Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok here is the story. I work at a vets office and one of the vets have experience working with reptiles. I thought one of my Iguans was pregnant so i brought her in. It turns out that she wasnt however. When he put her on her back she wasnt able to right her self up. Some of the symptoms are: she looks LARGE, bloating, she is eating great, deficating only when i soak her it seems. She still moves around a fair amount not much of a change from before. The vet told me that i should soak her to try and get her to pass stool. We think that she might have eaten some of the bedding (forest floor - Cypres Molch) The vet also said that her Calcium levels was high and he thinks that she might be producing eggs...

Background info
I got her as an adoption. Ive had her for about 4-5 months now. This is the first problem i have had with her and has been going on for 3 weeks now. She is housed in a freestanding dog cage with heating over head. She gets a wide variety of food. I put calcium on her food and also TRex vegitable enhancement on them each feeding. She lives with a male as well who is having no problems.

Thanks for the help
Joey

Ok ok, calm down. First of all, how old is she??? You said that she is living with a male.. how old is he?? I really don~t recomend two igs caged together, even a couple. I am pretty much sure that if you didn´t have any problems yet, you will some day.
Ok, about your girl. If sahe is sexually mature it could be that she is producing eggs, as your vet told you. But it also could be that she is going through a constipation phase. It could be related to food, temperature, stress, infection and, as you´ve said, a blockage by objects, such as her substrate.
I recomend you to take a fecal sample to your vet to check for parasites. You could try going to another vet (not saying that your vet doesn´t know what he is talking about, but it could help) to listen to diferent opinions. A X-Ray will help too.
Keep soaking her till the problem is fixed, cuz water stimulates defecation.
But take a fecal sample as soon as possible to your vet.
Hatfield´s book has this note about a ig owner that has to manually manipulate an area on the iguana´s body to squeeze out its feces every day, and he will have to do this forever.
But that´s because he took too long to notice the problem.
Even if that´s not the problem and she is really developing eggs, it is still a good idea to take her to the vet because she will need some calcium supplements to stay healthy. Is she restless, like she is trying to find something??? If yes, she is probably producing eggs and is trying to find a place to lay them (nest). Answer me back first so I can tell you how to make a nest..
Sorry the long post, just trying to help!!
Good luck with her!
Take care,
Later,
Dan

This sounds similar to what happened to my 8 year old female last year. She was displaying some signs of being gravid, so I began to supplement her meals with calcium.

After awhile she began to stop defecating regularly (she goes every day like clockwork), and she began to get bloated, so I took her to my vet. X rays said she wasn't gravid, so I had her blood tested for everything under the sun. The only thing that came up even slightly out of the normal was that her calcium levels were slightly higher than usual. Hypercalcium isn't typically seen apparently, but one of the symptoms of that it can cause constipation.

She too was eating normally.

If an x-ray does not show a blockage, as she would have if she'd injested her bedding (bedding that can be injested is not recommended though)

For her safety, and the safety of the male, I would seperate them.

However, with regards to her bloating, try stopping the calcium supplement and see if she begins defecating more regularly. My iguana resumed her normal schedule quite quickly after I stopped the supplement.

Hope this helps, and good luck with your lizards!

Wendy
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"It's not a matter of IF...but WHEN" ~Bill Haast~

"Joy unspeakable...to be holding death in your hands..."