Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey everyone. i recently recieved an iguana from a friend of mine. he was going off to football camp for college and couldn't really take care of the iguana any more. but he wasn't really doing a good job. the iguana is about 3 and a half feet. he came in a 29 gallon long enclosure that was covered in feces and only had a UV light with no heat. he is very skinny, has no fat reserves on his tail. how can i fatten him back up and get him healthy again? i hope someone can help

i get those all the time. i would start with a bigger enclosure but if hes too weak dont make it too big. i'll give you a run down of what i have here. In my garage i have a set of 3 cages. they're about 6 ft tall, about 4 ft deep, and close to 3 ft across. they're all connected and if i have only one ig, he gets run of the whole thing. if i get 2 i put up the dividers. the 3rd cage can be divided in the middle (making 2 cages about 3 ft tall) i use that for beardies or smaller igs. The ONLY igs that go in these cages are 100% healthy bug free, internal parasite free, eating on thier own happy igs. If i get a very weak ig, he will stay in the house until he's able to go to the big cage. i once divided the end cage and put an ig in it that was too weak, he managed to climb up the side and just fell off, landed on his back and layed there. he was moved back into the house. I use aquariums for my not-so healthy igs. most people dont agree with that. I use them b/c it prevents them from climing up the sides and falling, and i can give them a very humid environment. when i say aquarium- i do not mean 10 or 20 gallon fish tank. I have a 120 gallon (it was a fish tank) i have a plywood lid on it (held down with a 1500 lb tow strap) for the bigger igs. its about 4 1/2 ft long and about 2 1/2 ft tall. they can turn around and strech out. i also have a 40 gal reptile tank with the locking screen lid. i use that for smaller igs. (or igs without tails, which happens more than you think).

now- what i do for fattening: there is some calcium dust that is generally used for dusting crickets- obviously igs dont eat crickets. if they are able to eat on thier own, i give them a lot of fruit- strawberries, blueberries, apple (gives them a lot of water) and then spinach, if they're really dehydrated i will give them a little iceberg lettuce (no nutrition but lots of water). if they are really skittish, i will hold a banana out for them and they usually eat it and after a few weeks, i can pick them up with out them freaking out. I sprinkle the calcium on the fruit- it sticks to it really well since they're wet. If they ig isn't able to eat on its own. I have a blender and a food processer thats used just for herps. i've ground up everything from mealworms to mice, and i've made little vegetarian smoothies for veggie eaters. i pretty much just cut the lettuce or spinach up into tiny tiny pieces, throw it in with the apple or strawberries and blend and blend and blend. then i put it in a syrenge and stick it in the corner of his mouth. I sometimes put those little iguana pellets in with the fruit and calcium powder.
be prepared the calcium powder runs about 7 bucks for a little tub of it and the ig pellets run about the same but both last quite a while for just one ig. If you plan to use the blender method i use, you can make a whole bunch and put it in your freezer and the day before you are going to feed again, move the extra to your fridge. It doesnt last long in the fridge (about 3 days before it starts smelling funny) but it lasts several months in the freezer.
hope that helped. i dont know how bad off the little guy is but I hope he gets better!
Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

thanks, that info seems very helpful. about how much did it cost for you to build the cages?

leafy greens like turnip, mustard, collard and dandelion.
Spinach binds calcium so in an ig already compromised I would
avoid it. I think spinach in small amounts is good for healthy
igs for variety.

I know my igs don't like it at all though

Linda

I would agree with her. Stay away from spinach! It binds with calcium, but a little for varieties is ago. Mine loves winter squash. I use butternut, spaghetti, and acorn squashes, and more. First I cut it into small manageable pieces, and then peel off the skin. After that, I grat the pieces on a grater so the ig can eat it. Another one you should try is green beans. I heard they are good for them. Grated parsnips is also good. i supplement their diet with dry alfalpha you can buy at pet stores. I rehydrate it in water and cut it up with a pair scissors into little pieces for my small ig, so it'd be easier for him to swallow. I'm not sure if yours will eat it, but mine will. I tend to cut up the food into little pieces and mix them well, so he can't pick out his favorite items.

