Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yes, guys, my beautiful baby died today, at 2,30PM.I cant stop crying because i dont know why.The vet doesnt know why either.I asked him to open his body and to try to discover why he died and he had just called me back now to say that he doesnt know.

Everything looks perfect inside Kenyas body but my baby is dead!

Yesterday, with the arrival of my new Bearded dragon and my new Leopard Dragon, was a very busy day and i couldnt pay too much attention to Kenya.But he ate a lot as usual, pooped/peeped as usual and i put him in his pillow case to sleep. But as i didnt have enough cages i put Croissant(the Bearded Dragon) inside Kenya’s cage and i put Ariel, my other 1 year old iguana, to sleep in the same cardbox with Kenya but in a different pillow case.

Today, when i woke him up i noticed Kenya was a little brownish and i tought it was because he slept with Ariel.He hated Ariel, he hated Zombie he hated all my igs. Although each one was in a different pillow case he could still feel Ariel’s smell. I gave gim his food, HE ATE, but i noticed he didnt poop. I put him in his basket place under the window but i noticed he didnt like when he saw Croissant in his cage.He looked at Croissant with murderer eyes.I tought to myself that this afternoon i would need to buy a new cage to Croissant because Kenya was jealous.

I went out to take my daughter to the Ballet class and when i came back i saw Kenya was VERY brown.I took him and he felt like a bag of rice in my hands.I called the VET, i took a taxi but he died in my hands before arriving at the vet’s office.I left the body there and asked the vet to do all the exams to discover why he died.The vet called me right now saying that everything inside his body was perfect.No sign of poison, no infection,even the blood tests were normal,anything was wrong: " I dont know why your iguana died, its a mystery" he said.

In my oppinion Kenya died of jealousy!

Have you ever heard a story like that?

Flavia, I don't know what to say

I know how much you love all your igs, and especially Kenya... I hope you can figure out what happened.

*Gives you a big hug*

-Howie

Oh Flavia that is so sad...I am crying with you too...poor Kenya...I have heard stories about things like that...animals seemingly happy with their owners only to be given away for a particular reason and it dies of lonliness a few days later...oh that is just too bad...My prayers are with you Flavia....Lyn

I'm so sorry to hear Flavia... I hope you find some answers...
Kenya was a very beautiful little ig and I'm sure had a happy life... My heart goes out to you.

Oh my Gosh Flavia. I am so sorry to hear about your loss. Kenya was such a dear Ig and beautiful. Its times like this that make me fear for my igs.
Again, I am sorry for your loss, and my heart goes out to you.

Rozann

Oh Geezus, Flavia. That is horrible! My sincerest condolences, go out to you. Losing a pet is like losing a family member. Especially a mother that loves their iggies so much. Take joy in the fact that you gave Kenya a wonderful life while she was here. Take much care!

Today i would give one year of my life to discover why he died!

I'm sorry Flavia, but I have no clue. You take such wonderful care of your igs... I'm pretty sure it wasn't a husbandry issue. I've never heard of stress killing an animal so quickly...

Could it have been a virus or other disease? May be something to suggest to your vet.

-Howie

n/p

He was kidding me of course!

What is incredible is that Kenya didnt stop eating!I always tought that any disease makes an iguana stop eating!The same day he died he ate lots of food.The vet said to me his intestines were full!No, the vet said Kenya didnt eat something poisonous.The food inside him was ok, not rotten.The vet sounded surprised and astonished when i talked with him."Its a mystery !" he said.

Have you ever heard of an iguana having a heart attack at 1 year old? Or a congestion because after eating too much he became upset when he saw the Bearded Dragon inside his cage?

Did your vet take any tissue samples? We've had several iguanas crash very quickly, when they had looked healthy only a few days earlier. In most of these cases, the cause of death was not obvious in a simple exploratory necropsy. A biopsy on various tissue samples (major organs - heart, brain, spinal tissue, kidneys, liver, etc) can show a lot of interesting things that the vet could have missed. Most often the tissue samples will need to be sent off to a lab that specializes in this kind of work.

Without the tissue samples, you won't be able to get any further answers.

But off the top of my head... Switching cages, moving things around, bringing new animals into the situation - these things all cause stress. Stress can bring on conditions that were not noticable before.

I lost my favorite Ig to stress induced organ failure - he was healthy and happy, but we had moved him to 3 new houses in less than a year, and each new house meant a new living arrangement for him. His necropsy showed advanced deterioration of organs. These problems had been present for many years, but were kept at safe levels as long as he was not subjected to high levels of stress.

THe only other thing that caught my attention is the immediate situation preceding your ig's death. Was there adequate air flow? You said he was in a pillow case, right? What were the temperatures? 115 degrees is enough to kill an iguana.

