i am sitting here quietly reflecting where my life would have ended up without IggySingh, and i come to the realization (yet again)... not in a very good place. sure: i would still be a successful, contributing member to earning fees; growing the business; meeting clients on their home ground so travel and more international travel; still paying my own bills and standing on my own 2 feet. but away from all the professional related realms, i would have continued on to become cold, uncaring, growingly impatient with children, overly focused on work... unforgiving, saving every positive vibe for my profession so i could be affiliative with people of work. and to hell with the rest of the world.
instead :) i wake up every morning really happy now, from the inside out; knowing that in just under 2 hours HRHIggySingh will be up too, and she will start waking up by uncurling her long tail, opening her sleepy eyes, yawning and soliciting a hide + seek game. IggySingh is most 'manja' (affectionate) when she first wakes up btw. she generally wants to just lie in (under her cushions), snuggle up to your hand petting her gently behind her ears (tympanums actually as they are known); and she will close her eyes for as long as she can get away with it, giving you little iguana kisses to encourage you to keep on petting her. and when madam's had enough, up comes her hind leg to swat your hand away. sigh.
and i love that IggySingh is MY priority over and above everything and anything else in my life (job included!) and that i can say this with complete faith and confidence and still look the world right in its face. today, as i look forward to living my 39th year, i no longer worry about all the noise that used to live in my head. the constant worrying questions that haunted me day and night. questions others asked me, questions i repeated like an idiot: am i doing the best i really can for IggySingh? is she really happy - sitting in her cage, waiting and waiting for me to come home as a full day's work creeps on? would she be happier somewhere else, climbing trees and hiding in the very top of them, free?
i know now without a shadow of a doubt that HRH IggySingh is exactly where she needs to be! and that just as i get useless and miserable and find it really hard to get out from under my blankets when she is gone, she would be equally miserable, and will in addition get very very sick - tried and tested for just 17 days in February 2006. an incident that left Iggy without her nose, lips, teeth. in addition she came back with gout, respiratory problems, the loss of her hind legs, swollen limbs. and i DETEST that "reputable" director-cum-vet that i hold personally responsible, sitting out there in his ugly small-minded office in the taiping zoo. today, after a year and then some, of heart breaking small steps: IggySingh is finally back to eating on her own, walking, running, climbing, bobbing her head, jumping between the couches, giving a rare occasional crocodile role, and leaving more of her deep claw marks into my already tortured wrists...
IggySingh is a "pet" and as such is my "home grown" baby, all 4.5 feet of her. and one should never make the mistake of ever thinking a pet will readjust to a "wilder" environment, simply because it is still wild at heart. or that our pets will be happier outside in a wilder environment, just because they started out wild. when you are in fact, everything your pet has ever known. my bad. for listening to my family and my friends, that i love btw. but fellow humans that do not know a thing about green iguanas. let alone exotics. you think a green iguana really equates to a "common" iguana??! get real! and fast! now, let's reflect on this: if even a zoo with supposedly renowned vets can almost kill an animal, in a safe-enough-outside-environment what more the awful urban legends i have heard about iguana keepers releasing their pets into the tropical foliage we have in Malaysia? leaving them to survive or die in degrees?
or yet other Malaysians that abandon their cats and dogs and/or their unwanted litters out onto the unfriendly, uncaring and at times extremely cruel streets of our country? no no no. a pet is a pet, and is YOUR pet for life. my personal lesson learnt. and now, i am finally, blissfully, happy, and i am finally guiltless. IggySingh is where she should be. with me. full stop!
~from Su, forever your human slave~
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Monday, June 4, 2007
these are some of Ig-gy's favourite thingssss
some of you out there are probably (still) struggling with your green iguana and making friends. honestly... you find that some days are better than others. sometimes you wake up to a happy, well adjusted, interactive ig, only to come home from work late that very same day and find that your ig suddenly 'hates' your guts(!), and will absolutely not come out of its cage unless you drag it out hissing, head-bobbing and scratching.
sound familiar??! well then, welcome to the world of co-habitation with the green ig. extremely sensitive to your varying moods and your stress levels, often emulating the vibes they pick up. temperamental, wild, all teeth claws and razor sharp tail. yet tame, loving, social, soliciting play time. 'Jekyll and Hyde' and all shades in between on the very same day.
well, here are some key tips that may be getting YOU back to basics, and i thought 3 simple things would help us re-focus on the need to see our world, the way our igs do. so to put ourselves in their paws, so to speak.
the list is endless really on what you can do to make your ig trust you just a little bit more, but let's stick to these 3 topics for now: the art of socialization; getting your ig to eat healthy, and shower time.
btw, i have put some neat easy to read references at the end of this post so you can check them all out yourself, and maybe do more than what i do :)
also i thought while i was at it, i would put it all in the context of the Top 3 things that HRH IggySingh loves (that are good for her well-being too).
