My visit with The Binns

[dominick]

Hey Folks-

Just back from my whirl-wind tour of San Francisco and the Central Valley in CA. Thanks for having me Steph!

While there I had the extreme privilege of visiting with John and Sandy Binns, two wonderful people who work tirelessly in Cyclura conservation.

John helps run The International Iguana Society (an organization I strongly support and suggest you do too: http://www.iguanasociety.org), This organization works to conserve Iguana species that are currently endangered. Your membership fees and donations go directly to Iguana research and conservation. Recently the IIS purchased a tact of beach specifically to preserve the Iguana population there. This is fantastic stuff in my book! They need your help to continue their remarkable efforts and I strongly suggest you visit and join the society. Whether an Iguana owner or not, this conservation group is top notch and effective in reaching their goals. Your donations would be well spent and appreciated. Iguana, The Journal of the International Iguana Society is among the best iguana-specific magazines I've seen and is largely produced by John himself. Your membership includes a free subscription to this awesome magazine!

Sandy runs www.cyclura.com, well worth a visit, the pics are some of the best on the net of Iguanas that are currently endangered. Not to mention informative articles and great stories.

Here's some pics of my visit to their home/zoo. They keep 50 different Iguanas of varying species like Greens, Chuckwallas and ctenosaurs.

Enjoy the show.

img1.photobucket.com/albums/1003/dominickg/My%20Binns%20Visit/?action=view&slideshow=true
__________________
Regards,
Dominick

[CCP1083]

Very Awesome Pics ;D - the orgish one is gorgeos!!!

[dominick]

The orange Iguana is named Slim. He was rescued by John and Sandy and was very small and thin, hence the name.

With proper husbandry and loving care he grew into the giant Green that he is today!

I spoke to John about his orange coloration. He indicated that the orange color is more indicative of the region they are from than anything else. There are other reasons that Iguanas turn orange, like illness (renal failure) and hormonal imbalance brought on by seasonal heat, but in Slim's case it's due to his region of origin.

He was a great Iguana, we all held him many times, what a sweetheart he was, until Monty came by his enclosure then he turned into the male he is and attacked throught the cage. LOL

It was fascinating to see and handle the many different kinds of Iguanids.

I'm looking forward to my trip to Cayman to the Iguana Research Station to assist John with enclosure building later this summer.

It was great fun to meet Melissa Kaplan face to face also! She is a wonderful, friendly person who was more than willing to discuss any aspect of Iguana care. That was a real treat too.

All in all there were probably a dozen Iguana "professionals" that I met and talked too. Special thanks to Julie and Matt for hosting the west coast pIGnic!

[Diane]

wonderful photos! thanks for sharing.

[Patrick]

Man Dominick I wish I could Meet people like that if would be interesting to talk to them and what they are doing for iguanas! Yes I joined IIS and for 3yrs and the First Journal Was FANTASTIC!! I love reading it!

[Tesa]

That had to have been an awesome experience.
I don't know whether to luv ya more for it, or to hate you cause I'm so jealous! ;D

[VegasIguana]

Dominick said:

The orange Iguana is named Slim. He was rescued by John and Sandy and was very small and thin, hence the name.

With proper husbandry and loving care he grew into the giant Green that he is today!

I spoke to John about his orange coloration. He indicated that the orange color is more indicative of the region they are from than anything else. There are other reasons that Iguanas turn orange, like illness (renal failure) and hormonal imbalance brought on by seasonal heat, but in Slim's case it's due to his region of origin.

He was a great Iguana, we all held him many times, what a sweetheart he was, until Monty came by his enclosure then he turned into the male he is and attacked throught the cage. LOL

It was fascinating to see and handle the many different kinds of Iguanids.

I'm looking forward to my trip to Cayman to the Iguana Research Station to assist John with enclosure building later this summer.

It was great fun to meet Melissa Kaplan face to face also! She is a wonderful, friendly person who was more than willing to discuss any aspect of Iguana care. That was a real treat too.

All in all there were probably a dozen Iguana "professionals" that I met and talked too. Special thanks to Julie and Matt for hosting the west coast pIGnic!

*sob* I wish I could have made it to that! But thanks for the pictures, it was like being there I'll have to ask John if i can stowaway in his luggage for the Caymans

[David]

Wow you are soooooo lucky :DI wish could have seen an Exuma Island Iguana up close. That type of Cyclura is so expensive and hard to get, They run about three thousand dollars, As much as an Albino Green Iguana.

[dominick]

Hi Reptar-

I was very lucky indeed to be able to handle so many different Iguanids.

It was the trip of a life-time!