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Last Updated: 7/6/09
For information about curly-tail lizards, go to my curly-tail lizard page.
Iggy lived in a 20 gallon aquarium. The tank had 22 adult and some baby six-spotted roaches, a hermit crab (who hides all the time), and crickets.
The tank had a 100 W white daylight and a full spectrum fluorescent light. At night, a 75 W black nightlight kicked in. There was also an undertank heater. The tank had a waterfall. See the roaches page for more on the tank including photos from before I got Iggy.
On 12/26/08, I felt like getting another animal. I tried to suppress the impulse and almost made it out of the store until I saw the jeweled curly-tail lizards, Leiocephalus personatus. I had never seen them before. The label said they liked tropical tanks and stayed small. So, it sounded like my 20 gallon roach tank would be good for one of them. I picked the bigger one. Once I read the sheet that said they are in the iguana family, I had to name him Iggy. I put Iggy in the tank with some mealworms which he ate after I left. Previous to Iggy, I had Albert, a pygmy chameleon who did really poorly. Before that were Fourmi and Papillon, two green anoles who lived over a year just fine in there. Their lives though were way too short. I was hoping Iggy could break the curse, and maybe keep the roach population in check by eating newborns.
It turns out that Iggy preferred to sleep in the substrate and only come out during the height of the day to bask! I wanted more action in the canopy but he liked the bark too just like the roaches and hermit crab. When Iggy was basking, his back took on red and green colors; he was gorgeous.
By 3/22/09, Iggy was about six inches long with more than half of that being tail.
Iggy had been doing really well. There was one problem though. He liked to escape. The first time, early in the year, I grabbed him almost right away. Sometime in May, I had to pull all the books off a bookshelf and move it to get Iggy behind there. Then, on 6/21/09, disaster. I opened the lid for a couple seconds to drop in a hermit crab shell. Out zoomed Iggy. Tinkerbelle, my cat, was there. She spent hours watching Iggy just dreaming of catching her. This day, she got her wish. Iggy ran across Sweetie's (the rabbit) "house" (litter), saw me and ran back right in to Tinkie's jaws. I picked up Tinkie and told her to put down Iggy. Iggy's tail was thrashing, and I thought he might drop it. Tinkie growled so I carried her over to the cage with the intent of making her drop Iggy in to the tank. But, she dropped Iggy before I got there. I quickly scooped him up and got him back in to the tank. He was in shock and clung to the glass. I examined him for injuries. On the right side behind his leg was a minor tooth scratch mark. On the left side behind the leg was a single, small bleeding puncture wound from Tinkie's canine tooth. There were no other injuries. Aside from being scared, Iggy seemed okay. The next morning, there was a large gaping wound down his tail. Where did that come from? By the end of the day, the bone was exposed, the tail was losing mass, and I realized that Iggy was having a delayed tail drop response. Some lizards like curlytail lizards will drop their tails when attacked to get the predator to eat the tail and leave the rest alone. I asked a lizard person on-line about it, and they seemed to agree that Iggy was dropping his tail. They also suggested putting betadine in a spray bottle to spray on the wound. I was afraid to try to touch or pick Iggy up and cause him to either drop the tail, have a heart attack, or hurt himself more. He did not like to be touched or looked at funny! As of 6/23/09, Iggy was still alive, and I thought he might recover. It is very hard to care for such small animals.
My poor Igster died from his injuries on 6/24/09. ;-(
These photos are from the day I got him on 12/26/08:
Iggy in a container for photos.
Iggy in a container for photos, view from
above.
Iggy in a container for photos.
20 gallon tank with Iggy in it; note the new live
plant (Iggy is on top of it but you cannot see him) and empty roach exoskeleton (it is not a dead
animal).
Iggy in the 20 gallon tank.
Iggy in the 20 gallon tank.
Iggy in the 20 gallon tank, view with the lid
up (for a clearer photo).
I got this nice photo of Iggy on 3/7/09:
Iggy
These pictures of Iggy are from 3/22/09 when I had him out to clean the tank:
Iggy - side view
Iggy - side view
Iggy - top view
This is Iggy's tail end on 6/23/09, two days after my cat grabbed him and the day before he died.
There is betadine on his tail.
Hurt Iggy
These are photos of Iggy after he died. There is some betadine on him. Otherwise, note his
beautiful colors even in death as well as the state of his tail which partially fell off after the cat
grabbed him. I thought lizards could lose their tails and grow them back without a problem but, I
guess, if the tail does not fully come off, infection sets in.
Iggy - top left view
Iggy - top view
Iggy - right side view, not in focus
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