Mark

>>He was kidding me of course!
>>
>>What is incredible is that Kenya didnt stop eating!I always tought that any disease makes an iguana stop eating!The same day he died he ate lots of food.The vet said to me his intestines were full!No, the vet said Kenya didnt eat something poisonous.The food inside him was ok, not rotten.The vet sounded surprised and astonished when i talked with him."Its a mystery !" he said.
>>
>>Have you ever heard of an iguana having a heart attack at 1 year old? Or a congestion because after eating too much he became upset when he saw the Bearded Dragon inside his cage?
>>
>>
-----
Mark & Aimee Berger
reptilesrus@msn.com

Thanks for answering my question Mark!You have lots of experience with iguanas and your comments are very important to me!

It seems that the problem has been solved.A friend of mine (who used to post messages here)who also has a lot of experience with reptiles (she is a rescuer) said that Kenya must have died of heart attack.Her opinion is shared with a friend of her, a competent vet.

Kenya problably had a heart problem all his life but (as you said ),the problem was under control but became worse with the stress.

Why my friend arrived at that conclusion?

Because Kenya during all his life had problems to warm up (bad body circulation?).Even in a tropical country where i live he used to wake up brown and cold.Like a boneless banana.Although the temperature during the night was never below 80 i needed to put him on my computer or under my blouse to warm him up every day.

Kenya was toooooo sweet and calm.Even when he was a tiny baby i could take him to any place, even to Mac Donalds and he used to behave himself.Didnt move, didnt run, didnt show any trace of aggressivity towards me or towards any other iguana.Kenya never tried to escape, whip his tail or tried to bite and i had him since he was three months old!I used to call him " my green Sphinx" because he used to sit like a dog and wait for me wherever i put him.If i put him on the couch he would stay on the couch waiting for me for hours or even overnight without moving!He was an iguana that behaved like a very tame Bearded Dragon.

Another thing that called my attention was the lack of muscular tone.He always felt like a bag of sand.His belly and chest was too soft, like a baby Leopard Gecko's belly and chest.I noticed that was not normal when i handled Ariel and Zombie. Both have Kenya's same age and have a firm belly and chest.

When Kenya was dying his mouth and throat became gray/blue and he opened his mouth deseperately trying to breath. And he became yellow.The vet said to me that the yellow color is due to the break of the red corpuscles (English)because of the lack of oxygen. I' m not a vet i dont know if thats true im just repeating what my vet said.

I used to put Kenya to sleep inside a pillow case, inside a huge card box to keep him a little warm during the night. He used to sleep in my daughters bedroom where the temperature is always between 81 and 83 F. During his last night i put Ariel, my other iglet, to sleep with him.Although both were in different pillow cases Kenya could feel Ariel's smell and i think that aggravated his heart problem. When he woke up the next day he was already a little bit yellow/brown and although he was feeling well enough to eat a huge breakfast he died a few hours later.

Sorry for this long post but i really loved my green Sphynx!

hello Flavia, I'm so sorry for your loss!

I think that making hypothoses like these without hard medical evidence is jumping the gun a little bit. Iguanas change color when they are stressed or upset. The yellowish brownish color is typical of a stressed or aggrivated iguana.

Kenya may have ingested something toxic the day before, injured himself while in the bag (which kind of worried me, when you told me you did that to the iguanas), or had an impaction of some sort. It is very possible that Kenya ate a plant in your home that was toxic to iguanas. It takes about 24 hours for a toxin to fully circulate in an animal's body, varying per specimen.

This might always be a mystery!

One suggestion I'd like to make is this: Give each iguana its own roomy enclosure. Do not confine them in pillow cases, it is VERY stressful! the only time I would condone the use of pillow cases is in transportation or when weighing an animal.

again, my condolonces go out to you for your loss.
-----
-Lesya and Tarzan the iguana (as well as Sophie, the furry child)

I'd NEVER put an iguana, or any other lizard for that matter, in a pillow case.

Without knowing what kind of material the pillow case was made of, it's hard to say what kind of air exchange was taking place. There are many tightly woven fabrics that allow very minimal breathing.

The colors Flavia is describing do not necessarily indicate poor blood circulation... I think they may be closer to a lack of oxygen. Of course, poor circulation can cause a lack of oxygen, so that needs to be taken into consideration too!

But let's look at this heart attach theory - What could have caused a heart attack? I seriously doubt a year long circulation problem would cause a heart attack.

Poor circulation doesnt seem like something that would cause an iguana problems in warming up either. It doesnt matter how much blood flow they have, the blood is not warm. They need a heat source to warm up.

Flavia, do you have any heat lamps for your igs? I know the room temperature is adequate for them, but it does not allow thermoregulation. It simply allows them to maintain a suitable temperature. They still need to be able to bask, to achieve optimal temperatures for digestion and utilization of essential nutrients in their food.

I'll have to sit and think about this one some more... I'm not sure where to go from here.

