The Iguana Spot's Friend Lizzy

Lizzy's House
Our friends Lizzy and her human Penny decided to share their expereince building Lizzy's new home. Here you will find some great photos and see how much her magnificent palace cost to build!

    This is Lizzy, when she and her human Penny decided it was time to build her a new house they really spared no expense! When Lizzy would allow her to, Penny would get on the computer and participate in the Kingsnake Iguana Forum. That is where we met them! Penny had all kinds of questions about the new enclosure and soon enough we were exchanging emails on a pretty regular basis!


     Lucky for The Iguana Spot, Lizzy and Penny have been kind enough to share their photos and information about their project. If you have any questions about the enclosure on this page, you need contact Lizzy and Penny with them (there is an email link for them at the top of the page).

      Lizzy and Penny live in Oklahoma. They were lucky enough to have good friend who is also a builder! Penny did a lot of research before she started having this enclosure built! She wanted to make sure that it would stay warm and humid enough to keep her little green friend happy!


     Penny was also concerned about using plexiglass for all the walls because iguanas have been known to not be too keen on their own refelction. If this picture is any indication, it looks like Lizzy enjoys the view!

     This is a great shot of the inside top of Lizzy's house. It shows the UV sources, basking lights, fans and radiant panal Penny chose to use as a heat source. This is also a great shot of the sliding doors and all the accessories (fake plants) that were added for Lizzy's viewing pleasure!


     You can also see all the switches and electrical plugs added to the top to make it easy to deal with all the electrical equiment needed for the house. All of the equpiment is on timers so that Penny doens't have to remember to turn things on and off.

      Lizzy's house measures 4'x6'x4' and is complete with basking spots, things to climb on and all the proper UV and heat sources. Even with their good friend Don doing all the labor involved the total cost of this beautiful enclosure came to roughly $1110.00. A small price to pay for such a beautiful, furniture quality house for Lizzy! This is an enclosure that you can proudly display in any room of your home!

      Lizzy is about 4.5 feet long and weighs 8-9 pounds. Penny was kind enough to share Lizzy's history with us so that we might post it here along with the enclosure and pictures. The following was written by Penny :

"Lizzy was given to my boys, almost dead, I might add, for a Christmas gift. No cage,lights, nothing but the lizard! She had been kept under a desk lamp 24/7. I'm not sure how long he had her before we got her. She was 11 inches long and had a severe burn on her nose from the desk lamp. He had set out for her commercial ig pellets which she wouldn't eat. He just thought igs didn't eat or drink much. I knew zero about iguanas. I bought a book, I can't remember the name because I gave it to a student years ago who bought an ig. Anyway it had very basic infomation. I learned everything I know from the web, most of it from Melissa Kaplan's site and kingsnake ig forum. I have had her for almost 4.5 years. I have no way of knowing how old she was when I got her, probably older than I imagined because she was so malnourished. 1 1/2 years ago she made 28 eggs, went a month without eating, would not use a great nesting box, but dug forever. I found a herp vet in Yukon, OK, which is 5 hours from here, but well worth the drive. Dr. Timmarie Simmons did surgery-removed eggs, ovaries, and shell glands. Lizzy healed beautifully and has been a perfect picture of health since. X-rays were taken during early gravid stage. The vet was amazed her bones were so healthy, considering her early life. My boys lost interest in her in less than a week, which goes to show kids are not good ig owners (generally). I teach 5th grade and take Lizzy to school on a regular basis. The kids all think she's so cool, and then want one of their own. I preach, preach, preach that they are very expensive and difficult to take care of even though the local pet store sells them on a regular basis for $15! I'm pretty good about convincing them just to enjoy Lizzy!"

Material List and Cost Breakdown

Lumber, electrical supplies and labor
don't forget that the labor was supplied by a very good friend of theirs
Plexiglass
UV lights and fixtures
Radient Heat Panal
4 resess light fixtures
Greenery/scenery
2 basking lights and 2 infared lights
Muffin fans
Humidifier
Varnish
2 timers
Thermometer/humidity guage
Stain
Driftwood

$375.00

$276.00
$115.00
$80.00
$80.00
$50.00
$40.00
$23.00
$20.00
$20.00
$15.00
$15.00
donated cost $0.00
donated cost $0.00