well quincy (6 or 8 months old) has been improving a lot over the past week. he can now push himself a little off the ground and whip his tail. he looks so much more spunky, too, and he can hang onto my clothes. when he's in the sun for a few minutes he really warms up and can move pretty far - about 2 feet at a time, moving all 4 legs but really just dragging his back half. he can stick his tongue out really far, now, too, and his jaw is not nearly as spongy - it has even gone back into place and is no longer receded. he's been in the bathtub several times in about 4 inches of warm water and he swims around really well.
i have been 'force' feeding him an "iguana milkshake" i made. it is like 75% collard greens, 20% baby food (including squash, green beans and rice, and yams baby food), 5% chopped squash and apple and some reptile vitamin powder. it's basically what he would normally eat except it's liquified in the blender. he's been getting a couple teaspoon-fulls 3 or 4 times a day through an eye-dropper. i figured with his progress that he would be able to eat on his own now. i offered him some finely chopped collard greens last night but he didn't eat any over night (from like 10 pm to 10 am). today he's had a couple teaspoon-fulls of the above "iguana collard green milkshake" in his dish all day but he hasn't eaten any. and i haven't fed him anything in almost 24 hours so i know he hasn't eaten in that long.
should he be eating on his own by now? should he be able to? or am i pushing him and should still be feeding him the "milkshake"? is 24 hours not long enough for him to get so hungry that he wants to eat for himself? should i continue to 'force' feed him? for how long? or is that baby-ing him so he'll never eat on his own again?
