(08-27-2012, 10:56 AM)writer811 Wrote: She looks like a very beautiful lizard. How did you keep her from escaping in the early days that you had her? Do you have a fence and is she able to go over or under it? How do your neighbors feel about having a free range reptile near their property? Do Gizzy ever go into the neighbor's yards?
Mostly just keeping a watchful eye on her. Our back yard is pretty large (2-3 lots back), so there was a lot of wooded area. Luckily I have a window overlooking the yard. I would just look out every couple of minutes. Now she goes outside with very little monitoring -- I check maybe every 15-30 minutes and she stays outside for 2-4 hours a day. We have fences, but she can definitely dig or climb over them. Also, our back yard area has a good amount of dirt, so you can actually see where she's gone by looking for "tail tracks" on the ground. It looks almost as if it was made by a snake.
I would say over 15 years, she has "ran away" 3-4 times. In the past 5 years, she hasn't attempted it at all. Although she has a tendency to go to similar places each time, so it's not hard to locate her. The scariest time was when the night she ran away was supposed to be the coldest night (Located in Florida) of the year. I felt like she might've frozen to death if I didn't find her. She actually found her way inside of my shed and was stuck behind a cabinet. Luckily iguanas sneeze a lot and I heard her sneeze.
My neighbors are actually extremely friendly people. In fact, they have younger kids (8-13) who love looking at and petting Gizzy. Most people in the neighborhood know that I own an iguana and think it's pretty cool. If Gizzy ran away most people would know who to phone if they saw an iguana running around. I'm very grateful for having a good local community. I hear in Southern Florida iguanas are considered pests and people are instructed to kill wild iguanas there, so I'm glad I live in a friendly community in Central Florida. Gizzard mostly stays in our back yard as it's enclosed, but at times I've brought her into the front yard so neighbor kids can look at her and pet her. Some times I'll tell them about the iguanas "third eye" on their head and such. Most of the children around here catch and release anoles (the small, native to Florida lizards) so it's interesting for them to see a much larger lizard.
I realize a lot of people don't agree with the risks of free roaming iguanas when it also includes a lot of outside activity, but for me I think it was definitely worth the risk. We also have a pool area in the back yard and often just sit around, and it's nice to have an iguana who can also appreciated basking in the sun  She is an excellent swimmer too! (although she has a tendency to do her business in the pool at times)
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