A few years ago, I got a call from a neighbor telling me, my lizard was loose in his front yard. I had an adult female beardie at the time and she was in her enclosure. So I told him, it wasn't my lizard and asked what it looked like...he said it was big and green. I walked down to his house to find a very large iguana. Biggest iguana I had ever seen. Living in Florida, I know some parts have wild populations, but our city is not one of them. We are pretty far north and our winters are too cold for them. I approached him and he didn't freak out and was able to pick him up with little struggle. He didn't seem upset at all, more so, trying to climb onto me to feel more secure. I had very limited experience with iguanas. I knew how to feed and care for them, just never owned one myself. I posted a found ad, and soon the local news and newspaper contacted me...again, though its Florida, its not an area they are found running loose and he was HUGE and its a small city, so it was news, lol. I figured his owner would come forward after all the news coverage, but nothing. I was not prepared to keep such an animal. I had a dog kennel I kept him in when I could not supervise, but when I could, he had free run of my home. But because I had family living with me, who's kids were out of control, I was afraid he'd get hurt. And I didn't have the room to build or buy a big enough enclosure for him. I rehomed him with a friend who was very iguana experienced and had a large screened in enclosure with access to real sunlight. 6 months later, he passed away, we assume from age. He was doing well and one day just didn't wake up.
I was thinking of him the other day, I do miss him. In that short time I had him. I know so little about him though, so I figured maybe post some pics and see what you all think. We named him King Koopa. I've known several iguanas, but none quite like him. He was friendly and sweet. He liked humans a lot. If I left the room, he'd follow me room to room. He liked to climb on the kitchen counters, which was a constant battle,
He'd fall asleep in my bed. He was nice to my dogs and cats, but they stayed away from him for the most part.
These pics were taken within days of finding him...
I noticed he had some orange on him, which was told could be a sign of a deficiency.
Me holding him
My daughter holding him (this was the pic on the news, and the news anchor said someone better claim him because she looked ready to keep him)
So what do you iguana experts think? How old do you think he was? Do you think the orange was just his color or a health issue? Anything else? Someone asked me what morph he was once
I assume he was just a normal green iguana. I assume his colors and size were just the sign of a long lived, and healthy iguana. His tail didn't appear to ever have been broken. I hope and think whoever had him before was treating him right and maybe either he got too much to care for or escaped and the people just didn't see the ads and news stories.
Oddly enough, a month later, another friend found another large iguana. Not as big as Koopa. Yoshi was also wilder, but IMO not feral, just not handled enough. He wasn't mean just scared, I got him a bit more tamed down and rehomed him with the same friend. He's doing great and though still a little spooky, he's a nice iguana.
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