Pets from Key West

Iggy the Iguana

We only had Iggy for a couple of days. We found

him in our yard dehydrated.

After putting some water on him

He was very calm and allowed me to

hold him.

Dad welded a cage for him and placed inside a
piece of driftwood we had found on a
previous beach combing outing. We were

told that they like to eat the red double hybiscus

flowers, which we had quite a few. He did well

for the few days we had him, but one morning

when we went to check his cage we found he had

escaped during the night, not to be seen again.

Ralphie Raccoon didn't belong to us,

but to one of mom and dad's best friends. I

was visiting every chance I got. He really

did bond with me and we had a great

time of playing!

I'll never forget when I would come in the yard

and he would see me. He would come running

at full speed. His fur would roll like that of a bear

as he galloped across the yard toward me. If he didn't

jump-spring into my lap, he would stop and

step up to reach with his nose to greet me.

After rumble, tumble playing in the picture

below, Ralph would let you hold and hug all

over him. He really did love the attention.

Our friends found Ralph and his sister where

they had fallen out of their palm tree nest. His

sister didn't survive the fall. His eyes were

still closed. His mother had gotten killed

on the highway, so our friends raised him

from before his eyes opened. I guess our

human love implanted on him and he

didn't know he was a raccoon!

When Ralph was two, he had a "birthday" party.

He loved playing in his tub of water and the hose!

We also had fish. One special pet was a French

Angel fish dad had caught when it was very

small. He found it under a bridge piling

in a couple of feet of water. She was about

an inch wide. We named her "Frenchy."

In this picture, she had grown to about

four inches. It is amazing how smart fish

can be. She would play hide and seek with

us when we came in the room. She would

go behind the coral rock and roll her big

eyes up at us and when we made our lips

do a kiss motion, she would come out

and swiftly swim up and down the tank.

Frenchy would eat from our fingers and would

let us rub her side and fins with our fingers.

She knew us from strangers. When "strangers"

would come in, she would hide and not come out.

Once she got larger, she would go behind the

coral rock and lay low to the tank bottom.

Our hearts were broken when we lost her to

death some years later.

These are my fish after we moved from

Key West. This is a fresh water tank

whereas the other was a salt water tank

we had in ther keys. Goldy belonged to

a friend of mine who didn't want her

anymore. She had had Goldy for five years.

I took her and placed her in a big tank

with 2 new friends, Amber and Oranche.

I had them for five years which made

Goldy 10 years old!!