Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there,
I've been letting Joey out of his cage in his bedroom, to wander around in an attempt to possibly start free roaming in his room.
Today was very sunny and he lies right close to the window. When I checked on him a half hour later, he had his mouth very wide open but was still lying in the sunbeam. He has the whole rest of the room to romp around in, why won't he thermoregulate and move to a cooler spot? The temperature in the surrounding room area (where it is shaded) is about 82 degrees.
When I saw him with his mouth wide open, I spritzed him down with some water and he closed his mouth; shortly after he opened it again, but still would not move from the heat.
Would he eventually move away from the window to a 'basking spot' away from the sun? Or would he pass out first from heat exhaustion??? Is it possible he is thermoregulatory-challenged?
Please give me any thoughts or experiences with this.
Thanks from Kally and Joey.

Well I don't know about thermoregulation challenged but I do have a couple questions. Does your iguana usually have access to UVB where it basks at? Was the window open to allow UVB or shut to just allow light and heat? (I'm not sure where you are from)? I do know that some smaller iguanas will lie in the heat until they basically get heat exhaustion even if they have a shady spot as we've had two brought in and we went to look at their cages and they did have shade and water. We have had adults we put in outside cages in the summer that had one side shaded and cool and the other in the sun and they will stay in the sun even after they get too hot and gape their mouth. We aren't sure if they would eventually move or not because we never left them long enough to get hurt. We always limit there amount of time so not to chance it.

I don't know if this is common or not but it seems like the ones who have the least access to actual sunlight want to be in it more even at the possible cost of their health. Then again I know humans who will stay outside until they get sunburn or heatstroke and we're supposed to be the intelligent species!!

Anyway hope your "challenged" iguana is doing well and doesn't keep getting too hot!!

Stephanie
Iggy Iguana Rescue and Bird Sanctuary

We live in Victoria,BC (Canada). We can't open the window (it is too cold here outside).
Joey has always been in a 6x5x4 foot cage with a PowerSun mvb (160W flood lamp)and a basking lamp. We just moved, and where we lived before, his room did not get any 'real' sunlight (we faced North; thus we needed the extra heat source as well as the flood lamp).
Now that we are at the new place, he has been going crazy in his cage trying to get to the sunlight in his room. He has rubbed his nose raw in 2 spots. This was when we decided that we would be better off free roaming him in his room. We are starting off with only an hour a day just to see how it goes. So far not very well. We leave his cage door open so he can go in there as well, but turn off his UVB and heat so that he doesn't climb the cage and burn himself. Eventually, when we decide he can free roam the room safely, we will set up the mercury vapour bulb and heat lamp outside of his cage in a spot where he can't reach. We will leave his food and water tub in his cage.
Do you have any suggestions about the best way to provide UVB and a heat source for a room roaming iguana (mvb flood or focussed?; UVB bulb and heat separate)? How about any suggestions about setting up the room so that he will maintain the right temperatures no matter whether there is sunshine or not? I guess the best thing is to try different arrangements, gauge the temperatures and change the amount of heat depending on what the weather for the day is? Any help would be appreciated. It seems much more difficult to keep a steady basking spot temperature and gradient outside of his cage, than it was inside.
Thanks.

I'm sure that there are others who can give better help for free roamers we have a resuce so they all have cages (large roomy 6'x6'x8') we have good luck with UVB flourescents (Reptisun 5.0 and 7.0 we have 4ft fixtures with two bulbs and usually use one of each) and a separate heat light. I know some like mercury vapor some don't others like the ceramic heaters. We have a thermostat that kick either a heater or fans on if the temperature gets too cold/warm. The basking spot seems to stay a correct temperature when the ambient temperature stays constant.

Hope someone else can be more help.
Stephanie

I can tell you what's worked out for me and my 3 year old 4' long female...

First of all, I started out just like you're doing, by letting her loose, under supervision, for a couple of hours a day..this let her familiarize herself with her territory and also let me know where she preferred to sit and relax...In my case, she obviously felt most comfortable on top of my uromastyx tank--she would explore the room, but always ended up on top of the tank, next to the heat lamp that was resting on the tank lid...So, I put two open wire shelves (from Home Depot) up above the uromastyx tank, one shelf about 12" above the other...On one end of the bottom shelf I put a human heating pad (set on low and covered with a couple of old tee shirts), and on the other end I put her food and water bowls...On the upper shelf (which, remember, is open wire work) I set her UVB flourescent, and I put a hot basking light on the end above the heating pad on the lower shelf..this created a warm zone on one end of the shelf and a cooler area on the other end...I tied an old towel to the bottom shelf and let it hang to the ground, so she can access her shelf by climbing up and down the towel..

So far this has worked out really well..she spends most of her time on her shelf, but comes down periodically to cruise her territory or interact with me...

Hope this helps, and good luck...

SR

What you're seeing IS thermo-regulation. A reptiles mouth is lined with capillaries and blood vessels. Them gaping like that is the same as a dog panting or a croc gaping to cool themselves without having to disrupt the stable core temperature of their body. Most of my iguana's (and I've rescued quite a few over the years) would all gape like that when given access to optimum temps for their digestion to work. They dispell excess heat this way without having to move and disrupt bodily process... Its fairly normal and nothing to worry about. Spray him/her down with water every once in a while when she does it and everything should be fine.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
2.2 Leopard geckos (2 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 1 het Blizzard (Lilith) and 1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
5 Gerbils
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
2 cats (Sahara and Hercules)

n/p

We have some similar problems with our ig. Iggi will walk around outside in the summer, and her head will turn white, but she won't get in the shade. We will have to pick her up, and bring her in the house to cool off. Also, my wife, "ig_mommy", gets up at night, to check on Iggi, because she sometimes kicks off her blankets at night, and gets cold.
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Lamar, Debbie, Nathaniel and Iggi :>~