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| Besides websites that offer information on iguanas and iguana care,
there are also many interactive online resources including chatrooms and message boards. Naturally, we'd like to direct you to the Green Iguana Society message board first, but we'd like to give you as much opportunity to talk with as many different people as possible by giving you other useful links to other interactive internet resources. Here is a list of a few of the better ones. A note of caution: Although these sources for information can be useful and at some times very entertaining, there can be drawbacks with actively talking with other iguana owners. Sometimes, you may not know how reliable the information is and who exactly it's coming from. Tempers flare and arguments often occur, especially with contraversial and debatable topics. Many people are very set in their ways of caring for iguanas and will argue to no end defending their point of view. It is our suggestion that you always try and be polite, understanding and accept other opinions for what they usually are...opinions. After getting used to the format of interactively discussing iguana care and asking questions, you will probably learn how the online iguana community can really be an entertaining and educational experience for everyone. For some more information and our advice on using message boards and other online forums, please visit our Message Board & Forum Etiquette page. |
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| Although there are many other message boards and forums on the internet, we decided to create our own message board as well. Here you can ask questions, get advice, make comments or suggestions about our website, as well as find out information on current news and events that the Green Iguana Society is involved in. |
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| The Iguana Mailing List, or IML as it is more commonly called, is
probably the most popular online interactive resource. The IML is a
mailing list that you must subscribe to. You will then recieve e-mail from anyone who
posts an e-mail to the list, and all the subscribers will be able to read any
e-mail you send to the list. With hundreds of subscribers, there is a wide variety
of people on the list from beginners to true experts in iguana care. Having
hundreds of subscribers creates a very high volume of email. If you aren't up
for a lot of reading, which sometimes could be over 100 emails daily, you have
the option of reading the posted messages on the internet, instead of through
your e-mail address. The IML is currently on Yahoo! Groups. There are many other iguana related mailing lists available listed there, but in the opinion of the
Green Iguana Society, you can get a lot more reliable information from the people
on the IML. |
| Advanced Iguana Care |
| An advanced iguana mailing list in cooperation with IguanaMail. This list is designed for more in-depth and scientific discussions about green iguanas, as well as a place to discuss unconventional and/or controversial ideas regarding iguanas and their care. Medical discussions are also very welcome. We strongly encourage different opinions and views, based on scientific research and/or experience. Anecdotal evidence as well as scientific research will be reviewed. Lively discussion is encouraged, but personal attacks, flames, trolls or excessive sarcasm will not be tolerated. Please be respectful in your differences. This list is for advanced discussion only. It is assumed that those joining this list already have at least understanding of and experience with basic iguana care. |
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| The UVB_Meters mailing list is another Yahoo Groups list. The focus of discussion for this group is, as the name suggests, UVB lighting. Many of the members of this mailing list own UVB meters. One aspect of the group is the measurement of UVB emitted from different makes and models of UVB lightbulbs, and discussion of the different aspects of providing proper UVB. This is an ideal list for those who are extrememly interested in the UVB aspect of iguana husbandry. You do not need to own a UVB meter to join this group. |
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| HerpCenter.com is an interactive forum with message boards for many species
of amphibians and reptiles, including iguanas. HerpCenter.com is the parent
site of a growing network of herp sites which include HCDragons.com, an
interactive forum dedicated to the care of bearded dragons; ShopHC.com, a
convenient location with in the HerpCenter.com network to purchase husbandry
items; and IguanaCenter.com, an interactive forum dedicated solely to the
care of iguanas. |
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| Herp Habitats is a forum community that focuses exclusively on enclosure and terrarium design. This is a good place to go to discuss ways of meeting the complex housing needs of iguanas. |
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| Another very good interactive internet resource is the iguana forum
on Kingsnake.com. Kingsnake offers many good message boards about many
different reptiles. The iguana board is a very good community based message
board, with many regular posters supplying advice and sharing stories about their
iguanas. Click here
to go straight to the iguana message board.
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| The #iguanas and #iggylovers chatrooms on IRC are two of the most
popular and more helpful IRC client based chat rooms. They can be a wonderful place
to instantly get answers to questions, share stories and even meet friends online.
To access them, you will need an IRC client program. If you don't have an IRC client
program you can go to ZDNet
and search for Internet Relay Chat or IRC to find a program to download. Most IRC
programs are either free or shareware. Most IRC programs that are shareware
can be registered for extra options, but still work fine if not registered. The
#iguanas room can be found on any Newnet server and the #iggylovers room can be
found on any Webmaster server. If you do not have an IRC client program, there are other options for getting into each chat room. Jen Swofford's Iguana Pages and Iggy Lovers Community pages have java based chat rooms on their sites, where you can enter the chat rooms through your internet browser, as long as it is capable of using java. Click on their names above to visit their sites and start chatting now. |
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| In much the same way as mailing lists and message boards work, subscribing to a newsgroup can also be a great way to learn more and can be yet another place to find answers to questions and talk about iguanas. There are literally thousands of different newsgroups, but there are basically two newsgroups that are relatively good and related to iguanas. The first is rec.pets.herp which covers all herps in general. There is usually a good number of discussions about iguanas on the rec.pets.herp newsgroup. This group usually has a large number of messages and it can be harder to find specific conversations about iguanas. Another good newsgroup is alt.pets.reptiles.lizards.iguana and is focused directly on iguanas. This newsgroup is less popular and not as active as rec.pets.herp, but if you don't want to deal with a lot of posts about other herps, this can be a great place. To subscribe to a newsgroup, you need an internet service provider (which you probably already have), an e-mail account that supports POP3, and a program that allows you to download, subscribe to, and read the various newsgroups available (Microsoft Outlook Express, Netscape, etc. have built in newsgroup browsers. There are also other freeware newsgroup readers which are totally dedicated to newsgroup downloading and reading). Then you'll need to find a newsgroup server so you can download a list of individual newsgroups on that particular server. There are hundreds of different servers available and some may charge you for access. The best way to get started with subscribing to a newsgroup is to ask your internet service provider. Most ISPs will have information on how to subscribe to newsgroups and most will have a server you will be able to access. If you don't plan on participating in a newsgroup and would still like to read the posts, there are also places on the internet where you can read the newsgroup posts. |
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