The forelimbs are supported from the pectoral girdle. The humerus bone articulates at a point between the sternum and inter scapula. Similarly, the femur fits into an opening of the ischium. At the lowest point of the pectoral girdle is the sternum, a bone which protects a good part or the internal organs. Between the sternum and the pelvis may be a bony or cartilaginous union of the ribs, known as the parasternum. Extending from beneath the scapula and uniting with the sternum is the clavicle, a bone always present in pairs.
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Iguana’s Structure
Friday, March 12th, 2010Postcranial Skeleton
Thursday, March 4th, 2010The vertebrae are the first bones encountered beyond the skull. The first vertebra is the atlas, so named because it must bear the skull. The second bone is the axis, the pivot point which allows free movement of the head and neck. The hyoid apparatus is in the throat, roughly beneath and in front of these first vertebrae. It may be connected with a vertebra, or it may be a free unit. It protects the windpipe.
The body of the vertebra is called a centrum; the space between centra is the intercentrum. The vertebral centra may be one of two types, either amphicoelous (biconcave) or procoelus (concave anteriorly, convex posteriorly). The backbone runs the entire length of the tail, but should this member be lost, the replacement will be forever devoid of true vertebrae. Along the tail section, when true vertebrae are present, one can locate the plane of autotomy, which is usually a cartilaginous plate before or behind the transverse process of the vertebra.
Iguana’s Anatomy
Monday, March 1st, 2010Above the ocular cavity is a bone or pair of bones called the frontals. This is a centrally located bone met anteriorly by the nasals or occasionally the prefrontal. It is bordered posteriorly by the parietal. Along the border of the frontal and parietal, or often in the center of the parietal, may be found a single round hole. It is in this small aperture that the pineal gland or third eye is located. In species lacking the eye, this pineal foramen is often absent.
There may be a temporal arch, an arch of bone created by the postorbital and squamosal bones. The lower arch, formed by an extension of the jugal with the quadrate, is not found in lizards, but does occur in the tuatara, Sphenodon, a lizard-like animal of New Zealand. In some lizards and all snakes the upper temporal arch is lacking; in these forms the squamosal bone is rudimentary or absent.
One last aspect of the skull that should be mentioned is the occipital condyle, the point where the cranium is fixed to the skull. This is a point of bone (single in lizards and the other reptiles) where the first vertebra, the atlas, attaches to the skull. It is not always at the hindmost part of the skull.
Food
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010The iguana is smart. He selects his food to provide a balanced diet. If this is what you believe – great! The iguana is stupid, but providentially he is endowed with a very tolerant digestive system. Perhaps this is what you believe – great!
Here are a few facts about your iguana which might be useful regardless of which statement you believe. Young iguanas in the wild are known to eat insects, small animals, birds, other reptiles, land snails, fruit, vegetables, flowers and buds. Adult wild iguanas have been found with some animal food in their stomachs. Other adults have been known to thrive in the wild on a 100% vegetarian diet.
Iguanas are rarely seen to drink, but they do like to bathe and swim and soak; perhaps they do drink or absorb moisture through their skin. The Galapagos land iguana eats or licks plants wet with dew and also seems to drink sea water.
Iguanas consume some gravel which they use in their alimentary canals to aid in breaking up tough vegetable matter. One fine specimen of common iguana contributed to the Staten Island Zoo in New York was reported to have thrived on mozzarella cheese and ice cream. At the zoo it thrived on the regular iguana diet.
Another, a pet in Washington, D.C., ate vegetables for twelve years and is thriving. This specimen has a special fondness for frozen spinach souffle, served piping hot! He is known to drink water from time to time. His owner believes that the preference for vegetables over fruit may have been acquired since vegetables were all he got to eat when he was a baby twelve years ago.
Basic Anatomy
Sunday, February 14th, 2010In this section I have tried to outline the more important elements used in establishing a system of effective classification and at the same time to enlighten the layman to the “little things” that are a very important part of making a lizard a lizard. Although this chapter is brief, it is as complete as space allows and as accurate as possible.
Skull
In general discussions about the head of an animal, the upper portion is referred to as the cranium, while the lower part consists of the mandible. In lizards the foremost bone of the mandible is the dentary; it is at the foremost point of the dentary bone that the two halves of the mandibles are firmly united (the symphysis). The mandible articulates with the cranium at the quadrate bone, located near the rear of the cranium. The coronoid bone juts up behind the dentary bone and fits into a socket formed by the pterygoid bones of the cranium. The distance from the tip of the snout to the coronoid intersection determines the gape of the lizard.
In the mandible, teeth are found on the dentary bone; in the cranium they may be on the maxillary, premaxillary, palatine, or pterygoid bones. The teethe themselves may be pleurodont (along the side of the bone) or acrodont (along the crest of the bone). On some lizards thecodont teeth (fitting into sockets) are found, but along with one of the other types. The teeth may be pyramidal, conidal, flat, bicuspid, or tricuspid. They can be quickly and frequently replaced.
Between the maxillary, premaxillary, and septomaxillary, bones is a large gap in the cranium. This is in effect the internal nasal arch through which the nostrils draw air through the skull into the mouth. Another gap exists a little behind this.
