Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've noticed that my female can't go poopey on her own. I have to stick her in the bathtub for her to poop. I know it isn't just when I stick her in there she goes poop because I haven't put her in the bath in 2 days. I just got her out of a 45 minute bath and she went poopey. When she walked on my arm today I noticed she had some buildup around her anus, that's why I put her in the bath. I was wondering if iguanas, like monitors, can have their digestive system fastened by higher basking temperatures? Right now I have a 85w flood on her basking spot and i'm not sure if that's sufficient. Sorry, I can't provide exact or any temperatures as my mothers dog ran off with my temp gun that my cat knocked off and ate it to smitherines. I'm ordering a new one right now, so it should be here in a couple of days. Mainly my question is if I increase my iguanas basking temps will it help her to poop? If not what should I do to help her out? Laxitive?
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1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
1.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus
1.1 Green Iguana - King Arthur, Lady Guenivere
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
2.2 Cats - Psycho(radiation), Moses, Satan, Bandy.
3.3 Dogs - Romeo, Juliet, Falon, Baby Girl, Scooter, Really Old Man!
0.3 feeder mice They aren't reproducing, just running up my food cost!

Iguanas do need fairly high basking temps - in the mid 90's. But I've found that this is an easy temperature to get with a lamp. I doubt temperature is your problem, especially if your iguana is pooping just fine when you do put him in the water.

To me (and this is just my opinion) it sounds like your iguana is conditioned to poop only in water. In other words, you trained him to poop when you give him a bath, whether you meant to or not. It is one of the greater dangers of training animals to poop in places that we give them access to. There are documented cases of birds, dogs, and other animals actually refusing to defecate until it kills them because they were trained to go in a specific place and their 'master' didn't give them sufficient access to it.

Not to scare you or anything. I don't think this happens very often.

Do you have a large container of water for pooping in your ig's cage, or just a bowl of drinking water? If you don't have pooping/soaking water, you should consider adding some. If it were me, I would get a kitty litter pan and fill it with water and put it in the tub until he learned to poop in it, then put it in his cage to encourage him to use it on his own.

If it's not conditioning (behavioral) then it's obviously physical. Check your temps ASAP, and if they're right on, it may be time to see the vet.
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~Alika~
1.0.0 green iguanas
0.1.0 cockatiels
1.0.0 senegal parrots
0.1.0 blue-fronted amazons
0.0.1 red belly piranha

Well, this is a rescue i got last wed. I have a water pond for her but she hardly gets in it. I'm going to increase her basking spot to see if that fixes it, i'll make an appointment for the vet just in case.
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1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
1.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus
1.1 Green Iguana - King Arthur, Lady Guenivere
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
2.2 Cats - Psycho(radiation), Moses, Satan, Bandy.
3.3 Dogs - Romeo, Juliet, Falon, Baby Girl, Scooter, Really Old Man!
0.3 feeder mice They aren't reproducing, just running up my food cost!

Conditioning Igs to poo in water is a pretty common occurance. I actually have a friend with a free range iguana that is used to pooing in the tub at a certain time each evening. If she isn't home on time to put her in the tub Sunny will go into the bathroom and poo under the tub! It makes for easy clean up and less mess on the carpets! lol
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

"I have a water pond for her but she hardly gets in it"

Is the pond removable? If so, put it in the bathtub and fill it with water, then put her in the pond and see if she gets the idea. You may have to wait awhile. You can try massaging her belly gently towards her vent to stimulate her if need be. Two or three times may be enough for her to get the idea that it is a place to poop, and then she may start using it in her cage.

If it's not removable, try holding her in the pond (gently, of course) and massaging her belly to see if you can stimulate her to go.

I don't know, that's just what I would do. You may have to find time to poop her in the tub once a day, which really isn't so bad. The worst part is disinfecting the tub afterwards.
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~Alika~
1.0.0 green iguanas
0.1.0 cockatiels
1.0.0 senegal parrots
0.1.0 blue-fronted amazons
0.0.1 red belly piranha

My iggy won't poo anywhere else but outside in the summer, and his litter pan in the winter. If he doesn't have access to either of those things, he won't go. Maybe that's how your iguana is?
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~*Chibi*~
Sir Iggy ( 1.0.0 El Salvador Blue Iguana), Ryo-ohki, Orion, Bud, & Finnegan (3.1.0 crazy kitties), Rosebud (0.1.0 cockerspaniel), Trixie and Kayko (0.1.1 leopard gecko)

thanks for all the responses, I can't say that she isused to going in the tub because the owner I got her from was a little teenager that neglected him entirely and from what i know she wasn't fed in up to 4 days before I got her. I can tell she's getting better as this morning( a couple of hours ago) she came up to me and slept on my shoulder for about 3 hours, so that was cool. I'll try to do that "potty training" method to see if that works. I would hate for her to keep it in because she doesn't feel comfortable or something. My normal vet is out of town for the week and all the other vets are inexperienced that i've been too. There aren't many exotic vets around here, and if there are they are mainly bird. =-
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1.0 Savannah Monitor - Artimus
1.0 Emerald Swift - Jesus
1.1 Green Iguana - King Arthur, Lady Guenivere
1.0 Basilisk - Adam
2.2 Cats - Psycho(radiation), Moses, Satan, Bandy.
3.3 Dogs - Romeo, Falon, Baby Girl, Scooter, Whiskers, R.I.P. Juliet
1.3 feeder mice I've seen hunchin, let's see if they still got it in em'!