A soak in warm water that doesn't cover the head can help revive some reptiles, they can take water in through their cloaca/anus.

Fun times, right!?!  It would make rehydration so much more fun when slipping into the spa after a vigorous workout.

While you are bathing reptiles and providing earmuffs for wayward anoles I'll be dreaming of using invasive reptilians to make an innovative premier cat food.  Kill two birds with one stone- or save two birds anyhow.

Python and iguana with rice for Fluffy?  Oh, do say yes.

Stef: Reptile care is a lot more than a cage and a hot rock. Is the cage solid walled, or mesh - mesh just allows heat to escape. Hot rocks only provide heat to the spot the animal may lay across it, and often they will end up burned in one spot and still cold in another. Heat needs to come from all around the animal, not just one spot underneath, and it needs to be the right temperature - and the right humidity. Also, the correctUV lightwaves are vital, as without them, they don't metabolize their food correctly, if at all. And then, as I mentioned, the food is not a simple thing either. Anoles eat more meat protein, and that has to be pesticide-free and supplemented with calcium, in just the right proportion to phosphorus, otherwise kidney and osteological problems ensue.  Reading and networking with others to learn as much as you can is the way to go.  Most reptiles are a lot more work to keep healthy and happy than any other animal, and very few people really are going to be able to provide a good home for one.However, when it's done well (which costs $$), many reptiles can be interesting companions. Good luck!

Stef: Some of them won't make it. If they've been traumatized (when they fell into the road out of a tree or because they were attacked by a cat, for example) they often don't. Look for little lesions around their tail or face for clues. 

If he's turning greener it's a good sign. If he's still mostly dark-skinned it's pretty bad. Give him a chance, though. Some take a couple of days to come around. 

btw, yesterday someone dropped off a stiff, unhappy-colored, five-foot iguana at our hospital's back door. Within just a few hours he was able to move. They're all a tad different, though.

I also have a cuban anole at home, although he doesnt seem to be all that well. I found him almost stiff as a board and cold but he was breathing so i went and bought him a cage and a heat rock but he still is not opening his eyes but he moves. Kinda confused about his state. any suggestions?

Al: That's a Cuban anole (usually pronounced "uh-no-lee"). Horribly ungrateful, right?

Alex: You just add a little dish of water and some fresh leaves from the yard and leave them in a dark, quiet place until the cold snap's over. I just threw mine back out today since the lows will be over forty here in Miami tonight.

What is the lizard called with his mouth wide open while in your hands? I have one of those ungrateful little buggers that I took in late night.

Al

hi, i just save 3 big green lizards and put them in a shoe box, do i have to just live them alone? and by the way they are in my tv room lol.

i going to go out today to see if i can find more of them.

please feel free to give me any quick sugestion to my email: elparcerocolombiano@hotmail.com

You are a seriously good person!!! I lived in Tampa for ten years, now i'm back up north, brrr! It gets cold every winter in FL but usually only for a few days. I don't ever remember an extended cold such as this. I imagine a lotta lizards and gators aren't gonna make it through this, but thanks to you your neighborhood will be fine. Funny thing, lizards in FL are completely harmless, but I used to know a bunch of people that were terrified of them, especially women. Watch your step ladies, don't want lizard goo on your shoe...

lesliek: I happen to have a second-degree relative by the name of leslie k. Sure you're not her? Thanks for the uplifting comments.

oh my.. i loved this blog post. it's just too funny. the photos of your dining table are just pricelesls. you have such a wonderful way of writing. i had a wonderful laugh today. thank you for being so good to animals.

You won't get any abuse from me, Dr. K. Ethically, I don't see any difference between using fish or iguana in cat food, as long as they are properly prepared to prevent them from passing diseases or parasites. I just wouldn't have the nerve to clean an iguana. I can barely handle fish.