Care of Iguanas
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Still another iguana killer is respiratory disease. Generally it is found in run-down specimens. Buy a healthy animal and take good care of it and avoid this problem. If you are the owner of a thin-tailed, grey, wet-eyed or sunken-eyed snuffler who doesn’t eat or distend his dewlap of otherwise show an enthusiasm for life, you might try several cures simultaneously:
- Try a penicillin-type drug administered by your veterinarian
- Provide sunlight, preferably direct and unfiltered by glass.
- Coax food – try variety
- Avoid handling and stressing the animal
- Keep temperature up – say 82 F to 90 F. Both day and night during the treatment.
- Keep cage dry and clean. Clean means antiseptically clean. Wash the cage with a carbolic acid preparation like Lysol and then thoroughly rinse and dry it to assure that no chemical remains before placing the animal back in his quarters.
- Avoid wooden cages and cages with complicated construction where parasites and germs can hide and avoid detection and disinfection.
It should be noted that some iguana parasites pass through complicated life cycles and during one stage may leave a reptile and find a bird or mammal host, possibly even a human. The important thing to remember is that the parasites like chiggers, ticks and mites sometimes carry within their systems such diseases as “Q” fever. When a mite carrying “Q” fever infests an iguana becomes a stepping stone for the disease to be transmitted further.
The control is simple. Free your iguana from ticks, chiggers and mites. Keep the iguana isolated from other animals which might transfer new infestations. Keep the cage clean. Sterilize it if necessary. Keep the cage simple so that parasites do not have a place to hide while you are eliminating the individuals clinging to your pet. Once freed of parasites your new acquisition need never be infested again.
A Place in the Sun
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010The common green iguana is one species within one genus of a family of lizards found mostly in the New World. This green iguana and the other typical iguanas are tropical and semi-tropical and active during daylight hours (diurnal). Their eyes have round pupils and well developed lids. Their tongues are short, thick and only slightly notched, as contrasted to the long forked tongue of, for instance, the monitor lizards. It lays eggs, in common with most other iguanids (oviparous). Only a few give birth to living young (viviparous). They are frequently but not always brightly colored; they often have spines, frills or crests, and many can distend their throats. They can alter their color somewhat, some species more than others. Some may favor trees (arboreal) and others favor the land (terrestrial). Two are from the Galapagos Islands, and one of these is semi-marine, eats seaweed and would probably rather die than climb a tree.
For a beginning herpetologist or hobbyist pet keeper, the best iguana is the common green iguana – scientifically: Iguana iguana iguana. If you don’t go out of your way when you choose a pet in a pet shop, this is what you probably will get. Good. The only other iguanas that resemble it are Iguana iguana delicatissima which lacks the circular shields found below the eardrums of Iguana iguana iguana, and Iguana iguana rhinolopha which has a slight protuberance at the snout. So there you have it – genus Iguana, species iguana, and subspecies perhaps iguana or delicatissima or rhinolopha.
Tick Prevention for your Iguana
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010The powder with a warm bath and several rinses and clean the cage thoroughly before reintroducing the specimen.
These two insect killers should be available through your pet dealer or veterinarian. A mixture of half-and-half castor oil and 90% grain alcohol brushed on the affected areas may also eliminate mites. Don’t dip your pet in this mixture; just apply a little locally. Note that 90% grain alcohol is not 90 proof. You can buy 90% grain neutral spirits in your pharmacy or liquor store. A little goes a long way.
If you pick off ticks and chiggers with the tweezers, you might well follow up with an alcohol swab to help reduce the risk of infection at the sore spot. Perhaps a pretreatment with the alcohol will tend to loosen the tick before you attempt to pick it off. This passage is not intended to scare anyone from keeping an iguana. People have had dogs and cats with chiggers, ticks, mites and fleas for all of the recorded history.
A number of large and small ticks attached under the edges of the scales of a rainbow boa. The ticks found on iguanas are usually similar in appearance to those found on snakes – ticks are not too choosy.
The Iguana part 2
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010The Galapagos land Iguana, Conolophus subcristatus, is frequently seen in zoos but rarely in private collections. It is protected by law.
It weighs twenty-two pounds. There is a subspecies, A.c. venustissimus, found only on Hood Island. It is only 30 inches maximum length and brightly colored, but nevertheless is valueless as a captive pet.
CONOLOPHUS – One species, the Galapagos land iguana, Conolophus subcristatus. It is a vegetarian, eating shoots, bark, flowers, fruits, cactus pads and grasshoppers. With a row of spines down the back, this is a powerful looking lizard; however, it is easy to tame. It needs warmth – say 80 to 90 degrees F. It is surely used to salty food and may actually relish it. Four feet long.
The Iguana
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010Close up of a mature Galapagos land iguana. Notice especially the bumpy scales on the head and the spines at the back of the neck.
IGUANA – The primary subject of this book. Depending on whose classification – and when it was written – there is one species or two and perhaps even three subspecies. For purposes of this book there is one species with three subspecies all having identical natural history and only slight differences in appearance.
IGUANA IGUANA IGUANA – Common green iguana, tuberculated iguana, common iguana, Chinese dragon and, in Central America, gallina de pallo - chicken.