so, do sit back and start 'projecting' ahead fellow ig-keepers of the world and visualize all that you can look forward to (yes, this too shall pass! so hang in there, your ig doesn't really hate you)... get a feel of what is super critical in making your ig happier and better adjusted to life in captivity... learn about the joys of bonding with your ig and get it to trust you to the point you can maintain your alpha ig status without resorting to intimidation or brute force (NEVER RECOMMENDED btw) other than the initial not backing down/getting bullied phase (hah! and that's yet another story)!
so let's get started...
manja time: numero uno favourite of IggySingh
(manja = 'being affectionate')
Iggy absolutely loves to manja. Hah! the qualifier here being when HRH is in the mood. and that's really the clue here. your ig is allowed to not to want to play with you, or to not want to bond with you. think of them simplistically as being quite akin to the nature of the common house cat i.e. has a mind of its own and hence only when it wants to, will do. comprendo?
but should you pick you ig up and it tail whips you, does the infamous crocodile roll, or take a chunk of flesh out of your arms/wrists with its claws (not retractable i'm afraid), then you have to keep hanging on to it, firmly but gently enough so you do not injure its delicate organs with too much squeezing/grabbing and without dropping it (yes, it's an absolute art) and only put it down when it had calmed down so it doesn't learn to associate its aggression with you letting it go, eureka!
so back to IggySingh. she is now 4 years and 3 months, and very socialized, and also independent to exercise her selective hearing or her lizard choice of not wanting to bond. i can easily gauge her mood from her readiness to come to me when i call her, versus her vehement head-bobbing to say 'stay away'. so when i get home after work and call out my greeting to her - "Iggy come downstairs; Iggy manja-manja", and if she wants to manja, she will actively start climbing off the top of her cage.
[aside - Iggy understands a vocab of about 50+ words that she reacts to, in exactly the way the words are meant. this is very possible with any green iguana you love and nurture. the trick here is to say it exactly in the same context every time you mean to say the word, so your ig soon relates the word to the context of what is about to happen, or is happening.]
so, what does manja entail? well, lots of head rubbing, petting behind her ears, maybe a gentle rock from side-to-side as Iggy sits with her face against my shoulder and i hold her like you would carrying a child. Iggy has also reached the stage now where she may actively solicit a cuddle even if i haven't called out to her. she initiates this by climbing off her cage to look for me, or by coming over to sit very close to me.
she especially loves when i gently rub her 3rd eye (her parietal or pineal eye) and will then close both her (regular) eyes, getting into almost a trance like state, as she slides lower and lower into the couch. a word of warning, when an ig gets into this trance like state, any sudden movement may cause them to loose their balance, so don't suddenly remove your hand if it's the hand you're using to support your ig(!)
socialization is, to every responsible keeper, a key methodology in keeping your ig healthy, happy and well balanced, as igs are very prone to stress related diseases.
eating her sawi time!
(sawi = mustard/collard greens)
IggySingh gets fresh food e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y. i typically shop twice a week for her veggies from either Isetan, the Cold Storage, or Lotus on Jalan Gasing, depending on what i need to pick up.
i totally disbelieve the school of thought that says an adult ig should be fed only once in 2 days. rather i completely support the POV that an ig should be fed daily, and that all food already put in the ig's bowl should be thrown out at the end of the day and never recycled. the utmost care has to be given to the selection of what your ig eats, plus the cleanliness of all the dishes your ig is fed from.
all green iguanas are herbivores (and play that again Sam!) and therefore should never be fed any form of animal protein.
IggySingh's diet is a mix of leafy greens, vegetables and a variety of fruit. i read somewhere once where it was suggested that your ig gets a variation of up to 5-7 different types of food daily(!) so i try. also Melissa Kaplan in her published Iguanas for Dummies, recommends that 40-45% of your ig's diet should consist of leafy greens; the other 40-45% to be vegetables; and the rest fruits (fruits should comprise the lowest portion as they do not contribute to general nutrition too much. they are good for flavor - when you ig gets bored with the healthy stuff or daily fare, fruits can re-energize the palette; and they provide additional hydration).
a day's feed for HRH IggySingh will usually encompass: in the leafy green category - sawi, big leafed Cameron Highland ones, or the smaller darker green leaves with the yellow flowers; sometimes a mix of kale or broccoli or alfalfa etc. sometimes salad leaves - like romaine as a topping to the healthy stuff, but Iggy rarely eats her salad and will move it away.
in the vegetable category - green beans either french, or long beans, snap peas or snap beans, grated pumpkin or squash (i know botanically they're regarded as fruit, but for culinary purposes they are often referred to as vegetables.. so thought i would park them in this segment). grated sweet potatoes, yams, turnips.
in the fruit category - fresh figs (very occasionally), peaches, plums, berries, melons, papayas, and bananas (occasionally; these constipate, and now almost never as Iggy doesn't touch the stuff, and in our humidity they turn black within 30 minutes of being in the bowl).
her food is prepared daily in the mornings and great strategic planning goes into the presentation of the various colors and clusters, so she gets visually appeased and is more likely to dig right in.