St. Pete Times ran a story last year on a guy who promotes eating iguanas and even included a recipe for Iguana Stew.

http://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/article1021412.ece

Yep...iguanas make a tasty meal for cats. I can see how you might have gotten the wrong impression, though. ;-)

Oh, well that's completely different!  I understand that 'green tree chickens' are a common fod item in Cuba (and that there are almost none left in Haiti, because they're relatively easy to catch.  They would certainly make for a novel protein source for dogs and cats with allergies....

She appears to be suggesting that you use the iguanas as a protein source in home-made cat food, not to feed cat food to your pet iguanas.

Thanks for the crate suggestion, Dr. K. I have a very large top-loader and can try that. I am quite fond of most reptiles and appreciate you opening your home to the anoles, etc.

As for the cat food issue and KateH's comment: I now am confused. Are you suggesting I make cat food out of the lizards? Or that I feed them homemade feline fare?

Dr. Khuly, I am suprised and saddened by your advice to give iguanas cat food. You said "homemade" and didn't specify ingredients, but since cats are carnivores, I'm sure you meant meat protein of some kind. If you were looking for a way to stress an iguana's kidneys and liver, then yes, that's a plan. But for animals that are already stressed from the temperature issues (that often lead to respiratory problems, up to and includingpneumonia and death), further compromising their health with inadequate and potentially risky nutrition is not right. Besides which, they need warmth to digest food, and an iguana with meat in its gut (if you can get a cold iguana to eat), will become a bloated, sick iguana that will likely die from intestinal problems.

While pet stores may tell buyers that iguanas will eat dog food and iceburg lettuce (and I've heard it done), that doesn't mean it will be healthy for the iguana. This is from the excellent online resource http://www.anapsid.org/pdf/icfs.pdf

Iguana Care, Feeding and Socialization (I've extracted the relevant section)

In the wild, iguanas eat lots of leaves and some flowers and soft fruits. In the spring they eat the leaves of plants in the legume family that are high in protein. Despite the information  commonly found in the pet literature, field and lab research has repeatedly shown that iguanas are not omnivores. They are strictly herbivorous and should be fed as such in captivity. This doesn't mean that there isn't the accidental ingestion of bugs or carrion in the wild. It also doesn't mean that there aren't some iguanas that exhibit some animal protein seeking or sampling behavior.  Iguanas naturalized outside their range may also have adapted as a population to the regular eating of animal protein.  However, iguanas in their native habitat are herbivores with a digestive system evolved to make efficient use of high fiber, hard-to-digest plant matter. Feeding animal protein in captivity is unnecessary and will cause early death, usually due to kidney failure. [5]

 I'm so glad you are trying to help these critters, but please, feed and tell others to feed dark, leafy green veggies, and shedded orange/yellow ones, not meat products.

Moongirl: Bigger iggies you'd like to rescue should be put into crates, cat carriers or boxes and brought indoors while the lows remain in the thirties or below. If you can't do that because you don't have enough space or boxes, just put them in a safe place away from any wind, rain and potential predators and cover them with burlap or something similarly biodegradable. 

If they're big enough, you might want to consider home made cat food. Here in SoFla, they're healthy enough to make an excellent protein source (as long as they're well cooked since parasites might be a problem, otherwise). And now I'll take whatever abuse you have to dish out (after that statement I'm sure to get some). 

Any tips on what to do with the iguanas? They are all over the ground in my neighborhood. In the past, I have just taken them out into the sun until they revive. But I think it's too cold even at midday right now for that to work. And they just are too big to bring into the house.

Oh, and I found a frozen little Atala butterfly on the sidewalk yesterday. Brought it home and put it in a little bug box but it never recovered. I wonder what this weather is going to do to our butterfly population?

It's amazing what a six and a half hour car ride can make in the weather.  I'm in middle GA about that far from your place.  It's been about 10 days now with lows in the teens here.  Some days the highs have not made the 40's.

This, while we are trying to housebreak our nine week old Westie.  Poor little thing can't help the timing of this "event".  She's doing as well as can be expected though.  And she sure like playing out in the afternoons.

