Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have a green iguana. And I need some advice about her toenails. I have had her for about 2 1/2 years now. Her toenails keep falling off. I have taken her to the vet and paid $300 to have them try to fix them but it didn't seem to help. I have no idea on how to home my iguana from lossing her toenails. I have her in a cage that is 3ft x 3ft x 6ft. And is made out of wire mesh and pvc pipe. Any ideas would be greatly apreicated.
thanks

The wire mesh is exactly what's ripping off your iguana's claws.
Claws can easily puncture and get stuck in the wire, so when the animal tries to break free, the claw is literally (and painfully) ripped off.

Get rid of it.
Wire mesh, or any type of "net" should always be big enough to allow to animal to climb and be free from getting stuck, yet not too big that the animal can squeeze right thru and escape.

As long as you have that mesh, your animal is going to suffer, and bleed.

Install glass with a few perforations for air-flow, or a new wire mesh, rubber/plastic coated, with gaps big enough to prevent injury.

-IJ

Well the wire mesh is 1/2" by 1/2" squares coated with plastic. And she has 3 shelves that have indoor/outdoor carpet.
Any help would be great?

1/2" shouldn't be so bad... how big is your iguana?
Have you ever noticed WHERE it loses its toenails? After all, there should be quite a bit of blood on the exact spot where the toe fell off or got ripped off.
Where there's blood, there's your problem.

Sometimes fake-grass carpeting can be just as problematic as wiremesh. Some fake grass carpets have tiny loops that can get the claws stuck and torn. You have to do quite a bit of detective work and monitoring to see where the problem is, otherwise we cant help you.
Worst case scenario:
Replace mesh with perforated plastic or just plain glass, and replace carpet with other substrate.

Keep us posted.

-IJ