Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My hobby is to save reptiles, and ocassionally fish, from improper care and ignorant people. I work for PetSmart and i have been put in charge of all reptile affairs in my store...so that does help me spread the word quite effectively, unfortunately i can only reach those that venture into my store. Sorry for getting so off topic. I acquired a green iguana juvenile from a pet store called "fishy business", trust me the name fits. They were feeding it crickets out of a cup when i walked in. Disgusted as i was by this i told them what they were doing and what harm they were causing. They genuinly didn't know...but they also genuinly didn't care too much either. This was in the early summer of 2006(may or june)it was hard to do but i managed to wean him onto the good stuff...he's gotten bigger but he doesn't seem to be shedding his juvenile look, his spines have not grown at all and his markings have not changed...all i really want to know is if he is still growing at good, or at least normal, rate? Assuming he was between hatchling and a month old or a little more(specifically, i'm not sure) how should he look now? length? Build? Coloration? Maybe i'm just paranoid but i just want to make sure his early life improper care didn't stunt his developement

im not sure .. but i would think a inch a month ,,

and it should shed a couple times a year

its nice to see some people still care about the little guys ..

christina

You brought up a good point i forgot to mention he sheds almost constantly, not all over just in a few random spots here and there
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1 - Green Iguana
1 - Brown Basilisk
1 - Vietnamese Golden Gecko
1 - White spot Gecko
1 - Yellow-Spotted Night Lizard
1 - Western Red-Headed Agama
1 - Ribbon Snake
1 - Rough Green Snake
1 - Green Anole
1 - Green Tree Frog
1 - Emperor Scorpion
1 - Long Hair Hamster
1 - Feeder Mouse That My Girlfriend Made Me Keep
1 - Freshwater Fish Tank with Two Tiger Oscars, One Red Oscar, A Pleco, And A Goldfish

from what i know and owning my iguana for a month its normal to shed in different spots...

is he getting like his veggies greens and fruits and calcuim and stuff ?

and has the right temps and what not ? have you ever thought maybe hes a special little dude and hes a runt ? possibly

or how old is he?/ her ?

as for how old he is for sure i really can't say. the pet store people didn't care about him enough to find out that stuff. He's got all the right stuff. he is my first iguana but as for reptiles i'm pretty seasoned....I really didn't now that they could be runts, if he was would that affect his life-span or just his growth?

-Dustin
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1 - Green Iguana
1 - Brown Basilisk
1 - Vietnamese Golden Gecko
1 - White spot Gecko
1 - Yellow-Spotted Night Lizard
1 - Western Red-Headed Agama
1 - Ribbon Snake
1 - Rough Green Snake
1 - Green Anole
1 - Green Tree Frog
1 - Emperor Scorpion
1 - Long Hair Hamster
1 - Feeder Mouse That My Girlfriend Made Me Keep
1 - Freshwater Fish Tank with Two Tiger Oscars, One Red Oscar, A Pleco, And A Goldfish

just give him the things he needs and see what happens ?

Digit is 9 months old in this picture. Digit's a male
so females may look differently depending on true age. It
did seem like he was in shed most of the time. He grew very
rapidly.

Thank you very much that was about the most helpful thing anyone could do...seems like my guy is growing just fine then...thank you again
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-Dustin

1 - Green Iguana
1 - Brown Basilisk
1 - Vietnamese Golden Gecko
1 - White-spotted Gecko
1 - Yellow-Spotted Night Lizard
1 - Western Red-Headed Agama
1 - Ribbon Snake
1 - Rough Green Snake
1 - Green Anole
1 - Green Tree Frog
1 - Emperor Scorpion
1 - Long Hair Hamster
1 - Feeder Mouse That My Girlfriend Made Me Keep
1 - Freshwater Fish Tank with Two Tiger Oscars, One Red Oscar, A Pleco, And A Goldfish

This is our iguana, Iggi, in 2001, and in 2003.

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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~