When I was 19 I was a bit more enthusiastic than I was careful, and there was an incidental breeding between her and another young iguana I had in my possession briefly. My first clutch of reptile eggs was from Iguana iguana, and I very nearly incubated them to term, but at the very end they failed to hatch. Even back then, in 1993, I had a mentor who knew enough to cut the eggs when they were late into their expected term, but sadly they were all stillborn. Though fully developed, something went wrong and they did not make it. It was a tragic and inspirational event that has shaped large parts of my life. It’s hard to overestimate the lack of husbandry and breeding information that existed at the time, and uplifting to see how far we have collectively come since.
I have some Welsh heritage from many generations back, and telling that story reminds me of a Welsh saying: “Benthyg dros amser byr yw popeth a geir yn y byd hwn” (yes, I had to search for that) It means, as I understand it: “Everything you have in this world is only borrowed for a moment.”