Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have rescued, a bit unwillingly, an iguana. He is a male. Age unknown. He was passed around a bit... The last time to an idiot. Anyway we have had him a bit over 2 weeks now. My question is this. He is Orange. All orange except for his tummy mostly. He apparently has been orange for at least 3 years. He has 3 spikes on his nose. Now is he a green iguana? Anyone have the answer to this? I cannot find a picture of one just like him.
Thanks!! Lin

My Felix is orange. He too was an abused case, but the orange is probably because he is from the Houndoris Area. Some men came to put carpet down and they asked what the English word for iguana was. We talked about the iguanas. They said the orange ones are tastier. Felix did not like them at all.

http://www.geocities.com/vbiguana/library.html
Felix at the Library

How AWFUL!! To eat one of these lovelies!! But does Felix have nose spikes? And my guy is not anywhere as beefy as yours!! He is coming along but has been thru an awful lot.If I can figure out how the pix work I'll put some up,
Thank you!

Felix does not have nose spikes, but he could have had them. The poor guy was 3 pounds of starved iguana with the nose up to the upper end of the nostrils gone. He quickly gained weight and plattoed for about 2 years and now is gaining again. The nose is doing much batter but he always damages it. At least, it never gets as bad as it. Felix is 9 years old. I got him 4 years ago.

Lots of green iguanas (and orange ones) have nose spikes. It seems to be related to where they're from... My green ig has two spikes on his nose. They're called rostral horns, technically. Some igs have 'em, some igs don't, and the number can be from 1-3, as far as I know.

Kate

That's normal, I have two males that are orange. Guy was already orange when I got him, but he was in good health. Kaaz was dark brown and skinny when I adopted him, but colored up bright orange over the first summer when he got good food and lots of time in the Sun.

This is Kaaz...

np

>>Hello, I have rescued, a bit unwillingly, an iguana. He is a male. Age unknown. He was passed around a bit... The last time to an idiot. Anyway we have had him a bit over 2 weeks now. My question is this. He is Orange. All orange except for his tummy mostly. He apparently has been orange for at least 3 years. He has 3 spikes on his nose. Now is he a green iguana? Anyone have the answer to this? I cannot find a picture of one just like him.
>>Thanks!! Lin

Sorry about the repeated post.... Technical I am NOT!!
BUT I think I might have figured out this picture deal. And thank you all for your replies. The vet... Who I have pretty much concluded is a dope, said there is no way he should be orange. Then considering that and his little horns I was really curious! So I will stop fretting about that and back to the business of getting this guy back in shape.

Oh my! He is a handsome, stunning, healthy-looking iguana boy. I don't think I've ever seen one with so much orange on the face! Overall he looks to be in good shape, too. You said you still need to get him back in shape? What's wrong with him?

Welcome to the forum, and good luck with him!

What's his name?

This guys story is a sad one, apparently he was passed around to several homes. The last one he was allowed to roam around (which is fine under the right conditions) and eat thing like Nacho Bell Grandes. No vitamins, no regular diet. Well, he was free roaming and someone stepped on him. No one did anything for 2 dang weeks!! He didn't eat, he didn't poop (as far as anyone knows) no vet care. Then the owner decided to take him to a pet shop. They decided he needed vitamins. And food. They ground up crickets (EWW!) and force fed him. Sold them a bunch of crap and vitamins and cut his nails. In the car he promptly threw up. I found out about him and managed to get them to give him up to me. We are now approximately 3 weeks after his injury. He was so weak he wobbled like a weebil when he tried to stand... And the back end was going no where. I pureed the right foods, added vitamins, and syringe fed him every half hour for a few hours. The next day we went to the vets. We had Xrays done. His back is broken in two places. Now I had to decide. The vet didn't think he was in distress but said he was 'on his way out'. I asked him how long we could give him before we were being cruel. He said a week. In a week he had to learn to eat on his own & to poop. He made it with a day to spare. He had baths twice a day with massages and my gently excersising all his legs. He is stronger now and can drag himself around the yard at a decent pace. He is going to have to loose half his tail I guess. The vet said it is dead.... Who knows what happened to that. I took a digital picture of his tail and can count down the spikes and see if the dead area is moving up. His tail isn't brittle but it is all brown with no spikes growing on it.I have been massaging that too hoping he can be spared one indignity. Thru all this he has remained a cheerful (??) iguana. The vet told me he should be green and not orange, hence my original post. And a name? I refuse to use his old name. I have been calling him Dude. I don't know why. He will be going to my oldest daughter when his recoop has gone as far as it can. I usually rescue critters with fur or feathers. THis is my first lizard so I am learning as fast as I can. Wish my little fellow luck! And a prayer if you would. Oh yes, and he is full size. His growth has stunted. He is at least 5 years old. He is 32" to his tail.

First of all, much, *much* blessings to you for rescuing this poor guy! What an awful life he must have had before he got to your hands.

My guy Gwin is a rescue too, and I have a soft place in my heart for all these abused/abandoned iggies. I took mine in after his previous owners had moved out of their house, and LEFT HIM IN THEIR EMPTY GARAGE with no food, water, or lighting for 3 weeks!!!!!!! It made me so mad I wanted to @*#&^

If you have any iguana-related questions, you are definitely in the right place. Godspeed to your iguana and yourself.

