Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my co-workers has one(i few feet long i beleive). Anyways, she had it at some people's home for a while as she needed to get something sorted out. She doesn't think they were holding it at all and was smoking weed around it and what not, and she thinks it might be going through withdrawl or something. Can anyone tell me what I should tell her or something? She is an adult over 18, but doesn't have internet access at home. I think she's giving it the iguana pellets.
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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)
0.1.0 Jungle Carpet (Teprak)
0.2.0 Dwarf Hamsters (Tipsy and Bubblegum)
1.0.0 Rose Hair Tarantula (Goopy)
1.0.0 Boyfriend (Brian)

Tell her to get interested in her iggy,reading as much as she can from books and stop hanging out with people who smoke weed.
I don't think weed can hurt an iggy nor withdrawal symptoms may occure

I would at least call a qualified reptile vet and ask about marijuana exposure. Actually, I'd recommend she get her iguana to a vet anyway. Iguanas have many organisms in their digestive tract. If kept in balance things are fine. But if stressed, sometimes the balance can go wacky. The bad gut flora will overwhelm the good. So I would take the iguana in for a fecal at the very least. The iguana has been under a lot of stress. Moving to friends and back home. Who knows how well they cared for it. Then the marijuana. It may not harmed her directly but it would have stressed her more at the very least.

Pellets isn't a very good choice. And if dry can contribute to dehydration. Iguanas in captivity are constantly suffering from dehydration to one degree or another. Pellets will pull the water from the iguanas body. Chronic dehydration can lead to kidney damage and kidney failure. Also some pellets contain animal protein or their byproducts which also damages the kidneys. Most iguanas due to these issues die at the age of 5-7 instead of living to 15-20 years. I recommend she changes the iguanas diet

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

What are the iguanas temps?--Basking?--Ambient (overall)?--Cool area?--Nighttime?
What UVB bulb does she use?--Type?--Brand?
What is the distance from the UVB bulb and the skin of the iguana?
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Marie
Poyner Corner

Pretty much any animal can develop addictions, and iguanas are no different than dogs and cats.

Addiction to marijuana has been documented in dogs and there is no evidence that iguanas could be immune. Neither are they immune to the negative effects of the drug.

Anything that harms us could also harm them.

Christina
www.herptiles.net

hold on a minute!

"Anything that harms us could also harm them."

...you mean that stuff can be harmful? I thought it was good for you! lol
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-0-1 Rescued Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-2-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet, Isis
0-0-1 Rescued Fit and Trim Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Heh heh, well, I had someone tell me once that they smoked pot instead of cigarettes because "marijuana has nothing bad in it like tobacco does." Sure there, buddy. lol

Christina
www.herptiles.net

well actually it's been proven that there really isn't...

check for yourself.

Believing that drug use has no negative effects is naiive. While marijuana may have fewer short-term and long-term consequences compared to tobacco, that does not make it safe. Studies that "prove" that inhaling smoke has "no negative consequences" are biased and are blindly finding what they want to hear. Final comment.

Christina
www.herptiles.net

People will dispute things like that forever... Is this harmful? Will that kill me? Just look at the UV arguement. Like it or not everything can be harmful and everything can kill you. The only scientific evidence that I have really seen is that scientists have been found to cause cancer in rats...
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-0-1 Rescued Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-2-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet, Isis
0-0-1 Rescued Fit and Trim Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids