Records from May, 96
Articles are extracted and modified from my letter written to my friend Marie.Bingo
May, 19, 1996 [Birth]
On 2nd of this March, our female iguana "Oberon" layed 26 eggs.
5 eggs were fertile. Incubated at temperature 29 deg(Centigrade). On 19th of May, one of them hatched.
The hatchling had SVL of 77mm, tail length 220mm, weighted 15 grams. Named "Bingo".
She (I'll call it this way until sex is determined) is a bouncing baby but very tamed and sleeps in our hands. Extremely CUTE!We found that iguana's fear of human comes from acquired process. They are natural born human companion!
She has some difficulty in her right eye. She can open only half of her eyelid. We are hoping this will soothe as she grow.
Right : Proof of Newborn.Yolk sack belly button!
May, 25, 1996 [Scatology]
The first day she hatched, she ate two bites of leaf. But after, she refuses every food we offer.
She refuses just like she wants something else. I think iguana owners can mention this description.
She licks the food several times and refuse.I was thinking what is her request. And I came up with a recall of my memory that I have read about juvenile iguana article. In which it said that first thing hatchling does is to eat mature iguana's droppings in order to adopt bacterial culture for their cellulose digestion.
We tried this. We showed her fresh mature iguana droppings (Microscopically checked for pathogenic parasites), and surprisingly, she ran for it and ate it! Amazing work of DNA!
May, 26, 1996 [Escape]
Bingo is getting naughty day by day. First time I saw her, I thought she was big, but she was still tiny enough to go through a small gap.To give her direct sunlight, Takako had put her in a bird cage which is made by 9mm grid. She thought the grid was small enough to avoid escape. But our expectation were short. Next time she looked the cage, it was empty. Her heart was freezed for a moment. She madly searched for Bingo and finaly found her on our balcony outside of our house! She was captured safely. Thank god !
She is starting to eat 2,3 bites of leaf (Komatsuna) 2,3 times a day.
Today, she did her 2nd duty. I examed it under my microscope and confirmed that she has digested vegitable fibers. I think her bacteria is cultivated.
May, 28, 1996 [Appetite]
Bingo is now starting to have great appetite. She is eating about one leaf and few bites of TOFU and pumpkin every day.I think her digesting system are on the go.
And her right eye is getting better. Almost three fourth is open. I think it will be good.
Other four eggs are still in a sleep. One of them is starting to shrink. Maybe remaining four are going bad. But still incubated in 29 degrees(C) environment. Even in a less hope.
May, 31, 1996 [Super Model]
Right : Bingo with Marie's CD. Compare the size!
White object on right of CD is the egg shell which she came out. I can't believe she was in there (I meant Bingo, not Marie).
Left : 6-day-old "Bingo" on top of 6-year-old girl "Angyu".
SVL 77mm vs 420mm, Weight 15g vs 3,260g. Over 200 times heavy!
Don't eat her!
June, 1, 1996 [Growth]
Bingo is eating Chingensai leaf, Komatsuna leaf, Mologheiya leaf, Pumpkin, boiled beans,
and Tofu.She is growing fast.
Data for today : SVL = 80mm, Tail Length = 230mm, Weight = 17g.
Eve
June, 3, 1996 [Next one]
The second egg is hatching. When I came home from work, my wife was in a panic mode. I had to wait for a moment to recognize what was happening. She took time to explain.
When I looked in the incubator, her head was just out of the egg. That was about 7:30 PM. And now, when I am writing this, her front limbs came out. So cute ! Her eyes are still closed but both of her eyes are bulging outward. If you look her from the top, she looks like...like...a mantis!
When I first met Bingo, she was already out of the egg and she was swimming in the incubator. So this is the first time to see an iguana comming out of the egg. This is amazing.
................................
Now she came out. She is still dragging a big yolk sac. It looks very fragile. Time is 11:30 PM now. Maybe I don't have time to go to bed tonight. I will put her picture again soon.
Her body color is dark dark green, almost black!
"Fragile yolk sac"
June, 4, 1996 [Eve]
Compare to Bingo's vitality, her sister -- named Eve -- is depressed. She might have some problem. Her eyes are still closed and she hardly moves. We haven't touched her much yet because she is still dragging the fragile looking yolk sac.I have searched for hatchling writings but there are less. Maybe she came out too early. I wish she will survive. We will try our best.
June, 5, 1996 [Purge]
She still had her Yolk sac in the morning, but she was trying to get rid of it by her hind limb. Yolk sac has become looking bad and the color has change to reddish black(Like a liver). It looks like it is drying up. Later in the evening, she cut it off by herself (Photo right). She is free now and got easier to move.Now we can handle her in our hand. We checked her body carefully and found out that her body had many physical problems. I think she had a premature birth. Her eyes are bulging because her skull is underdeveloped. And has some finger adhesion. Bone and muscle of her limbs are also underdeveloping. Reason why she can't walk correctly.
Only thing she can do is to sleep and to drink sometimes. Her surviving possibility seems to be very low. She is kept in a 27deg to 35deg(C) environment. We can only hope.
June, 22, 1996 [Sight]
Her eyes are starting to open. But I still think she can't see. We have to push leavs against her mouth to make her eat. I think she couldn't have survived in nature.