This is what happens...

When pet stores carry iguanas.
I don't know how the breeders live with themselves. They can't be completely blind to this.

~See attached~


Her name is Copper. She's an 8-year-old, 2 foot female green iguana. Colbert Co. Animal Control brought her to me a few weeks ago because they know I'm a sucker. She wasn't given proper nutrition and had no access to UVB rays for the first two years of her life. Her spine's been broken (due to MBD), causing paralysis in her back legs that may or may not get better. Her growth has been severely stunted.
There was a lady that rescued her from her first owners and gave her a good home for 5 years. When she couldn't care for Copper anymore, she brought her to animal control who then called me. She's now about as healthy as she'll ever be, says the vet.

Now, I work at a pet store; I've been there for over two years. We don't carry iguanas anymore because I found out that even though you tell everyone exactly what they need to keep their new pet healthy, they don't listen to you. I had one lady tell me as she walked out, "Yeah, we're not gonna do all that. We're just going to throw some lettuce in there and hope it lives."
In my area, there aren't many people who know how to take care of these reptiles. They have absolutely no idea, and the animals suffer because of it. When animal control came in the store, the sight of this lizard in a plastic dog crate dragging herself around in a circle just broke my heart.

That is awful, and I know what you mean about people with these animals. Even worse is when they give you the lip service of saying they will do all those things, and then bring you a sick/dead animal because they didn't (demanding a refund half the time none the less).