Iguana Hunt

On Monday I was eating Breakfast at Kike's and looked up to see an iguana sunning itself on the roof of one of the cabinas. I told Matt and he promptly went into project mode. This was the first adult iguana he had ever seen, and with a little help was able to catch it. Catching an iguana involves slipping a noose around it's neck and taking it down from the tree. When the iguana touches the ground it goes into a series of death spirals much like what you would see from a crocodile. Unfortunately, in the process of catching it an old wound was opened up on her left arm. We drove her back to the house for tagging, weighing, and putting a transmitter on...not to mention a little vet work on the arm.

Everyone holding the iguana for cleaning the wound and applying neosporin.

Kim keeping the iguana as calm is possible putting a cover over the eyes with a towel helps with this.

Isn't she beautiful?...And slightly angry.

Here is a shot of the wound on her arm...is was all the way down into the muscle tissue.

Her tranmitterthat she  slipped out of. Matt has to go back to the drawing board for a different design for the harnass that holds the transmitters.

Diablita (little devil girl) upon release.

After several attempts of putting a transmitter on the iguana and 3 hrs, the rest of us told Matt he had to let her go. He was not going to be able to put a backpack on her due to the injury and she was far too stressed to keep any longer (and had been kept for far too long without being sedated). He was very reluctant to release the only iguana he might get (as it was his only adult in 4 months), but he finally saw that it was in the best interest of the animal. Thus, he painted a number on her so she could be observed, and put a pit tag in her so the number could be read if she was recaptured later after she molted.

The next day an old man, the town drunk, walked into Kike's with a juvenile iguana in his hand and just gave it to Matt...far less effort than the first iguana which took at least 3 people at all times. As for the turtles, not much interesting has happened...but Kimmy is Amazing! (She told me to write that for when she read's it later.)