all food is chucked out at the end of the day, and her water and food bowls sterilized with boiling water and then washed thoroughly with normal dish-washing liquid. the sink is then further sterilized with boiling water before any people dishes are put in. i also syringe feed IggySingh 20-30mls of filtered water daily; sometimes mixed with hydrating salts.
shower time!
excellent method for keeping your ig 'potty-trained' btw and does wonders for its sheds (say what??).
well, IggySingh gets 2 showers a day; hence the opportunity for accidents as she free roams or is in her cage, is negated, and cohabiting with my parents (who visit once a month for about 10 days on average, one in her late 60s and one in his early 70s and falling in the more susceptible category) prevents the nasty potential of salmonella. also shower-pooping keeps Iggy's cage clean and free from nasty accidents in her food or water bowls, or her inadvertently dragging her tail through her poop and then through all her fake plants. IggySingh is also a princess, and will not eat if she has had an accidental poop in her cage (happens only very rarely when she is in season and is re-absorbing her eggs) so if not showered, and "forced" to then poop in her cage, she won't eat, no matter how hungry she gets, even if the poop is miles away and has dropped down to the tray underneath. Iggy is also now in the habit of waiting until you shower her so she can poop.
newbies and non-ig keepers may find all this extremely gross; but actually poop is the number 1 topic in any ig-keepers get together conversations (the texture, the different compositions, etc; and poop is the preferred terminology) but we will skip all minor poop details as the key focus is shower time. i personally find pooping IggySingh in the shower cleaner than in the tub, as she is trained to go down the 'man-hole' and no poop gets spread around the shower floor/stall. and boiling water is immediately poured down the manhole and around the shower after IggySingh is safely rinsed off, patted dry, and let go on her free-roaming adventures.
igs need plenty humidity to keep themselves moist enough to shed properly. and they shed at least once a month, and in parts (unlike a snake that sheds its entire skin in the one go). in the wild, igs have lots of trees etc to rub against to loosen shed, and lots of streams to soak and swim in. hence showers fulfill this vital role of providing the soak. and the fact is the more showers/baths your ig gets, the cleaner and healthier both ig and its environment gets, and more regular in its poops the ig gets.
IggySingh loves her showers and takes them in two distinct 'styles'. sometimes she stands up throughout, closing her eyes and just standing very still as i shower her down, moving the hose over different parts of her anatomy. sometimes she drops down onto her belly and keeps her eyes open, trapping the water around her limbs and watching the water swill around her armpits. but without fail, every time she is about to poop (often associated to me whistling at her) she stands straight up, shakes her booty around like she is trying to shake off an irritating wasp, and just goes for it. she then may wait patiently (most times she does this) for me to flush water straight down the man-hole, close it, rinse her off twice, allowing me to wash under every digit and paw, and she even lets me lift her tail up to wash off her vent. sometimes, as soon as she gets rinsed down once, she immediately gets on her back legs and climbs right up my leg to indicate "shower time is over slave, let's get going"...
here are the references for you; have fun:
for socialization/handling/taming
http://www.greenigsociety.org/handlingigs.htm
http://www.greenigsociety.org/taming.htm
http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/igtaming.htm
http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/taming.htm#begin
for food/feeding
http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm
http://www.greenigsociety.org/feedingigs.htm
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/igdiet.html
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/pickyeaters.html
for showers/baths
http://iguanaden.org/care/bath.htm
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/swimming.html
http://www.greenigsociety.org/cleaning.htm
http://www.greenigsociety.org/bathing.htm
sound familiar??! well then, welcome to the world of co-habitation with the green ig. extremely sensitive to your varying moods and your stress levels, often emulating the vibes they pick up. temperamental, wild, all teeth claws and razor sharp tail. yet tame, loving, social, soliciting play time. 'Jekyll and Hyde' and all shades in between on the very same day.
well, here are some key tips that may be getting YOU back to basics, and i thought 3 simple things would help us re-focus on the need to see our world, the way our igs do. so to put ourselves in their paws, so to speak.
the list is endless really on what you can do to make your ig trust you just a little bit more, but let's stick to these 3 topics for now: the art of socialization; getting your ig to eat healthy, and shower time.
btw, i have put some neat easy to read references at the end of this post so you can check them all out yourself, and maybe do more than what i do :)
also i thought while i was at it, i would put it all in the context of the Top 3 things that HRH IggySingh loves (that are good for her well-being too).
so, do sit back and start 'projecting' ahead fellow ig-keepers of the world and visualize all that you can look forward to (yes, this too shall pass! so hang in there, your ig doesn't really hate you)... get a feel of what is super critical in making your ig happier and better adjusted to life in captivity... learn about the joys of bonding with your ig and get it to trust you to the point you can maintain your alpha ig status without resorting to intimidation or brute force (NEVER RECOMMENDED btw) other than the initial not backing down/getting bullied phase (hah! and that's yet another story)!
so let's get started...