Sincerely,
Gwin, the rescued orange angry iggy,
And his very bitten mommy, Mimi

Thank you Mimi! Do you have pix of Gwin? I cannot believe people. Well, yes I can. I have been rescuing long enough to almost hate humans. But as we see on boards like this there are a lot of good folks left. Now if we can neuter all the idiots we might make them obsolete! I am so glad Gwin is safe, now your fingers are another story!!
Thank you for the kind words~
Lin & Dude

From your description (brown, with no spikes, not brittle) of the tail, I think he may have a regrown tail. That's very different from a dead tail. All that means is that at some point in his history, he had an injury to his tail and it broke off at the point where the brown starts. Iguanas can regrow their tails, but they rarely look the same. Usually they look like what you're describing.

Of course, I could be wrong, since I haven't seen the tail. But it doesn't sound like your vet is very knowledgeable about iguanas. Can you post a picture of his tail, so we can get a better idea of what's going on there? Also, you should try to find another vet in your area that's knows more aboug iguanas. Try looking at Herp Vet Connection to see if there's a recommended one in your general area. If you don't see one there, that doesn't mean there isn't one. You can always do what I did where I used to live... take out the phone book and start calling down the list, asking them if they have experience with iguanas or reptiles in general. I did find a good vet that way. Sounds like Dude is doing pretty well with you, hope it continues that way. Congratulations.

Kate

Sorry, the URL for Herp Vet Connection is www.herpvetconnection.com
Link

>>Sorry, the URL for Herp Vet Connection is www.herpvetconnection.com
>>Link

Thank you for the list!! There is a second vet in this practice we are going to try. He is taking care of our Shih Tzu, Daisy, who has bladder stone problems. I spoke to him about Dude (he didn't see him) and he was so much more supportive! If he seems a little brain dead on iggys, after he sees ours, then we will try the list. Thanks for taking the time to dig this up. Plenty of vets in our area!! Or at least close enough!

>>From your description (brown, with no spikes, not brittle) of the tail, I think he may have a regrown tail. That's very different from a dead tail. All that means is that at some point in his history, he had an injury to his tail and it broke off at the point where the brown starts. Iguanas can regrow their tails, but they rarely look the same. Usually they look like what you're describing.
>>

Hi Kate!! Thank you for your interest. I have a pic where the transition takes place. Is this good enough? We'd be thrilled if it is a viable tail! He's been thru enough already. If you need a different pic just let me know.
Thanks again~ Lin & Dude

That looks like a regrown tail to me. Here's a description of dry gangrene, which I think is what your vet meant when he said he had a "dead tail."

The tissues turn "dark brown or black, becoming very hard and brittle, shrinking inwards, collapsing in on itself. The bony processes of the tail vertebrae are easily visualized as they create ridges under the skin of the tail."

That quote is from Melissa Kaplan, btw, from www.anapsid.org.

Kate

>>
>>Hi Kate!! Thank you for your interest. I have a pic where the transition takes place. Is this good enough? We'd be thrilled if it is a viable tail! He's been thru enough already. If you need a different pic just let me know.
>>Thanks again~ Lin & Dude
>>

I second Kate's opinion - that looks like a healthy regrown tail to me! Dead tail is dry, hard, and shrunken. The first vet sounds like an idiot, I really hope you have better luck with the new one.

I third the previous two If you need a picture of a dead tail I have a couple. Andy lost 4 inches of his over a 3 month period because he "tail whips" and the vet would only remove an inch at a time to see if it would stop climbing. THANK GOD he was patient and we only lost 4 inches.

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Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

beautiful iguana, where did you aquire such a orange looking iguana? also people are saying that it depends on the location of the iguana that deciedes the color. what location does the iguana have to be to get the orange color? just curious! thanx fro anyones help!
-Robert

you said "drag" Does this mean he is using his front legs only? And if he is will they be able to operate on his spine to get it to heal properly?

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Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

>>you said "drag" Does this mean he is using his front legs only? And if he is will they be able to operate on his spine to get it to heal properly?
>>
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>>Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

Yes, only his front legs work. The spine is broken in 2 places. The first vet basically wrote him off. He will be seeing a second one soon for a second opinion on the back and see if surgery would do any good or be cost prohibitive. I have noticed a slight bit of twitching in the back legs, whether this is a hopeful sign or not I really don't know.

In a quadraplegic person they look for twitching in their feet and legs as they heal to see if they will ever recover any of their muscle function. The massaging you are doing they also rec. for people that are paralised because it keeps the muscles strong (im a massage therapast) and keeps the blood flowing. Good Luck!!! Our prayers are with you

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Heather, Vern, Andy, Router, April And OODLES of fish

I think this can be a positive sign and i do think you should continue trying.Id like to see his vet's face if this ig recovers his movements!

>>I think this can be a positive sign and i do think you should continue trying.Id like to see his vet's face if this ig recovers his movements!

Oh, you can be sure I would wave this in his face!! We are continuing as we have been. I really don't think he'll ever have full use of those back legs but some use would be so amazing!! Thank you all for the kindness I have received here.
Lin