LaPorte lizards live large

By Marty Metzger
Correspondent

LaPorte has its own junior version of Australia's Crocodile Hunter.

Down Under reptile aficionado, the late Steve Irwin, became world-famous for his passion for crocs and gators. Local 11-year-old Tyler Quella is similarly fervent about them and their smaller lizard cousins.

Although he and his father, Steve Quella, live on a sizeable acreage, their collection of goats, horses and other creatures seemed humdrum to young Tyler. From toddlerhood forward, reptiles fascinated him.

"I study about every reptile," Tyler enthusiastically said. "I like them all. I once caught a 6-foot-long bull snake. It was easy. You just have to know how to do it."

He clarified that a bull snake's head is rounded versus the diamond-shaped noggin of venomous rattlers.

On one excursion to reptile-packed Florida, father and son Quella had a contest to see who could catch and release the most wild green anoles, of which there were thousands.

At a campsite, Tyler reported he'd seen a huge gator, but adults thought it stalked merely in his imagination. The following morning, the 6-foot long creature became believable when found lurking beneath the Quellas' trailer.

On a 2005 airboat tour, they saw an 8- to10-foot gator by the dock. A British boy, thinking it fake, ran towards it for a photo op. A man grabbed the child just in time and literally threw him out of harm's way.

Tyler wasn't scared. He merely admired the big, handsome gator.

His own reptilian menagerie began early on with green anoles and geckos. Six years ago he upgraded to green iguanas when Godzilla and Zoom left Petco to join the Quella household. They have since quadrupled in length, with Godzilla exceeding 4 feet and Zoom at nearly 4 feet.

This "super size me" development requires lots of space. They spend a lot of summer time outside up in a towering tree. Retrieval necessitates an equally tall ladder and extremely good balance. Steve Quella plans to prune that tree manageably shorter in the near future.

The iguanas winter in the guest bathroom, where they thrive on visitors' steamy showers.

"They love it in there," said Quella. Well, the lizards do; the visitors, maybe not as much.

Each iguana has his own cat tree to climb and dines on lettuce and collard greens, as well as gourmet treats of grapes, watermelon, carrots, cukes and bananas.

In the winter, a heater and special bulb provide necessary warmth and UV light. Iguanas shed year round. This skin must be vacuumed like that of errant cat or dog hair.

Godzilla and Zoom love to be petted - causing more shedding - and are quite docile to humans. Their razor-sharp teeth have only snagged human flesh once when one mistook Tyler's finger for a piece of produce. It was a fairly superficial wound.

Claws are entirely another matter. Protective clothing must be worn to avoid needle-like punctures and scratches. The iguanas engage in occasional territorial spats that are more bluff than blood. Said Tyler, "The only one to ever get hurt is Dad."

"Yes, it's usually me bleeding," Quella admitted.

Each year when Tyler's class studies about the rain forest or similar topics, he takes Godzilla and Zoom to school.

"It makes me feel special," he said.

Quella said that on these show-and-tell expeditions one lizard sits on Tyler's shoulder, the other on his head "like a lizard ponytail."

"They really are great little pets," said Quella. "I had iguanas as a child, but they died due to poor diet. Tyler does a very good job of taking care of his lizards."

Tyler recommends them as pets for anyone who is dedicated enough to read up on them and commit to a lizard lifetime (12 to 20 years for iguanas) of proper care. "You have to read at least one book to learn how to take care of them," he counseled.

That proper care is key to reptile keeping. Each year, just before winter, the Quellas take theirs for checkups from veterinarian Marta Dean of LaPorte Animal Clinic and Supply.

In her work with exotics, Dr. Dean sees iguanas, bearded dragons, Savannah monitors and chameleons. She recommends annual checkups following a first exam within six weeks of ownership.

For herbivores, as most iguanas are, collard and mustard greens and kale provide calcium. Dr. Dean said that lettuce has low nutritional value and, if fed solely, will result in death.

Carnivores also require a variety of foods, including silk worms, mealworms and caterpillars, with crickets providing no more than 50 percent of their diet.

"I'll often also recommend some vitamin supplements because it's difficult to get nutrition right in captivity," said Dr. Dean.

A lot of health problems are due to improper temperatures. The majority of lizards do best at 70 to 90 degrees. Dr. Dean discourages use of hot rocks, as they burn lizards and don't heat the air. She instead suggests under-cage thermal pads or a ceramic bulb over the cage. A thermometer is essential, as is a humidity source, especially in this semi-arid area. For vitamin D and to help metabolize calcium, a UV light source is needed 12 hours a day.

Problems she most frequently treats are obesity (especially in monitors), calcium deficiency-caused fractures, reproductive problems and bacterial and respiratory infections.

For more information on lizards, Dr. Dean suggests the book "Reptile Keepers Handbook" by Susan Bernard of the Atlanta Zoo, published by Krieger Publishing.

To accommodate the ever-growing lizards, Tyler and his dad will spend their winter spare time installing in the garage a 6-by-12-by-8 pen, complete with heaters, wood floors and a mister, which should please Godzilla and Zoom. Visitors using the guest bath will, no doubt, be equally delighted