manja time: numero uno favourite of IggySingh
(manja = 'being affectionate')
Iggy absolutely loves to manja. Hah! the qualifier here being when HRH is in the mood. and that's really the clue here. your ig is allowed to not to want to play with you, or to not want to bond with you. think of them simplistically as being quite akin to the nature of the common house cat i.e. has a mind of its own and hence only when it wants to, will do. comprendo?
but should you pick you ig up and it tail whips you, does the infamous crocodile roll, or take a chunk of flesh out of your arms/wrists with its claws (not retractable i'm afraid), then you have to keep hanging on to it, firmly but gently enough so you do not injure its delicate organs with too much squeezing/grabbing and without dropping it (yes, it's an absolute art) and only put it down when it had calmed down so it doesn't learn to associate its aggression with you letting it go, eureka!
so back to IggySingh. she is now 4 years and 3 months, and very socialized, and also independent to exercise her selective hearing or her lizard choice of not wanting to bond. i can easily gauge her mood from her readiness to come to me when i call her, versus her vehement head-bobbing to say 'stay away'. so when i get home after work and call out my greeting to her - "Iggy come downstairs; Iggy manja-manja", and if she wants to manja, she will actively start climbing off the top of her cage.
[aside - Iggy understands a vocab of about 50+ words that she reacts to, in exactly the way the words are meant. this is very possible with any green iguana you love and nurture. the trick here is to say it exactly in the same context every time you mean to say the word, so your ig soon relates the word to the context of what is about to happen, or is happening.]
so, what does manja entail? well, lots of head rubbing, petting behind her ears, maybe a gentle rock from side-to-side as Iggy sits with her face against my shoulder and i hold her like you would carrying a child. Iggy has also reached the stage now where she may actively solicit a cuddle even if i haven't called out to her. she initiates this by climbing off her cage to look for me, or by coming over to sit very close to me.
she especially loves when i gently rub her 3rd eye (her parietal or pineal eye) and will then close both her (regular) eyes, getting into almost a trance like state, as she slides lower and lower into the couch. a word of warning, when an ig gets into this trance like state, any sudden movement may cause them to loose their balance, so don't suddenly remove your hand if it's the hand you're using to support your ig(!)
socialization is, to every responsible keeper, a key methodology in keeping your ig healthy, happy and well balanced, as igs are very prone to stress related diseases.
eating her sawi time!
(sawi = mustard/collard greens)
IggySingh gets fresh food e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y. i typically shop twice a week for her veggies from either Isetan, the Cold Storage, or Lotus on Jalan Gasing, depending on what i need to pick up.
i totally disbelieve the school of thought that says an adult ig should be fed only once in 2 days. rather i completely support the POV that an ig should be fed daily, and that all food already put in the ig's bowl should be thrown out at the end of the day and never recycled. the utmost care has to be given to the selection of what your ig eats, plus the cleanliness of all the dishes your ig is fed from.
all green iguanas are herbivores (and play that again Sam!) and therefore should never be fed any form of animal protein.
IggySingh's diet is a mix of leafy greens, vegetables and a variety of fruit. i read somewhere once where it was suggested that your ig gets a variation of up to 5-7 different types of food daily(!) so i try. also Melissa Kaplan in her published Iguanas for Dummies, recommends that 40-45% of your ig's diet should consist of leafy greens; the other 40-45% to be vegetables; and the rest fruits (fruits should comprise the lowest portion as they do not contribute to general nutrition too much. they are good for flavor - when you ig gets bored with the healthy stuff or daily fare, fruits can re-energize the palette; and they provide additional hydration).
a day's feed for HRH IggySingh will usually encompass: in the leafy green category - sawi, big leafed Cameron Highland ones, or the smaller darker green leaves with the yellow flowers; sometimes a mix of kale or broccoli or alfalfa etc. sometimes salad leaves - like romaine as a topping to the healthy stuff, but Iggy rarely eats her salad and will move it away.
in the vegetable category - green beans either french, or long beans, snap peas or snap beans, grated pumpkin or squash (i know botanically they're regarded as fruit, but for culinary purposes they are often referred to as vegetables.. so thought i would park them in this segment). grated sweet potatoes, yams, turnips.
in the fruit category - fresh figs (very occasionally), peaches, plums, berries, melons, papayas, and bananas (occasionally; these constipate, and now almost never as Iggy doesn't touch the stuff, and in our humidity they turn black within 30 minutes of being in the bowl).
her food is prepared daily in the mornings and great strategic planning goes into the presentation of the various colors and clusters, so she gets visually appeased and is more likely to dig right in.
all food is chucked out at the end of the day, and her water and food bowls sterilized with boiling water and then washed thoroughly with normal dish-washing liquid. the sink is then further sterilized with boiling water before any people dishes are put in. i also syringe feed IggySingh 20-30mls of filtered water daily; sometimes mixed with hydrating salts.
shower time!
excellent method for keeping your ig 'potty-trained' btw and does wonders for its sheds (say what??).
