Some random shit we found the other night. Pretty Entertaining. Not much new at the TDI. We are rolling along on a lot of general improvements. The usual. Enjoy the vids. Until next time…

Huge Cannon Fires Pumpkins at 600 MPH – Watch more Funny Videos

Human Head Turntables and Drums – Watch more Funny Videos

Shooting An Anvil 200 Feet in the Air – Watch more Funny Videos

Contrary to popular belief, The Tye-Dyed Iguana does not actually sell Green Iguanas.  The reaction we get to this policy varies greatly.  Those of us in the industry understand completely the mentality behind our Green Iguana policy.  Many people, however, are not aware of the larger problem with the sale of Green Iguanas.

Green Iguanas are the #1 most abused and neglected reptile in our industry.  This is due to the overwhelming large amount of false care information in circulation.  The pet shops are also to blame in this situation.  Pet shops must know what they sell, and often they do not.  It’s hard to stop the spread of misinformation when a store front is helping to spread it.

We found ourselves in a situation where people thought we were lying to them when we told them how to properly care for a Green Iguana.  The common mentality is “I did it this way for years, it must be correct.”  Our response to this statement is one word:  Asbestos.  Look how long we installed asbestos in people’s homes until one day we realized it causes cancer.  Or better yet, from 1898 – 1910, heroin was prescribed as a cough suppresant.  Long story short, just because we did it for years, doesn’t mean it’s right.

Instead of selling Green Iguanas, we have opted to adopt them out.  You can add yourself to our Myspace and Facebook pages.  We do most of our adopting through those websites.

We need to take everything we used to do for iguana care and throw it out the window.  There have been amazing advancements in captive reptile husbandry.  We now know how to take care of these amazing creatures.  Here’s a little overview of some basic care techniques.

Basic Caging Requirements
The cage dimensions should ideally be twice the animals length in each direction.  That means a hatchling iguana would need a cage roughly 2 foot cubed, or 2ft x 2ft x 2ft.  10, 20, and 30 Gallon tanks are never sufficient.  An adult iguana will need a cage 12-14 feet cubed, or a bedroom.  This is not an exaggeration.  Green Iguanas are very large arboreal (tree dwelling) lizards.  In order for them to maintain their natural behaviors, they need to be able to move freely in all directions.

Basic Lighting Requirements
Green Iguanas are a diurnal species.  This means they are awake during the day.  As a result, Green Iguanas need access to a heat source, a UVA source, and a UVB source.  Luckily, all standard heat bulbs emit UVA.  They do not, however, emit UVB.  This is a common misconception, again largely due to misinformation.  UVB bulbs will specifically say UVB on them.  Plant bulbs and fish bulbs are not the same thing.  They emit very low levels of UVB, not what’s needed by the iguanas body.

UVB bulbs come in three strengths: 2.0, 5.0, and 10.0.  These strengths directly correlate with the intensity of the UVB rays.  See the chart below.

* Reptiles can get to much UVB just like humans.  Be sure to pay attention to the minimum distances.  For instance if you put a 10.0 on a Veiled Chameleon, this would be to powerful of a bulb for a tree dweller.

You can purchase UVB bulbs here.

Basic Diet Requirements
No lettuce of any kind.  Sure they like to eat it, but Americans also like to eat McDonalds.  It doesn’t mean you should eat it every day.  Lettuce lacks almost all nutritional value.  It’s primarily water and cellulose.  A green iguana’s diet should be composed primarily of dark leafy greens such as collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens.  See the chart below.

Pelleted diets can be very convenient for busy lifestyles, but the formula is far from natural.  The number one ingredients in pelleted foods is corn or soy.  Neither of these exist in the canopies of Central America.  Although the iguana may eat it, it’s not an optimal diet.  They make a great supplement to a balanced diet.

Basic Heating Requirements
Green Iguanas need a basking hot spot of about 90 degrees.  This can fluctuate 5 degrees in either direction.  The cool end of the enclosure to be room temperature.  Night time heating is not neccessary unless the animal is dropping below 65 degrees.  At that point a night time heat source is required.

You can purchase heat bulbs here.

What’s up world. Been a couple weeks. We’ve had quite a bit of chaos these past few weeks. It all began with the Chicago Reptile show. There were a bunch of us running around up there. I ran into a few of you. I imagine i missed a few of you as well. We picked up some nice new breeder stock. In fact, we’ve got quite a bit going on with the breeding for next year. Here’s our list of animals set to produce for next year:

Jungle Carpet Pythons
Children’s Pythons
Spotted Pythons
Rosy Boas
Red Tail Boas
Hypos Red Tail Boas
Hogg Island Boas
Dumerils Boas
Bearded Dragons
Veiled Chameleons
Carpet Chameleons
Yellow Ackies Monitors
Crested Geckos
Various Corn Snakes
Albino Nelsons Milk Snakes
Gray Banded King Snakes
Honduran Milk Snakes
Brazilian Rainbow Boas
Woma Pythons
Emerald Tree Boas

So yea, we’ve been busy. All of these guys are ready to go. The only ones that may not be ready are the Womas. But we’ll see.

On top of the breeding, we’ve been weather proofing the building for the winter. It’s right around the corner. We are also getting ready to do more modification to the rodent room. Sean and I will be tackling that project beginning this week sometime.

Those of you on our MySpace and FaceBook may have noticed some chatter about a Television show… Well, that one is a long story. Basically there has been some serious interest from the guys in Hollywood. I don’t have any specific details at the moment. As we learn more, we’ll keep all of you posted.

We are also in the process of building a second snake room in our breeding facility. We will have that up and running this week. This will allow us to have one room that we hibernate and one room that is warm year round.

So yea, lots of shit going on as usual. Only so many hours in a day. Anyway, its Monday morning. Lots to do. Until next time, enjoy this short vid.

Electrical Wire Tears Apart Tree – Watch more Funny Videos

Remember that word? Suds? I haven’t used that word in a while. Makes me think of a bubble bath.

Anyway, the big Chicago Reptile Show is coming up next weekend? Our crew will be swinging through there on various days throughout the weekend. Let us know if any of you are going to be up there. We can hook up for a beer or two. You never know.

Anyway, we have a couple parties today. One of which is at the shop. Those are always nice. Less travel.

On that note, enjoy the best of the best:

Viral Video Legends Compilation – Watch more Funny Videos