Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted on here a few weeks ago about the iguana we adopted on Valentine's Day, named Forest. His mouth has a gap & apparently has been like that for quite some time.

Forest's tongue at the tip is dry (very dry) but it doesn't seem to effect him but it WORRIES me. I have never seen him drink water & I mist his food with tons of water. I even bought him a pool but he has only had it one day & he stares at it like it's not supposed to be in his space. He doesn't like it yet.

I also dipped whole wheat bread in water but he only ate a couple bites before shaking his head at me.

How can I get more liquid into him? The tongue tip worries me. Or am I just a worry wort?

Forest is 7 years old & is on a good diet with proper lighting & even a few hours of direct sun every day while basking on his couch.

You all will laugh but I have taken his misting bottle & even tried to spray his tongue with water only to have him give me "that eye".

Any idea how to get more water into him?

He won't go in it yet....

That is a great picture, by the way!

The best way to keep his tongue wet would probably be to increase the overall humidity of his surroundings. Does he live outside, as shown in the picture? Although mine's inside, my iguana's enclosure is really bad for holding humidity in. I don't think iguanas really recognize standing water as "water I can drink/bathe in". When I try to put Bud into his bath after I turn off the faucet, he clings to my arm. But recently I've discovered that he will jump off my arm into the tub if I leave the faucet running!

Maybe if you run a hose on low into the pool and let it fill by itself? I guess you'll have to be really careful about overflows, though...

Today I bought "The Little Dripper" from PetSmart, and it drips water into a big casserole dish inside his cage. I am hoping this will bring his attention to the water more... I also considered getting a bubbling water bowl from the same store- the girl there said her water dragon loves to lie on top of the bubbler in water container. There's also a sonic mister that you can put in a waterfall or water container that creates a low-lying fog. It was about $40. The dripper bucket with hose and nozzle was about $7.

I also bought a pressure-pump gardening mister from Wal-Mart for $6. It sprays a fine, continuous mist without me having to kill my hand spritz a regular spray bottle. It's kind of like an airbrush machine. You just build up the pressure in the container by pumping the pump at the top, then depress the sprayer. This might annoy him less- it's a very fine mist. Or you can adjust it to a stream.

I notice that Bud will readily drink from a narrow stream from the spray bottle, if he's thirsty. I can tell he's thristy because he kind of smacks his lips. Other times, I'll try to get him to drink, and he'll give me "that look", like you say, as if he's never seen the spray bottle before, and would I please stop spraying his face, for goodness' sake!

Good luck with your iguana... he's very handsome.

Forest is a free roamer inside the house although I make sure he gets at least 2 hours of outside time every day, most days it's more. That front porch outside is basically his.

His previous owners said he loves to swim. They lived in a townhouse that had a manmade pond in back of it & Forest would get in & swim to the other side & then seemed aggravated when his owners would pick him back up (scared them, LOL). We live on a canal that goes to a lake but there is no way I'm letting him swim in there. I'd never get him back.

Behind his little outside loveseat is where the hose hooks up to the house & it drips & I've left it that way because I noticed Forest will lay in the puddle it creates.

I also put the hose on mist & lay it on his lawn chair so he can get in the mist if he wants. The mist is fine as long as it hits his body & not his face. He doesn't like that.

His love of swimming was the reason I got the pool. Sad to say he hasn't taken to it yet.

I guess I'll keep misting his tongue, he doesn't care for it, but he seems to get plenty of water in other ways. I know his tongue is dry at the tip because of his mouth being gapped & has been for years according to his previous owners & doesn't seem to effect him so maybe I'm hoping to fix something that isn't broken?

Here's a pic of Forest using the plant in front of the house as a hamock.

When I die, I want to come back as Forest. LOL. Spoiled baby.

Nice iggy. Very healthy looking (and spoiled). He will probably eventually go in the pool. I'm sure you already know this... iggy's are creatures of habit and don't take to change very well. It will probably just take him a little bit to get used to it. I built an addition on to my iggys encloser and it's been around 2 weeks at least and they still have only gone in it a few times on their own. Eventually they will use it...maybe.

I have seen your posts & loved the new addition to their enclosure.

I thought it was a great looking iggy pad. Hopefully they will too!

Very nice.

Thanks. I've added indoor outdoor carpet to the shelves and floors. I hope they like it soon.lol. I can't wait til my iggys get that big so they can roam where they want. Does your guy stay pretty much in the same area when he is outside? My iggys will stay in one area for about 10 to 15 minutes and then when they think I'm not looking they take off. Thay are hard to catch sometimes. Anyway, good luck with your iggy. And keep spoiling him.

Forest is a pretty good boy about staying on his couch. As long as the sun is hitting him & part of the seat is in the shade, he's pretty well behaved.

He does like to crawl down the blue chair & roam around that big plant there (the one he was using as a hamock) but he likes the couch the best.

Once I took him out after a rain to play in the puddles at the end of our driveways & after swimming around for a while, he took off across the street & made it to the neighbors house across the street (we live on a dead end street so no traffic). He REALLY suprised me. He was FAST. He gets up & runs like an aligator. I was right there with him & he still made it across the street before I could grab him. (Neighbors were gawking...LOL)

But for the most part he's a good boy. If he gets too wild, he gets a lizard time out & has to come inside. He has laid on his couch for 4 hours at a time without moving. He cocks that eye & looks at me everytime I check on him like he knows better. All in all, a very well behaved ig.

n/p

That is really cool. I have to give them an iggy timeout also. I hope they get to be as well behaved as your guy.