well, IggySingh gets 2 showers a day; hence the opportunity for accidents as she free roams or is in her cage, is negated, and cohabiting with my parents (who visit once a month for about 10 days on average, one in her late 60s and one in his early 70s and falling in the more susceptible category) prevents the nasty potential of salmonella. also shower-pooping keeps Iggy's cage clean and free from nasty accidents in her food or water bowls, or her inadvertently dragging her tail through her poop and then through all her fake plants. IggySingh is also a princess, and will not eat if she has had an accidental poop in her cage (happens only very rarely when she is in season and is re-absorbing her eggs) so if not showered, and "forced" to then poop in her cage, she won't eat, no matter how hungry she gets, even if the poop is miles away and has dropped down to the tray underneath. Iggy is also now in the habit of waiting until you shower her so she can poop.
newbies and non-ig keepers may find all this extremely gross; but actually poop is the number 1 topic in any ig-keepers get together conversations (the texture, the different compositions, etc; and poop is the preferred terminology) but we will skip all minor poop details as the key focus is shower time. i personally find pooping IggySingh in the shower cleaner than in the tub, as she is trained to go down the 'man-hole' and no poop gets spread around the shower floor/stall. and boiling water is immediately poured down the manhole and around the shower after IggySingh is safely rinsed off, patted dry, and let go on her free-roaming adventures.
igs need plenty humidity to keep themselves moist enough to shed properly. and they shed at least once a month, and in parts (unlike a snake that sheds its entire skin in the one go). in the wild, igs have lots of trees etc to rub against to loosen shed, and lots of streams to soak and swim in. hence showers fulfill this vital role of providing the soak. and the fact is the more showers/baths your ig gets, the cleaner and healthier both ig and its environment gets, and more regular in its poops the ig gets.
IggySingh loves her showers and takes them in two distinct 'styles'. sometimes she stands up throughout, closing her eyes and just standing very still as i shower her down, moving the hose over different parts of her anatomy. sometimes she drops down onto her belly and keeps her eyes open, trapping the water around her limbs and watching the water swill around her armpits. but without fail, every time she is about to poop (often associated to me whistling at her) she stands straight up, shakes her booty around like she is trying to shake off an irritating wasp, and just goes for it. she then may wait patiently (most times she does this) for me to flush water straight down the man-hole, close it, rinse her off twice, allowing me to wash under every digit and paw, and she even lets me lift her tail up to wash off her vent. sometimes, as soon as she gets rinsed down once, she immediately gets on her back legs and climbs right up my leg to indicate "shower time is over slave, let's get going"...
here are the references for you; have fun:
for socialization/handling/taming
http://www.greenigsociety.org/handlingigs.htm
http://www.greenigsociety.org/taming.htm
http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/igtaming.htm
http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/taming.htm#begin
for food/feeding
http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm
http://www.greenigsociety.org/feedingigs.htm
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/igdiet.html
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/pickyeaters.html
for showers/baths
http://iguanaden.org/care/bath.htm
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/swimming.html
http://www.greenigsociety.org/cleaning.htm
http://www.greenigsociety.org/bathing.htm
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Listen Malaysian Fauna?? Just say NO to feeding the green ig animal protein; say NO to smashing your bunny; and please leave the Blue Ig wild
shock + horror ;(
in trying to become a member/voice in a local Malaysian forum, which is btw branded as dedicated to educating us and showcasing our Malaysian fauna, this author finds that the segments under the Malaysian Fauna (MF) sub-forum of 'Lizards' are still touting early post-dated green iguana (ig) literature from the 90's where animal protein was once fed(!)
a BIG NO-NO-NO NOW!!!
let's face it, anybody that cares about the green ig he is nurturing should never feed it animal protein. period. as animal protein is NOW significantly linked to causing kidney problems, renal failure, gout and interstital nephritis amongst other things in the green ig (since the early 90's in fact is when the NOW chapter started..ho hum).
side symptoms include loss of hind leg movement, swelling in the hind legs... and it continues depressingly on.
please MF members; get it right! do not use the excuse that some of you have been doing this (feeding of animal protein) for years now, and want to just keep doing it until you see the symptoms yourself, or ask how long before your ig actually becomes sick, or how much is too much, or whether igs in SEA have got sick before - all the literature being from other parts of the world so not applicable lah.
a green iguana in captivity is a green iguana in captivity; be it in Malaysia or Kansas city, what you need to feed them right, is what you need to feed them.
it is cruel and inhumane to keep on pushing animal protein, knowing eventually your ig will get sick. and your green iguana is not an 'experiment'. it is a living, breathing exotic that feels pain, and you undervalue your green friend by just not getting it - animal protein is officially out since about 1.5 decades ago.
