Iguana Smiling

Hi, I’m Godzuki, a common green iguana (Iguana iguana) from Central America.

Know why I’m smiling?

Because I made it! When I was about three months old, I was picked up off the streets of West Hollywood by two kind gentlemen. They kept me warm and safe until they could leave me with RARN. Boy, was I sick! A lady treated me in her home for malnutrition, severe dehydration, and a bad case of intestinal parasites.

For the past 21 years I’ve had fresh fruits and vegetables to eat, some direct sunlight, a daily warm shower or two, and plenty of high places to climb to, which I love. But the missing spines on my back show I didn’t get the kind of care and food I needed when I was very young.

I would never have survived those mean streets of Hollywood without RARN. Literally.

See why I can’t stop smiling?

Bibi

Hello! I’m Bibi, and I’m a juvenile iguana (about 5 months old). My story starts out sad but ends up great!

The little girl who used to take care of me didn’t really know how. She didn’t know I need direct sunlight, with places to cool off, just about every day. She didn’t know that my species lives in the rain forest and so I need to be misted with cool water. She didn’t know what foods I like—torn-up collards and mustard greens, bits of chopped mango and melon, sweet potato, squashes, green beans and blueberries. Pretty soon my legs started to swell and my spine bent. I was very weak, I would shake like a leaf, and my bones were getting broken because nobody knew what I needed.

But here’s the happy part. One day, the little girl’s uncle noticed how sick I was and they took me to a special reptile doctor. He put me on calcium supplements and good food, with sunshine, water misting, and lots of care from a kind lady in RARN. Now I’m on the mend and will be a loving animal companion all my life!