IGUANA HOME AFTER JOURNEY

CHAFFEE -- After four days of searching for their lost pet, Kathy Baker and her children Amy Jo and J.D. Hall were about ready to give up. But cool weather and rain, and all the other obstacles he was bound to have encountered, didn't deter the pet -- a 4-foot green iguana named Earl -- from finding his way home.

Baker already had taken down signs posted in convenience stores and had dismantled tree limbs and ledges in Earl's room when a neighbor spotted the 3-year-old reptile in the grass Wednesday morning.

The neighbor at S&S Estates Mobile Home Park was driving her children to school when she spotted Earl, but thought he was dead, Baker said.

"We were coming in from work and she said to come over now," Baker said. "When she said, `It's Earl and he's alive,' we came running."

The iguana survived four nights of 50-degree weather and plenty of rain before the prodigal pet returned home.

Iguanas typically live in deserts or tropical rain forests where temperatures are warmer and ultraviolet rays are plentiful. When cool weather hits, the reptiles become lethargic. Most are active during the day and sleep at night.

"He's really puny and cold," Baker said, adding that Earl is now grounded from outside play. "He doesn't want to move; he's still too cold."

Earl is a vegetarian and feasts on flowers, leaves and fruit. His favorite foods are dandelions, cantaloupe and an occasional piece of cheese.

Baker said the family had given up hope of finding their pet alive. "It'd been four days and it was too cold and too much rain," she said, adding that friends encouraged her by offering to help look for Earl.

Friday afternoon when Earl left, the sun was shining and temperatures were warm -- so warm, that he decided to go outside and play. Earl is often allowed outside to roam in a flower bed, but with supervision from Baker or her children.

When no one offered to take Earl outside, he ripped a hole in the window screen in the family's dining room and escaped, Amy said.

"We hope it never happens again," Baker said of his mischievous departure.

During Earl's adventures, he was spotted at two convenience stores nearby. "We've had Earl sightings all across town," Baker said, adding that two women saw Earl near the Chaffee IGA Saturday.

Now that Earl has returned, Baker and her children are letting him warm up under a heat lamp and are treating him with lots of tender loving care. Once he begins to feel better, he'll probably get a warm bath, she said.