Mark

>>hello Flavia, I'm so sorry for your loss!
>>
>>I think that making hypothoses like these without hard medical evidence is jumping the gun a little bit. Iguanas change color when they are stressed or upset. The yellowish brownish color is typical of a stressed or aggrivated iguana.
>>
>>Kenya may have ingested something toxic the day before, injured himself while in the bag (which kind of worried me, when you told me you did that to the iguanas), or had an impaction of some sort. It is very possible that Kenya ate a plant in your home that was toxic to iguanas. It takes about 24 hours for a toxin to fully circulate in an animal's body, varying per specimen.
>>
>>This might always be a mystery!
>>
>>One suggestion I'd like to make is this: Give each iguana its own roomy enclosure. Do not confine them in pillow cases, it is VERY stressful! the only time I would condone the use of pillow cases is in transportation or when weighing an animal.
>>
>>again, my condolonces go out to you for your loss.
>>-----
>>-Lesya and Tarzan the iguana (as well as Sophie, the furry child)
-----
Mark & Aimee Berger
reptilesrus@msn.com

The pillow case is made of cotton.

No, Mark, i dont have any UVB lamps in my house because i live in Malaysia where the wheather temp is almost always above 85-90, sometimes (like now) almost 95F. I raise my igs outdoors where they get plenty of sunlight.Real sunlight. Last few months i was keeping Kenya indoors because he looked too fragile to be outdoors.But his cage was under an opened window, in my daughters bedroom, the most sunny of the house and he used to bask on the top of his cage because i allow him to free roam.He used to bask from 8AM until 2PM.At at that time i closed the window because my daughter arrives from school at 3PM and i didnt want her bedroom to be too hot.

Kenya was so tame he would not move from the top of his cage the whole day. After 5PM, if i didnt pick him up to go to his pillow case, he would hide under my daughter's toys to sleep. That was his routine.No he didnt eat any poisonous plant because i live in an apartment and there is no poisonous plant in my living room!

The vet also said was no sign of poison in his blood system.The food was perfectly digested. The vet was only surprised by the quantity of poop he found in his intestines.Yes, Kenya used to eat a lot and the day he died he didnt poop what perhaps means his metabolism was slowing down.

I perfectly understand that all of you are mad because Kenya died and you think its my fault.If it is my fault please help me to understand what i did that was wrong, what was my mistake like that ill not do it again.Im here to learn with all of you! Nobody is suffering more than me and i dont want to lose another pet like that!Thanks again!

Flavia,
You said that Kenya was captive-bred. I know that dog breeders keep in communication with owners they sell to, sometimes for the entire life of the dog. I wonder if any other iglets in Kenya's clutch had latent birth defects, like a weak heart, that may have caused other owners problems. If so, maybe the breeder has heard back from these people?

I'm really sorry for your loss.

-Erin

I bought Kenya 11 months ago.I found him in a petshop in Kuala's Lumpur Chinatown.He was in a cage with dozens of others iglets.Tiny green things eating KangKong.The owner of the shop, a Chinese, didnt speak any English.I needed to use signals to communicate with her.I dont think she remember me or Kenya.Iguanas here are sold by dozens at the local petshops.The owners of those petshops dont mind whether they live or die.I remember when Kenya arrived home he didnt have nails on his hands.It took ages for his nails to grow!Another day i went to the same petshop and there i saw Kenya's brothers and sisters.Some are still there.Dirty because of the pollution (Chinatown is VERY polluted and the iglets are kept outdoor), skinny, but not ill yet. But they must have half the size and weight Kenya had when he died.I measured him a few days before his death.He was half inch less than 2 feet.Not bad for an 1 year and 2 months iglet!

We are NOT mad at you, simply presenting constructive criticism and trying to help unmask the mystery of the cause of Kenya's death.

-----
-Lesya and Tarzan the iguana (as well as Sophie, the furry child)

Just a thought, but you said that he did not get along with the other iguana's in your care. Stress is one of the major causes of death amongst captive animals. Proximity to a more dominant animal without the chance to get away can have serious repercussions for an animal’s health.

Another possibility is that one of your newer captives brought in some unknown pathogen upon arrival. It would be a good idea to adopt a quarantine procedure when new animals come into your possession. I've seen first hand the disastrous results that a lack of quarantine procedures can produce.

Thats true, but i didnt keep them together in the same cage.As Kenya didnt move very much (he was able the spend the whole day in the same place, only moving a little bit at bed time to find a hiding place) i use to allow him to free roam in my daughters bedroom.

About my others reptiles, i didnt put Kenya in the same cage with them either.And Kenya died the next day they arrived home, without even becoming sick!

Oh Flavia, I am so sorry! Kenya was a special little ig, and I think he was happy living with you. I have no idea what could cause an iguana to die in such a short time... That is a terrible thing to see...

(((hugs))) to you and your other pets.

Oh, no, I'm so sorry to hear that! I know how much you loved Kenya, your sweet little iglet. That's terrible news. At least he had a good life, while he was here. A doting mommy to love and care for him, plenty of fresh food and good sunshine. Little Kenya was probably happier than most igs, wild or pet. I know you'll miss him.

Kate

Hope you're doing ok. I know how much you care for all your pets, it must be hard.