The three main things that effect growth and bone development are diet, temperatures, and UVB

DIET :
An iguana's diet should contain the following each day:
70-80% calcium rich greens: Collards, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelions, arugula, watercress are the better ones. Kale, beet greens, chicory greens and escarole used in combination with the better greens are also good. Stay away from lettuces (except for a very occasional treat) because they have very very little nutrition if at all and the iguana will fill up on it and not eat the nutritional food--in other words it is junk food. Spinach should only be used occasionally because it is way too high in oxalates and phosphorous. The oxalates bind with the calcium making it indigestible and the phosphorous binds with calcium in the blood making the calcium there useless. But spinach is high in iron so it is good if only used very occasionally (1-2x a month maybe).
20-30% vegetables: Winter squash (acorn, butternut, kabocha, ect..), green beans, snap peas, okra, parsnip, yucca root. Summer squash (zucchini, yellow, Mexican or white, ect...) occasionally is good too. Red, yellow, and orange bell peppers are good color enhancers.
No more than 10% fruit: Blueberries, figs, mango, papaya, and prickly pear (cactus) are the better fruits. Strawberries, raspberries, black berries and melons are good. Flowers should be considered a fruit
percentages based on volume
ABSOLUTELY NO ANIMAL PROTEIN OR BY PRODUCTS

Rep-Cal Iguana food soaked is a recommended supplement that helps
**appetite--the color and smell seems to increase their appetite
**hydration--the pellets act as sponges, they soak up twice their volume of water
**regularity--the increase hydration help keep things moving
**mineral/vitamin supplements--no other supplements are needed other than a probiotic

Use 1-2 tablespoons for an adult iguana. Soak it in water for about 5 minutes--it will be about twice the size after soaking. Sprinkle this over the greens/vegetable diet.

Link: Food Information Chart

TEMPERATURE
Iguanas need heat to digest their food. They have a hindgut where they get 30-40% of their nutrients digesting the fiber in their diets. There are organisms there that break down the fiber for them so they can get the nutrients out. Those organisms go on strike if the temperature gets below 85. Then all digestion ceases at temperatures below 70-75. So iguanas need to be able to thermo regulate their body temperature. They do this by moving between warmer and cooler areas of their enclosure. So it is important to provide the correct temperature gradients (zones).
Basking should be 92-98 (some say 90-95).
Ambient (overall) should be (80-85).
Coolest (farthest and lowest from basking) should never be less than 70-75
Nighttime NO less than 70-75 but 80-85 is good if not better.
To have this you need a large enough enclosure with the heat set up properly.

Please note: Hot Rocks should not be used. Hot/heat rocks are iguana slow cookers. They need radiant heat from above like they would get in the sun. Yes, they will lie on a warm log but once they lay on it the warmth is absorbed and the log will cool off. With a hot rock it doesn't cool off and keeps slowly cooking the skin and flesh of the iguana. They end up with severe burns because they don't realize that they are getting slowly cooked. My own iguana has a scar from being burnt from her heat rock. I still have it but the cord is cut off.

UVB LIGHTINGCRITICAL requirement
Iguanas need UVB to produce natural D3. They do not utilize dietary D or D3 efficiently if at all and the dietary D3 doesn't break down like natural D3 if not needed. So it is important to either provide natural UVB (through unfiltered sunshine) or artificial. Artificial can be provided by fluorescent tubes (not compact or coil) or mercury.