2 quick references:
http://www.anapsid.org/adambritton.html
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/hayes.html
so what is fact? and what is fiction? myths debunked here:
http://www.anapsid.org/factfict.html
so listen, the other excuse a moderator put forward in the same MF Lizard sub-forum was: "the food recommended is not easily available in Malaysia". another poor lazy excuse as many of the types of food recommended for the green ig can be found in our local markets and in the Cold Storages of the Malaysian world.
read this list http://www.anapsid.org/resources/vegetablenames.html
and note 2 things: NEVER feed your green ig what is marked with the red asterisk AND you can write directly to Melissa Kaplan herself if you have difficulty finding the 'right' name in our local Malaysian context. but malu lah kita.. just invest in a good cook book guide that shares the names in local languages.. or go to your local library and dig out the encyclopedia. you will find enough plant protein that you can nurture you ig with that you don't have to do the no-no animal protein bit.
but now i am waiting for the next obvious excuse (please read this in a whiny voice as that's how i hear it in my head): "Cold Storage?? some of the veggies and fruit suggested are imported... and will be expensive lah, i can't afford that!!!".
right, then don't co-habit with a green iguana.
they are exotic. they have special needs. duh!
they are an investment (both on-going financially; time wise; affection and dedication wise) and with just the proper balance of care and socialization, they will bring to you hours or maybe just moments of joy, as they eventually may come to you to solicit a pick-up/cuddle, or just snort gently in your ear as you play 'happy slave walking you around your apartment' once again.
"you mean? that's about all i get??". hmm, maybe you should get a dog 'bro'...
okay; now for THE push back on accepting what the iguana experts are saying, quoted from a MF forum moderator (Emystiong), him not wanting to accept that animal protein is factually bad for the green igs that he is keeping; this really cracked me up(!):
"As most of those information provided by those " experts" or seniors in the Iguana hobby for many many years in the hobby are all oversea based non or very few are even located nearby".
yes - first learn to write in English, then you may understand the foreign experts and advice better? oops, sorry, that was too meow kan?; and yes - they are still the experts foreign or otherwise as they have had the documented head-start to us here in Malaysia by the decades wei. live with it. accept it.
we are just starting down this exotic pet path, and even then we are already exhibiting a deliberate misunderstanding of what an exotic should be fed. gearing it to our own warped reasoning.
green igs: repeat after me... they ARE NOT merely things you buy so you can look macho (i think that's what you get your snakes for kan? to watch them eat the live feed). they ARE NOT merely to be kept to breed to start a business (is that the root of your stubbornness about the animal protein? spurts growth, makes them breed faster? who cares if they drop dead at 3 or 4 or 5 from kidney failure?). they ARE NOT just lizards so caaaan lah go against what nature built them to digest.
deep breath for the author is recommended now: inhale/exhale.
okay, now, let's talk about the poor 'smash the bunny' thread (started: Apr 18 2007, 10:31 PM) that i only discovered the day i resigned from the MF forum: May 26th - after a 5 day membership btw... too much unintellectual, unfounded testosterone based postings for me.
anyway this bunny thread went on with moderators fully participating... under the MF Leisure: Sadness Forum thread; titled: 'Which is the better way?'
allow me to quote; ahem:
does this ever happen on you ?
your pet lying in the cage getting weaker and weaker...which means by he is suffering to dead...
option 1 : u smash him to relief his suffer..let him die on the spot....
option 2 : let him die naturally...which means by he had to suffer till death arrive...
option 3 : pet him till he pass away...(almost same like option 2)
both of my baby rabbit pass away...not even 2 week in the house...damn...the first 1 I pet him till he return to god...the 2nd 1...I back home n found out that he cirit birit...then I claen him and went to sleep..after that...he return to god too...I thought of smash him to the wall and shorten his suffer of getting weaker n weaker..but I can't do it..damn...if u guys had expirience this event ...kindly gives your comment of any better idea bout this ?
(cirit birit = diarrhoea.)
and boy did his fellow MF moderators give their comments or better ideas or what?
everything from how do you 'smash a large dog then' to after you smash it (the bunny), 'will you consider letting us feed it to our snakes'. recycle Joe is highly recommended.
only 1 mod tried to suggest humanely a vet whilst bunny is suffering? and then a proper burial later as it was a "pet".
let's say this again here on my own Blog where there is no MF-biased-towards-themselves censorship: take responsibility! you post/you discuss, you brand, you influence bro, period!
and this is not what i want Malaysia known to be able to "boleh". not what i want (being Malaysian myself btw) to be our international 'brand' on how Malaysians really feel about their pets/animals in general.
and my final shock and horror... stumbled upon this posting in the MF Lizard sub-forum, this thread titled 'Blue Rock Iguana (Cyclura nubila lewisi)' - started: Feb 3 2007, 01:57 PM.
quotes and again note - full participation by moderators, that do not guide towards suggesting the inappropriateness of this suggestion (read this as in AN ANIMAL THAT IS DEEMED EXTINCT) but who instead lead this thread on like it's even okay to have this convo:
piesceslim (who starts the thread): Is it possible to buy Blue Rock Iguana /Grand Cayman Blue iguana (Cyclura nubila lewisi) in our country? Or anyone got lubang for it?
(Lubang = Malaysian slang for 'hole; way in')
daniel: even if u could get one into the country it would be expensive
uncle herp: Very, very expensive !!!! :)
piesceslim: How's expensive? Just curious to know. Are they breed in any farm of South East Asia?
