# My Scaly Princess Eddie



## spencerwells (Oct 8, 2007)

Today I had to make the heartbreaking decision to put my beautiful big green iguana Eddie to sleep.

She was 12 years old and had come to us 7 years ago when her owner no longer wanted her, as he wanted his girlfriend to move in with him, and she wouldnt until the iggy was gone (we later found out that he was sh!t scared of her and that was probably the main reason.

He was on the verge of having her put down when his neighbour (our sons teacher) said that they had had a new pupil in the school whos dad (my o/h) had given the reception kids a talk about our 3 snakes and chameleon, she offered to ask us if we would take Eddie off his hands.

Always a sucker for a sad story, and we couldnt in all honesty let a healthy animal be put to sleep, we took her on. She was 5 years old and had had a rough start in life, she had lost half her tail after trapping it at some point, which had grown back black. She didnt have an undamaged spine on her back, and was missing a toe.

She came to us as male but surprised us all by laying 60 (thanksfully infertile) eggs a week after we got her, but we kept her name as we had read that iggys learn their name kind of like dogs and we didnt want to confuse her!!

my hubby set to making her a new viv, as the one she was in (4 feet by 3 feet by 1 foot) was nowhere near suitable for her 3.5 foot frame. her new viv was 6 foot x 5 foot x 2 foot, and she loved it......With love, care, a good home and diet, she flourished and grew to around 5 feet long.

For the last 7 years, she has brought joy to hundreds of people during our educational talks and has served as a warning to all on why iguanas make bad pets, except for the experienced. She has been petted, stroked and ogled, amazing and delighting people from 1 to 101.

She stopped being able to climb and fell constantly off her high ledge in her viv, unable to even get herself off the floor of her viv, so we put her in a smaller, lower viv that she didnt have to climb. A fortnight ago she stopped eating solids, and we have been syringe feeding her fruit baby food mixed with reptile critical care formula to try and boost her up, add some weight to her bag of bones body and try and kick start her eating again....to no avail, and tonight I thought enough is enough, she didnt move and lay on the floor of her viv looking for all the world like her spirit had left her body already.

it wasnt her, my eddie was fiery, had attitude and made you fear for your fingers and delicate parts of your anatomy that she may whip with her cricket bat of a tail....here before me was a skeleton covered in scales, with no fire, no spirit and no spark.

She brought joy to me daily as her viv is in front of my pc, and 'we' had many a converstaion with her apparently listening to me, cocking her head like a dog does when its listening intently. She seemed to like it when I spoke baby talk to her, and scaly princess was one of the terms of endearment I used in our daily chat sessions!

I loved her funny yet noble and serene face, and her feisty personality, and i loved to watch her settle down for the night at 8pm promptly, and when she slept she looked so angelic, belying the mischieviously devilish streak that ran through her like a stick of rock!


I will miss her so very much and she leaves a hole in my heart that it will take a big lizard to fill again.

sleep well my scaly princess, i will love and remember you always xxxxxxxx

Eddie the green iguana 1998-2010


----------



## Reptilequeen (May 23, 2010)

spencerwells said:


> Today I had to make the heartbreaking decision to put my beautiful big green iguana Eddie to sleep.
> 
> She was 12 years old and had come to us 7 years ago when her owner no longer wanted her, as he wanted his girlfriend to move in with him, and she wouldnt until the iggy was gone (we later found out that he was sh!t scared of her and that was probably the main reason.
> 
> ...


Thats so sad to hear sweetie,it sounds like she had a fantastic life with you xx RIP Eddie


----------



## squaccy (Nov 18, 2008)

so sorry to hear that *hug* xxxx


----------



## mahender (Apr 28, 2008)

my thoughts are with you honey. 

RIP eddie,


----------



## xvickyx (Jul 21, 2009)

Thats so sad  hugs to you & your family. RIP Eddie


----------



## spencerwells (Oct 8, 2007)

thanks so much everyone  xxx


----------



## lankybabe (Jun 7, 2010)

I am sorry of your lost.....RIP Eddie


----------



## chuckie127 (Sep 5, 2009)

Awwww R.I.P EDDIE! <3 you will always be missed


----------



## spencerwells (Oct 8, 2007)

chuckie127 said:


> Awwww R.I.P EDDIE! <3 you will always be missed


 
Thank you xxx


----------



## chuckie127 (Sep 5, 2009)

aww R.I.P Eddie <3


----------



## spencerwells (Oct 8, 2007)

chuckie127 said:


> aww R.I.P Eddie <3


thank you for your kind words chuckie xxx


----------

