Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Some of you may have read my other posts about my new ig, Fido. He does not like his calcium suppliment & when I was sprinkling it on his food 3 times a week, he'd skip his food on those days.

I got a lot of good ideas like the fruit flavored Calcium Tums & grinding the suppliment in with his food to mix it up... so today I blended all of Fido's food, good for him stuff like the greens & radishes with his favorites like pureed pumpkin...ALL of it went in together with a sprinkle of the suppliment & I EVEN ADDED SOME ORANGE JUICE TO HIDE THE FLAVOR! Guess what?

This has been the second day he refused to eat. None, notta, nothing. He wouldn't STARVE himself to death to NOT eat the suppliment, would he? I'm worried. He has plenty of water but will not eat the food if it has the LEAST bit of calcium powder on it. If I offered it with no suppliment, he's scarf it down.

I feel silly having a battle of wills with my iguana. Any ideas? I haven't done the Tums thing yet. I didn't think he'd go this far. Is 2 days a long time?????

Maybe I need to mention, he's just a little guy, about 13 inches long.

Help please.
Thanks, Terri

Try the fruit flavored Tums. You only need just a pinch.
You may be putting too much on the food. I have had real
good luck with using Tums.

Hope this helps
Linda

Definatly switch to tums. there could be something in the actual supplement. Also try offering a few strawberries in the mix. They are very potent scent wise and may make the difference.
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Cindy
PHFaust

Email Cindy

Land of the Outcasts!

You know, I have an adult female iguana that's the same way; at the slightest hint of vitamin or calcium supplement, she just won't eat...What I have been doing (and I hope people don't jump all over me for this) is giving her about a tablespoon of commercial dry juvenile iguana food 2-3 times a week...She loves the taste and eats it all; even though nutrition in these products is iffy, they do have a high level of calcium and vitamins in them...It must be working okay, because yesterday she laid 26 eggs with no difficulty and she's had no supplements other than the commercial iguana food along with her regular diet of greens and veggies...Something to think about if the Tums don't work either...

SR

I fed Tempest commercial food for a long time, Rep-Cal adult ig food, because thats all he would eat to any great amount. I'm convinced thats part of the reason he's done so well in the last year, tho I haven't been feeding him any for the last few months. I had a terrible time getting him to eat any natural foods, its still a guessing game if I give him anything new as to how long it takes for him to try it. Can you believe he still won't eat strawberries, and banana was a recent breakthrough??

My iguana used to be like that about alfalfa. What I did was make sure to grind it (with the rest of the vitamins) into a mush with the fruit before adding the mush mixture into the salad. He started eating a lot more frequently, and I was able to add more and more alfalfa- I don't think he could detect it as easily.

Hi,

I've noticed that about my igs too, grinding and mixing well helps a lot, although if there's too much of something they don't like, they turn their nose up at the whole thing. But like someone else said in their post, you really only need a tiny bit of supplement -- like a pinch (think of when you put a bit of salt on your dinner). That shouldn't be enough to cause your ig to refuse food, especially if it's ground up very fine and well mixed in with the food.

By the way, I noticed that you have your ig on a hot rock. In case someone else hasn't mentioned it already, you might want to consider an alternate way of heating your ig. Hot rocks are known to fluctuate and cause burns, plus it's an unnatural way to heat an iguana...

Just my two cents!

Julie

I wanted to thank you all for the suggestions & help. I bought some of the fruit flavored calcium Tums, crushed them & sprinkled (didn't even have to mix!) and Fido ate it up. Actually I crushed a half of a Tums.

I had tried EVERY suggestion posted and he flat won't eat anything with the suppliment on it & I didn't think there was much, I actually worried there wasn't enough.

Lastly, Fido is a free roamer & kinda lives in the front window until next summer when he gets big enough & I can ig proof our Florida room for him to share with our 3 Kingsnakes (in tanks). He has the hot-rock, a light for basking & a human heating pad but he ALWAYS goes for the rock. Even when I unplug it, he prefers the rock. Should I take it out completely???

Again thanks all. The Tums were a great idea Linda!!! THANKS!

Terri

I am happy I could help

Linda