Handle With Care : Iguanas often die at their owners’ hands. Joleen Lutz wants to change that.

Five years ago, Joleen Lutz began to worry about the way people were treating their pet iguanas. The more research she did, the more she became concerned. A Burbank-based actress and veteran of “Lois & Clark” and “Night Court,” she learned that most iguana owners kill their pets out of ignorance. And 90% of iguanas die in their first year of captivity.

Moved by the plight of these cousins of her own beloved iguana, Osborne, now a robust 6-year-old, Lutz began conducting free iguana-care classes each month and co-founded the nonprofit Winged Iguana with Danny Hart. The next class meets Sunday afternoon, at Aqua Adventures Unlimited in Burbank. Any kid with an iguana for a pet--or anyone thinking about having one--should attend. That goes for grown-ups too.

To talk to Lutz is to learn more about iguanas than you ever imagined. This is not to say that she tells more about these creatures than you want to hear. Kids, especially, will become saucer-eyed at what she has to say.

For one thing, iguanas, which can grow to 5 feet in length, are not miniature dinosaurs. The latest research suggests dinos evolved into birds, not reptiles.

And these modern reptiles have some fascinating characteristics: They have three eyes. “The third eye is a parietal eye that is located on the top of the head,” said Lutz. “This eye can detect light and darkness, not color images, but it is perfect for spotting high-flying predators.” And for mating, iguanas don’t have just one penis, but two.

They have no vocal cords. “The most you will hear from an iguana is heavy breathing when it’s very displeased,” she said. An iguana’s main source of defense on such occasions--such as being cornered--is not biting or scratching but whipping its tail. Large iguanas are capable of breaking a person’s arm.

That’s one reason never to grab one by the tail. “Pick them up by supporting their legs so they’ll feel secure,” said Lutz.

Another reason is they can release their tail if they think they’re under attack. “This is a painful process, and some of it will grow back,” Lutz said, “but it will always be a stump of its former self.”

Iguanas change color but not for camouflage, rather for the same reason that humans wear sunglasses--to fight the sun’s glare. Iguanas lighten their skin to reflect the sun’s rays, and they darken when it’s overcast to soak up heat.

They are also territorial--so don’t get two or they’ll fight. Especially don’t get a snake, the iguana’s great enemy. “If you’re worried about your iguana being bored or lonely, make sure he has ‘out time’--spent outside his cage or terrarium,” Lutz advised. Because they are also aborad, or tree dwellers, this means they will climb around your house.

“When Osborne was little, he used to sit on top of the curtains. I even put a clip-on lamp up there to keep him warm because they have to stay where it’s 85 to 100 degrees to survive,” she said. Owners keep the animals in heated terrariums.

“They don’t get so stressed out if they can find high places so they can look down on things,” Lutz added. “That’s why they climb up on your head all the time. But you can train them to stay on your shoulder.”

Or make a perch for them to sit on. Lutz’s iguana perch is in her kitchen.

Then there’s the inside-outside problem, which Lutz covers in detail in her class. Unless you give iguanas an hour or so of direct sunlight regularly--not through window glass--they’ll develop a calcium deficiency. One alternative to placing your iguana’s terrarium near a window that can be opened wide to the sun is eight hours periodically under a pet-store-bought ultraviolet light bulb. Lutz advocated the natural alternative.

A related problem is potty training. Lutz recounts to her classes how she was able to do this with Osborne. It involved the use of Tupperware containers--gradually increased in size as the iguana grew. Osborne now uses a “sweater box--the size you would otherwise use to store something under a bed,” she said.

Finally--and for Lutz most importantly--there’s the iguana’s diet.

“People kill their iguanas by feeding them lettuce and even junk food--which doesn’t have any nutrition such as calcium.” She stresses that the animals need calcium-rich vegetables, “like collard greens, mustard greens. Lack of calcium causes metabolic bone disease, and 80% of iguanas seen by vets have this problem.”

BE THERE

Iguana care classes, free, monthly by nonprofit Winged Iguana. Sun., 1 p.m., at Aqua Adventures Unlimited, 2120 W. Magnolia Blvd. Burbank. (818) 842-6084.