Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girl recently brought home a large Iguana abandoned at a local animal shelter. The animal is fairly large, and is about 4.5 to 5.0 feet in total length. He is fairly thin, but putting on some weight. His ribs and hips bones are showing through his skin. We have him in a large cage (6x4x6) with a good hot spot and a large tub of water. He is eating carrots, collards, and kale pretty good, but his color has faded even in the week we have had him. He seems very alert, and is scattering about his cage, but I am concerened about two things. First, his loss of color..he is almost the color of a rhino iggy now, except for the nice orange color in his legs and feet. Secondly, about an inch and a half past his hind legs, his tail seems to be kinked, and sits at a sharper angle than the natural curve of his tail should have. While he does not appear to be in pain, it seems to me that his tail is almost "dead"..he never whips or thrashes the tail..even at the the 1.5 foot juvie iggy he is sharing a cage with. When he is picked up, there seems to be no movement in the tail. I see the same "deadness" in several of his rear toes, although his hind legs work well. I have been herping for almost 20 years, with much of my experience geared towards monitors and veileds, and I have pretty much ignored iguanas until now. This guy was just in to bad of shape to be left at a place that though he was an adult "anole" and had him in a large rubbermaid tub. Any help you can give me and "Draco" is greatly appreciated!!

Hi just wanted to say thats a great thing your doing to resucue this guy. Not sure about the kink in the tail, would help if we had a picture. First thing i would say is separate him from the other iggy. Iggys should not be housed together. Especially since hes pretty good size, he could attack the other. Right now hes probably pretty scared too. Iguanas do not do change well. You said you had a hot spot for him, do you have a uvb bulb? If you dont, that could explain his color change maybe. Iggys must have Uvb either from the natural sun or a uvb bulb. The other thing is his diet. Think you mentioned collards, those are good. Kale needs to be fed minimally if my memory is correct, same with carrots. Check out Melissa Kaplans site, she has a great diet and lots of good info for iggys. I dont have it off hand but im sure someone here will post it. Heres the diet i feed my iggy, Mustard greens, collard greens, turnip greens, escarole and dandelion, butternut squash, parsnip, green beans, cantalope, blueberries or some mango. There are more items, but thats kind of the basics. But absolutely no animal protein. The other thing is if at all possible get him to a good herp vet to be checked out. Hope that helps a bit and let us know how hes doing. Tami

wow i had to laugh when you said they thought he was an anole!
anyway yeah i would give him his own cage or your little one may become lunch. just because they are getting along now does not mean they will get along forever. trust me i know this from experience. nothing preety will come out off two igs living together in such small space. but you did good to get him out of that situation. thanks for saving him! -brandy
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brandy

He needs a vet. Have him screened for parasites and he needs to have the gangrene in his tail checked. (if it is "dead" this is called dry gangreen and can and will kill him if it is not treated quickly) He needs to have the tail amputated as well as the toes since they are starting to literally rot and infect his whole body!.

Since you have him sharing a cage with a juvie ig I suggest a new cage for the juvie. the cage he is in is large enough for the large iguana to stay in. Or you could free roam him. The juvie ig needs to be screened for parasites and things now that he has been esxposed to a "Shelter" iguana.

Please Please get the big guy to the vet ASAP and end his suffering!
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1.0.1 Green Iguana Andy and Vernie
0.2.0 Cats April and Sugar
1.0.0 German Shepard Dog Router
0.0.50 Fish
And lots of rescues waiting to find homes...

Could the tail also be a effect of dehydration.
I have seen it with the neglected iguana i took in.
The vet already amputaded a toe, because it was blacker than black
But now his tale is getting black and hard. It sounds a lot like the storie she is telling!

I put them in the shower and the iggy has licked the whole floor up and down while in the water!!!then he just kept on drinking from his waterbowl

Next week i will return to the vet, and probably the poor thing will loose it's tail too!

Those poor green thingies have to endure a lot keepen in bad circumstances!
Good thing you took the iggy in!!!!!!!
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