Reptile & Amphibian Forums

the young iguana discussed in the thread "young iguana's trembling legs" below is bloated - the vet first noticed it and it has not gone down any since we visited the vet (tuesday). the bloating is not completely obvious, but it's definately there. his torso is rounded and kinda feels like it's full of air or something. the iguana was a rescue and my best guess at age is 6-7 months old.

the past 2 days i have been letting him sit in an inch of warm water for half an hour or so each day. he doesn't move much but does seem to have an increase in energy when he warms up. he is now able to lift his head just a bit and he moves his arms and legs around but can't lift himself. every day he's also been getting a couple cc's of "animal ensure" every few hours. this "animal ensure" is basically alfalfa, and peas and stuff like that all dried up and powdered. i mix it with water and give it to him through an eye dropper. he's also been eating quite a bit - however i have to get it into his mouth before he'll swallow it. he won't (or can't) pick the food up by himself or get it into his mouth. i've cut up squash, zucchini, apple, collard greens, kale, and turnip greens into minute peices. yesterday he ate about a tablespoon full of this (mostly collards) and today he has eaten maybe a teaspoon worth so far. he was regurgitating some of what i fed him on tuesday and early wednesday but he hasn't regurged anything since. he's also had 2 good poops since tuesday. in his cage he has one of those 'red night light' heat lamps on him as well as a desert reptile bulb (says it gives off at least 7% uvb - more than any other bulb at the pet store). he's also got a shallow dish of water and a small dish of the foods mentioned above (shredded). he doesn't appear to be trembling quite as mad, but maybe i'm just being hopeful! i've also been moving his little legs and arms around a bit - kinda like physical therapy i guess. tuesday afternoon i took him outside in the sun for half hour or so and yesterday he was in the sun in an inch of warm water in a small tub for a little over an hour.

anyway is there anything else i could/should be doing for him? how long will it be til i notice any significant improvements? is this bloating normal? what can i do to relieve the bloating? how likely is it that the little guy will completely recover? his back is bent very slightly and his jaw is quite 'spongy'. can curved backs, rubber jaws, broken bones, etc be completely healed and back to thier normal quality/appearance?

thank you all so much!!

cynthia (and quincy - the iguana)

Awwww... QUINCY! What a cute name.

Healthy iguanas poop at least once a day, sometimes twice. If he's pooping regularly, then the problem isn't constipation.

You may have hit the nail right on the head; (s?)he may actually be bloated with gas. If he's not used to eating good food, he may be lacking a lot of the gut flora he needs to digest it. If it doesn't go away, you may want to give him a small amount of non-fat yogurt, or hmm. What is it called? I think, beneflora or benebac, I've seen it at the health food store.

Or he may have a parasite problem, I forget if you said you'd tested him... I noticed you said he threw up a few times, did it smell bad? If so, that may be another sign of protozoan infection...

By the way, the red light is just fine if it's giving you the temps you need (90 or so in the main basking spot), but the red doesn't do anything special. They don't need (or benefit from) lights at night, and a plain heat bulb will do the job just as well during the day. In fact, psychologically, it's nice for them to have bright, white light.

The sun is so good for them... keep up the good work. Here's a link about MBD- I include it because it has a picture of an adult who had MBD as an iglet. He remained deformed. But a lot of people here have had improvement in their MBD igs.
http://www.anapsid.org/mbd.html

thank you very much for the information! as soon as i suspected mbd i headed right to melissa kaplan's site! good to see you recommend her - she's an iguana goddess! lol! those pictures are terrible!

well he has been in my care for 4 months and the whole time 90% of his diet was collard greens, turnip greens and kale. the rest was chopped apple, yellow squash, zucchini, and sometimes kiwi or watermelon or banana or grapes or pears or lots of other fruits as snacks. he also always has gotten vitamin supps (cal : phos 2 : 1) once a week or once every other week. the only thing he didn't have was uvb exposure. he was a rescue and for the first couple months of his life he was treated poorly, but that's all i know. i don't know what his diet was or anything. so i don't think the bloating is from getting used to good foods cuz he's had them for a few months now.

should i try a little yogurt then? i don't believe he has any parasites, though the vet did not check when we went. the only symptoms he is exhibiting are those of mbd (that i know of).

the 'vomiting' really wasn't vomiting. it was more like i would put the food in his mouth, he would halfway swallow it and then spit it right back out.

okay guys - update! i left quincy alone for a couple hours and went to give him his second dose of the oral calc stuff and he was bloated to the extreme! he felt like a basketball! i ran to the phone and called the vet i took him to but no one was there so i called the vet i take my dog to and the vet tech said she'd talk to the vet (who has ZERO experience with reptiles) and call me back. so while i was waiting i got the internet and went back to melissa kaplan's site and searched for bloat. well it said it might be because of trapped gas in the intestines and that sometimes warm water and belly massage will help so i did that and as i massaged him he started pooping! then he passed a tiny amount of gas and as i continued to massage him he would burp and with every burp he 'deflated' a bit! he's still not completely back to normal, but i massage his belly for about half an hour and he got a lot of it free. melissa kaplan's site said this gas could be caused by a new food but he's eating all the same things he always has - EXCEPT this new 'animal ensure' stuff the vet gave me. it's first few ingredients are alfalfa, oatfeed, wheat, wheatfeed, soya bean meal, peas, dried skimmed milk, synthetic cellulose, sugar beet pulp, beneficial bacterias (i can list them if you want), and a bunch of vitamins (i can list these too if you need to know). so is this causing the gas? should i no longer give this to him? it's supposed to be mostly fiber and protein. the dog vet would not see him (which i totally understand). so what is this gas? what causes it? what should i do?

THANK YOU ALL BUNCHES!

cynthia - and quincy (the iggy)

i forgot to add that when he was bloated he also had bubbles coming from his nose and mouth!