So Doc, you keep tending to your little slimey friends and I'll keep warming little foot pads and we'll all get through this somehow.  We might as well keep smiling!

So fantastic that you (and others) are helping out the lizards! Thank you!

Last night it was 24 degrees here in sunny Texas!!!  If I knew how to upload a picture (or really felt like going outside to take pictures in the freezing cold weather) I'd post pictures of my makeshift feral cat boxes outside, just in case any kitties need to be able to get out of the freezing temps!  Today I mopped, since I couldn't yesterday because the main pipe to the house was frozen, and we didn't have water until much later in the afternoon, after we figured out to put a space heater outside by the pipe.  We're from Texas, we don't know what to do when ANYTHING freezes!  Well, except margaritas, that is!  :)

well my sunday ranged in temp between 2 and 9 degrees...I bundled up the dogs in their sweaters to go out the back door to pee...and much to my amazement the Chihuahua's penis got stuck out...from the cold?...I guess...he came crying in licking and whimpering and I just ran some cold water over it and it went back in. Is that what we call a quick freeze?...in any even, today it was piddle pads, with a high of 16, no one was leaving the fireplace hearth.

it was too exciting for me.

We're so cold, I think I need to move to Florida. Except I'm already in Central FL, so unless I head to the keys, which are still cold right now, I'm out of luck.

So nice of you to help the lizards! There was one at my MIL's tonight and she was freaking out, and I just told her to let it be, and then it ran and hid. I just hope her greyhound doesn't catch the poor thing.

We got up to a whopping 31 degrees today in the DC area.  We don't really see much in the way of lizards this time of year anyway, so I'm guessing they've gone underground (or whatever it is they do in the winter around here.)  The rest of us have happily stayed inside.  (Though Moxley, Wild Dog of the Arctic, has been out many times and doesn't understand why I don't really want to come out and play.)

That's really kind of you to set up your hypothermia center!  Hope everyone makes it through the freeze.

I am glad to see this as I was working in my yard & almost stepped on a big green anole.. I put him in a rubbermaid tub & went online to see what to do! Here I found you! I always wanted a closer look at these neon guys; but they are way too fast...now I have my chance!

Our Sunday? A heat wave at 26 degrees.  After 9 days of -5 -10, -15 degree weather.

Relentless Arctic air here in the Atlanta area.  Have been housebound since Thursday.  Will not drive on ice.  Wish more citizens would stay off the roads too - hundreds of accidents per day.  The concept of icy roads=slower speeds is a foreign concept to most.

Creatures happy to have me home.  Nothing like snuggling with 2 dogs and a cat when the temp is 15.

Good luck with your temporary visitors.

We heat with wood, so a few little guys came in with the wood for tonight's fire.

They are what we call cameleons (sp?).

Some of the ones you are saving have a bounty on them over here.  I'm not bringing cold blooded creatures into the house.  Period.  We live out in the boonies on the island and there are already too  many for my taste.

What is really sad is the huge fish kill that is happening.  People were scooping up dying snook and all the others by the bucket full today.  At least someone is eating them.

You truely are a good person..

I needed a good laugh.. I spent the day with my 80yo mom.. I set up her HD TV.. and taught her how to use the remote.. Took her shopping for tile for her back splash in the kitchen to match the new granite she got.. Need I say more..

As for the cold.. NY has it.. and if you want to get your dog to do his business fast, you don't put his jacket on.. Works every time..

Have a wonderful week.. and try not to let them get to you..

Our Sunday...Despite turning off the water and draining our pipes, we still somehow burst one, thanks for asking.  The barn is a lake.  The stalls are at least a foot deep in water.  It's supposed to get down to 16 tonight, so it's likely a lot of that will freeze before it has a chance to seep into the ground or drip out.  (16??  Isn't this Florida??)  Very interesting day.  At least the burst pipe is in a spot where it's easily accessible and I even planned to replace that joint anyway.

What's the fate of these caged exotics?