Fluorescents need to be set up
From: http://www.cyber-ig-info.netfirms.com/uvb_light.htm
1) Purchase good-quality, proven fluorescent tubes. We recommend Reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 manufactured by ZooMed®. These lights have shown to produce the best amount of UVA and UVB for Iguanas and other sun-basking reptiles and are readily available in most pet shops.
2) Use (2) of these lights in tandem to gain the maximum amount of UVB necessary.
3) Use a good-quality lighting fixture. Low-cost fixtures have a lesser quality ballast that effects UV output form the lamps.
4) Increase UV output by using a fixture with a highly reflective surface. Covering the reflector wings with common tin/aluminum foil (shiny-side out) will increase UV output by 50%.
5) Place the fixture so that it is no farther than 6"-8" from the back of the iguana while basking. The greater the distance from light to reptile, the less UVB is produced. Please Note: This recommendation is based on the Reptisun 5 or 10 or similar fluorescents. There are a few new fluorescent tubess out there that may be dangerous at this distance so please do research.
6) Replace fluorescent tubes every six-months as a general rule. UVB weakens and disappears after about six-months. It's important to realize that even though the tube is still producing light, there may not be any UVB left. You can readily monitor the UVB amount by using a Solarmeter 6.2 UVB Radiometer. This handy device will allow you to measure the UVB emissions in microwatts per centimeter squared (mW/cm2), allowing you to know exactly when the tubes have become so weak they need to be replaced. This can save you money in the long-run as some tubes will produce UVB up to one year.

Mercury vapor bulb set up will depend on the brand and strength you get. IMO MegaRay by Reptile UV is the best
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Marie
Poyner Corner

That was a really good list for veggies and such. I have a similar one on my fridge. I don't use spinach very much b/c of the calcium thing but all the ones I've had love it and if im trying to get them to come to me, i use a leaf or 2 (especially if they dont like banana). They only get it a few times a month. mostly its kale and mustard and i also found that they like bok choy- its usually in asian dishes. I got some to try and it was nasty so i gave it to the IGs and they love it.
as for my cages- the one I built that is huge cost around 250-300. BUT it is very versitile! It can hold 3 large igs (seperated of course) or 2 large igs and 2 smaller igs- depending on the need. since you only have one, you wont need somehting as complex. like i said the end cage has a divider that makes 2 smaller cages and that was a chore to figure out. I'm sure you could make a pretty good cage for a huge adult for around 100 bucks. we've got a few rabbit hutches that could happily hold an adult. they cost around 120 (b/c we couldn't get pressure treated wood for the bunnies since they eat it and die). we got pressure treated 2X4s and shelves for the ig cages. and we havent had any problems. The stuff we used for screen was something i picked up at the farm/ranch store. Its what you usually see rabbit cages made from. we tried something similar to window screen and it got real torn up and looked bad and one eventually clawed his way out- luckly i was standing there watching. The stuff we used is a little more expensive and you get less of it- its where the big costs come in. It comes in rolls of any length and width you want. I get the roll that is 3 ft by 4 ft. it works pretty well. we put a 2X4 brace all the way around the middle where the screen meets. we used bailing wire (get that at lowes) to attach the screen to itself and then wrapped a longer piece of bailing wire around the 2X4 and through the screen. then where we put the braces, we attached a shelf. There are 3 shelves in each cage (exept the end one) and there are logs that are bolted down (and to each other) that lead from one shelf to the next. My husband does construction work so we have endless supplies of logs and I have a huge pile of logs next to my garage. The smaller ones go in the bath tub to get cleaned and the bigger ones get sprayed with a bleach/water (or vinager) combo and left on top my car in the sun to dry. Then they go in the cage and get bolted down with huge bolts from lowes. the cage we built weighs well over 500 lbs with all the logs and lumber in it. we used a stump from a tree that was nearly hollow in the middle, we carved out a better hole in the middle and thats what holds our water dishes. Its really cute and they can't get dumped over nearly as easy since the top of the dish sits flush with the top of the log.- just an idea. dont know how big of a cage you're wanting but i have a book of IG cage plans, i can email some to you if you'd like, just let me know what size youre looking for.
Beth
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The rescue site: www.freewebs.com/okreptilerescue

yea that would be nice. i'm just looking for somethin big enough to be able to house him when he is full grown. i'm going to go shopping today for some of the items on the vegi list. i want him to be as happy and healthy as possible