning up poop in the cages. I opened Mandelbrot's cage and she took off into the room before I could catch her. She attacked Igor who immediately went after her (it's his season after all). I grabbed Igor and set him on the shelf in her cage while I went to get watered down Betadine and Bactoderm for his injuries (thank goodness they're superficial). Mandelbrot got up and postured at Hobbes, who was in her cage, just any of the males would- up high on all fours, tail whipping! Hobbes reciprocated with the same posturing from inside her cage and they threatened each other through the glass. Mandelbrot finally tired of it and walked away. I had finished cleaning Igor by now and set him back in the room away from Mandelbrot, who was already heading into her cage and up her rope to her shelf. She doesn't like to be out of her cage for very long which is odd considering her cage isn't as large as I feel it should be. I guess she feels it's home and where her pillow is. This has been enough excitement for more than one day!
I took in Katy, 2/12/00. Igor checked her out, but doesn't seem interested.
I finally had to cage Igor because he was attacking me every single time I came into the room. Once he got me through my jeans. I still have a scar from that bite.
On 4/11/00, I was trying to get Igor to drink some water for me and he bit my finger. I cleaned it and didn't think much of it until it swelled up later that evening. It didn't hurt at all, but was to the point where I couldn't bend it at all. (I took pics of the bite right after it occurred and later after it swelled. Click here to see them). My husband wanted me to have it checked out, but I didn't feel like sitting at the "RediMed" waiting for a doctor to check it out. The following day he talked me into having it looked at. I was put on antibiotics and had to fill out a bite report. I tried lying on the report, but then the nurse asked too many questions I couldn't find lies for. I asked what they would do to the iguana, and she said nothing at all, but they have to fill out the forms anyway. The even have to fill them out for a cat scratch and that Animal Care and Control was more concerned about rabies than anything (which was mainly why the bite report needed to be filed- though you can't get rabies from reptiles). Today, I can't even tell where the bite was.
9/23/00 - Helmut oozed out of the bottom of his cage (I'm pretty sure Igor unlatched the bottom latch, since I'm always checking the cage locks. It's since been replaced with a spring locked latch) and Igor picked a fight with him. Igor being much smaller got the worst of it. Click here for the complete story and pics...