Emystiong: (posted a picture of 2 bobbleheads)
Here's mine.
Something that rare I would say may never be offered legally to the average Joe bloke.
If not legal may be around RM10,000 mark or more just my guess anyway.
ba5tard: lolz... nice blue rock iguana (with reference to the bobbleheads)
so, in essence, a forum that advertises itself under it's Teh Tarik segment: "Members discussion on anything and everything-under authorization and discretion of Malaysia Fauna's Management"...
is a fully authorized management team that does not stand up for the rights of simple bunnies and the endangered Blue Ig - the latter btw where people are banding together g l o b a l l y to protect and recover them; with the whole world watching the official efforts at:
http://www.blueiguana.ky/
we in Malaysia boleh... buat lubang that is ;(
p.s. btw MF mods get the Latin and your facts right:
The Blue Iguana evolved more recently from ancestors of its nearest relative, the Cuban Iguana (Cyclura nubila). Cuban Iguana ancestors also made the crossing to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, where they evolved into a unique subspecies, Cyclura nubila caymanensis, and to the southern Bahamas where they evolved into a new species, Cyclura cychlura.
The Blue Iguana was long thought to be another subspecies of the Cuban Iguana, and but recent genetic evidence has led to a revision, and the Blue Iguana is now considered a unique species, Cyclura lewisi. If Cyclura lewisi and Cyclura nubila caymanensis are artificially brought into contact, they can still breed and produce fertile offspring. Naturally, they have always been separated by at least 67 miles of open ocean.
so we live to die another day...
in trying to become a member/voice in a local Malaysian forum, which is btw branded as dedicated to educating us and showcasing our Malaysian fauna, this author finds that the segments under the Malaysian Fauna (MF) sub-forum of 'Lizards' are still touting early post-dated green iguana (ig) literature from the 90's where animal protein was once fed(!)
a BIG NO-NO-NO NOW!!!
let's face it, anybody that cares about the green ig he is nurturing should never feed it animal protein. period. as animal protein is NOW significantly linked to causing kidney problems, renal failure, gout and interstital nephritis amongst other things in the green ig (since the early 90's in fact is when the NOW chapter started..ho hum).
side symptoms include loss of hind leg movement, swelling in the hind legs... and it continues depressingly on.
please MF members; get it right! do not use the excuse that some of you have been doing this (feeding of animal protein) for years now, and want to just keep doing it until you see the symptoms yourself, or ask how long before your ig actually becomes sick, or how much is too much, or whether igs in SEA have got sick before - all the literature being from other parts of the world so not applicable lah.
a green iguana in captivity is a green iguana in captivity; be it in Malaysia or Kansas city, what you need to feed them right, is what you need to feed them.
it is cruel and inhumane to keep on pushing animal protein, knowing eventually your ig will get sick. and your green iguana is not an 'experiment'. it is a living, breathing exotic that feels pain, and you undervalue your green friend by just not getting it - animal protein is officially out since about 1.5 decades ago.
2 quick references:
http://www.anapsid.org/adambritton.html
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/hayes.html
so what is fact? and what is fiction? myths debunked here:
http://www.anapsid.org/factfict.html
so listen, the other excuse a moderator put forward in the same MF Lizard sub-forum was: "the food recommended is not easily available in Malaysia". another poor lazy excuse as many of the types of food recommended for the green ig can be found in our local markets and in the Cold Storages of the Malaysian world.
read this list http://www.anapsid.org/resources/vegetablenames.html
and note 2 things: NEVER feed your green ig what is marked with the red asterisk AND you can write directly to Melissa Kaplan herself if you have difficulty finding the 'right' name in our local Malaysian context. but malu lah kita.. just invest in a good cook book guide that shares the names in local languages.. or go to your local library and dig out the encyclopedia. you will find enough plant protein that you can nurture you ig with that you don't have to do the no-no animal protein bit.
but now i am waiting for the next obvious excuse (please read this in a whiny voice as that's how i hear it in my head): "Cold Storage?? some of the veggies and fruit suggested are imported... and will be expensive lah, i can't afford that!!!".
right, then don't co-habit with a green iguana.
they are exotic. they have special needs. duh!
they are an investment (both on-going financially; time wise; affection and dedication wise) and with just the proper balance of care and socialization, they will bring to you hours or maybe just moments of joy, as they eventually may come to you to solicit a pick-up/cuddle, or just snort gently in your ear as you play 'happy slave walking you around your apartment' once again.
