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127IGUANADecember 2003

I saw, in web unbroken,
Its history outwrought
Not as the loud had spoken,
But as the mute had thought.

—Thomas Hardy

Someone once asked me why iguanas are mute.
I skipped the whole vocal cords thing and gave him
what I thought was a most appropriate answer.
“Iguanas,” I said, “are mute because, if God had
given them a voice, we wouldn’t be able to hear our-
selves think for their screaming and crying…”

I was born and raised in Athens, Greece and my
parents were considerate enough to introduce me to
the wonders of animal life from an early age.
Growing up in an environment filled with cats, dogs,

reptiles, and birds, I learned how to love life itself. In
fact, I am quite certain that I learned how to love
humans from my interactions with animals.

When I was 15, one of my Red-eared Sliders
(Trachemys scripta) broke the right side of her shell in
a fall from her terrarium. I was devastated. I took her
to my dog vet, who apparently had no idea about
reptiles and couldn’t do a single thing to help her. I
began searching for a reptile vet in Greece — but
couldn’t find one. After a rigorous search, I came to
a sad discovery. I was completely alone. Not a single
Greek veterinarian worked on reptiles! The pet
shops, although full of reptiles, didn’t know the first
thing about herp care. The picture wasn’t right —
but I wasn’t going give up on my turtle. I began pur-
chasing foreign literature on pond turtles in order to

If Iguanas Could Speak
Andy Gogakis

Athens, Greece

Andy Gogakis with his pet iguana, Eric. Photograph by Lucas Liaskos.



128 IGUANA Volume 10, Number 4

cure mine myself.
That’s when it hit me.
Everything I had been
doing in regard to tur-
tle husbandry was
utterly wrong.

Nobody in Greece
was interested in rep-
tiles. When confronted
with the question:
“What am I to do with
my sick pet?” every-
one, including many
vets and my parents,
responded: “Let it die
and buy a new one; it’s
not like you are dealing
with a dog.” For crying
out loud! We are talk-
ing about a living,
breathing entity here.
Come on, show some
compassion here, peo-
ple. I was confronted
by the same response
from everyone I talked
to about the Blue
Iguana extinction issue.
Phrases like “Who
cares?” or mere grins were enough to make any con-
siderate person angry. Suffice it to say, I cured the
poor creature myself. Ten years after her accident she
is doing well, although her shell never recovered
completely (turtles have a very slow healing rate).

More serious problems arise when it comes to
iguanas. Greece has to be the only country in the
world that treats lizards as pests and not pets. Until
2000, very few people owned iguanas — but fea-
turing one in a television series changed the whole
picture. The owner of the iguana was portrayed as a
weirdo, a societal outcast, a freak with strange hair
color, who, to be honest, was quite funny. And, sud-
denly, that was it. Every kid in Greece wanted an
iguana. Since the TV-series iguana ate only lettuce
and spiders and lived in a 20-gallon tank, it was
apparently easy to keep one. The fact that iguanas
are very cheap in Greece has only encouraged peo-
ple to acquire one. As a result, according to one of
the largest pet shops in Athens, iguana sales have
risen 500% in the past few years. On the opposite
side of that coin, however, the mortality rate of these
creatures is well over 95% — testament to throw-
away attitudes toward reptiles and the lack of accu-
rate information regarding proper husbandry.

When I was confronted with my iguana’s health
problems, I quickly reached my wits’ end. The only
source of help was the Internet. I even sent e-mails
to the Greek Veterinary Committee asking for assis-
tance in finding a vet who would work on reptiles.
The response was that no Greek vets had any inter-
est in reptiles and that reptiles weren’t even consid-
ered in university training programs. I also did some
legal research and found out that animal care legis-
lation in Greece covers only cats and dogs.

I finally decided to strike out on my own. After
two years of hard work, intensive research, and many
sleepless nights, I managed to cure my pet iguana,
Eric, who suffered from mites, skin and spike prob-
lems, dehydration, advanced tail rot, and feeding
problems. He had carried these problems with him
since the day I saved him from a terrible pet shop,
where he had shared a five-gallon tank with another
iguana. Today he lives in a very large enclosure that
resembles a tropical forest. 

I am not one to tell you that all people are incon-
siderate and cruel. I believe that proper educational
efforts regarding reptilian pets will eventually incur
dramatic improvements. In the interim, I just hope
that the iguanas in Greece remain mute…

Photograph by Andy Gogakis.