"you mean? that's about all i get??". hmm, maybe you should get a dog 'bro'...
okay; now for THE push back on accepting what the iguana experts are saying, quoted from a MF forum moderator (Emystiong), him not wanting to accept that animal protein is factually bad for the green igs that he is keeping; this really cracked me up(!):
"As most of those information provided by those " experts" or seniors in the Iguana hobby for many many years in the hobby are all oversea based non or very few are even located nearby".
yes - first learn to write in English, then you may understand the foreign experts and advice better? oops, sorry, that was too meow kan?; and yes - they are still the experts foreign or otherwise as they have had the documented head-start to us here in Malaysia by the decades wei. live with it. accept it.
we are just starting down this exotic pet path, and even then we are already exhibiting a deliberate misunderstanding of what an exotic should be fed. gearing it to our own warped reasoning.
green igs: repeat after me... they ARE NOT merely things you buy so you can look macho (i think that's what you get your snakes for kan? to watch them eat the live feed). they ARE NOT merely to be kept to breed to start a business (is that the root of your stubbornness about the animal protein? spurts growth, makes them breed faster? who cares if they drop dead at 3 or 4 or 5 from kidney failure?). they ARE NOT just lizards so caaaan lah go against what nature built them to digest.
deep breath for the author is recommended now: inhale/exhale.
okay, now, let's talk about the poor 'smash the bunny' thread (started: Apr 18 2007, 10:31 PM) that i only discovered the day i resigned from the MF forum: May 26th - after a 5 day membership btw... too much unintellectual, unfounded testosterone based postings for me.
anyway this bunny thread went on with moderators fully participating... under the MF Leisure: Sadness Forum thread; titled: 'Which is the better way?'
allow me to quote; ahem:
does this ever happen on you ?
your pet lying in the cage getting weaker and weaker...which means by he is suffering to dead...
option 1 : u smash him to relief his suffer..let him die on the spot....
option 2 : let him die naturally...which means by he had to suffer till death arrive...
option 3 : pet him till he pass away...(almost same like option 2)
both of my baby rabbit pass away...not even 2 week in the house...damn...the first 1 I pet him till he return to god...the 2nd 1...I back home n found out that he cirit birit...then I claen him and went to sleep..after that...he return to god too...I thought of smash him to the wall and shorten his suffer of getting weaker n weaker..but I can't do it..damn...if u guys had expirience this event ...kindly gives your comment of any better idea bout this ?
(cirit birit = diarrhoea.)
and boy did his fellow MF moderators give their comments or better ideas or what?
everything from how do you 'smash a large dog then' to after you smash it (the bunny), 'will you consider letting us feed it to our snakes'. recycle Joe is highly recommended.
only 1 mod tried to suggest humanely a vet whilst bunny is suffering? and then a proper burial later as it was a "pet".
let's say this again here on my own Blog where there is no MF-biased-towards-themselves censorship: take responsibility! you post/you discuss, you brand, you influence bro, period!
and this is not what i want Malaysia known to be able to "boleh". not what i want (being Malaysian myself btw) to be our international 'brand' on how Malaysians really feel about their pets/animals in general.
and my final shock and horror... stumbled upon this posting in the MF Lizard sub-forum, this thread titled 'Blue Rock Iguana (Cyclura nubila lewisi)' - started: Feb 3 2007, 01:57 PM.
quotes and again note - full participation by moderators, that do not guide towards suggesting the inappropriateness of this suggestion (read this as in AN ANIMAL THAT IS DEEMED EXTINCT) but who instead lead this thread on like it's even okay to have this convo:
piesceslim (who starts the thread): Is it possible to buy Blue Rock Iguana /Grand Cayman Blue iguana (Cyclura nubila lewisi) in our country? Or anyone got lubang for it?
(Lubang = Malaysian slang for 'hole; way in')
daniel: even if u could get one into the country it would be expensive
uncle herp: Very, very expensive !!!! :)
piesceslim: How's expensive? Just curious to know. Are they breed in any farm of South East Asia?
Emystiong: (posted a picture of 2 bobbleheads)
Here's mine.
Something that rare I would say may never be offered legally to the average Joe bloke.
If not legal may be around RM10,000 mark or more just my guess anyway.
ba5tard: lolz... nice blue rock iguana (with reference to the bobbleheads)
so, in essence, a forum that advertises itself under it's Teh Tarik segment: "Members discussion on anything and everything-under authorization and discretion of Malaysia Fauna's Management"...
is a fully authorized management team that does not stand up for the rights of simple bunnies and the endangered Blue Ig - the latter btw where people are banding together g l o b a l l y to protect and recover them; with the whole world watching the official efforts at:
http://www.blueiguana.ky/
we in Malaysia boleh... buat lubang that is ;(
p.s. btw MF mods get the Latin and your facts right:
The Blue Iguana evolved more recently from ancestors of its nearest relative, the Cuban Iguana (Cyclura nubila). Cuban Iguana ancestors also made the crossing to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac, where they evolved into a unique subspecies, Cyclura nubila caymanensis, and to the southern Bahamas where they evolved into a new species, Cyclura cychlura.
The Blue Iguana was long thought to be another subspecies of the Cuban Iguana, and but recent genetic evidence has led to a revision, and the Blue Iguana is now considered a unique species, Cyclura lewisi. If Cyclura lewisi and Cyclura nubila caymanensis are artificially brought into contact, they can still breed and produce fertile offspring. Naturally, they have always been separated by at least 67 miles of open ocean.
so we live to die another day...
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