Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a desert Iguana that has stopped eating! He won't eat lettuce
or his meal worms, or anything else! This is not the first time he has done this. But this time he is loosing weight. I have started giving him stage 1 baby food, green beans, squash etc. I use to buy a Enteral Herbivore in powder form from herpetoculture.com, and give it to him in an eye dropper. Herpetoculture went out of business! That Herbivore worked great! One of my DI would not hibernate one Winter, but would not eat either. All I gave him was the Herbivore, and he gained weight! My question is what do any of you give your DI's if they refuse to eat? Please get back! Thanks.

I don't have a DI, but I have a picky uro. I like to offer him hibiscus flowers, San Francisco Bay's veggie mix, and Rep-Cal ig pellets along with his diet of collard, mustard, turnip, hibiscus leaves. He likes anything with bright colors.

I noticed that you responded to a thread that I started in the chuck forum, and was a bit concerned. You seem to be having problems with your desert igs in general, so that makes me really wonder about how you are keeping them. Can you answer a few questions? It will help us advise you.

Husbandry:
What do you have them housed in? Tank? Cage? What are the dimensions?

What kind of lighting are you using? Do you use UVB? If so, what does your UVB bulb look like?

How do you measure your basking and ambient(overall) temps? Do you use a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun?

What are your basking SURFACE temps? What are your overall enclosure temps?

Diet.
You mention that you feed mealworms and lettuce, NEITHER of which is nutritious in general and certainly not a good diet for desert igs that should be 90% VEGETARIAN. Do you feed other types of greens? Which greens do you use a a staple diet?

Please let us know the answers to these questions so that we can help you help all of your igs, especially this one and the one with the eye infection.

I noticed that you responded to a thread that I started in the chuck forum, and was a bit concerned. You seem to be having problems with your desert igs in general, so that makes me really wonder about how you are keeping them. Can you answer a few questions? It will help us advise you.

Husbandry:
What do you have them housed in? Tank? Cage? What are the dimensions? "Two housed in tank! Screen top! Dimensions 10 gallon tank, 20"X12"X10.5". He has been in this for 5 years. No problems with eating before".

What kind of lighting are you using? Do you use UVB? If so, what does your UVB bulb look like? "I use a 37 watt incandescent bulb about 9" above the basking spot. I only use it to warm them up with.
I take them outside almost every day and give them real sunlight for an hour or so. I have been doing this for 5 years".

How do you measure your basking and ambient(overall) temps? Do you use a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a probe or a temp gun? I use a digital thermometer with a probe".

What are your basking SURFACE temps? "The basking area gets to about 97 degrees". What are your overall enclosure temps? "Rest of cage 85 or so. At night down to 81 in the Summer!"

Diet.
You mention that you feed meal worms and lettuce, NEITHER of which is nutritious in general and certainly not a good diet for desert igs that should be 90% VEGETARIAN. "To my understanding feeding DI's some protein is not like feeding Green Iggs. Melissa Kaplan online Iguana expert told me there is nothing wrong feeding them meal worms." Do you feed other types of greens? "Field greens, no spinach. I also suppliment them on stage 1 baby food green beans, carrots, peas & squash, if they refuse to eat their greens. They are picky eaters, and will go for days without eating greens"! Which greens do you use a a staple diet? "I use romaine lettuce, I had a baby grow to an adult in less than a year on meal worms and romaine! I had another DI for 16 years when he died of old age. Went blind Who ate mostly lettuce and meal worms"! The last two days I have noticed the guy refusing to eat will lift up his hind legs like he would deficate and only do a little liquid, and uric acid. Maybe because he is not eating, but I got concerned maybe he could be plugged up. Maybe swallowed a rock in the cage. They are in gravel about pea size. And sleep under rocks in the cage! But I never had problems with them before! Yesterday I gave him baby rice cereal with puree romaine with an eyedropper. Just to give him some nutrition!

Please let us know the answers to these questions so that we can help you help all of your igs, especially this one and the one with the eye infection. "The one with the eye infection is in a 50 gallon tank! I take them all out every day and give them real sunlight"!
Thanks for any assistance! It's appreciated!
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Our Desert Iguanas

Bill, I know that you say your igs have been living like you have them for 5 years, but that does not mean that they have been thriving. Obviously they aren't. I hope that you will take my suggestions in the spirit that I am offering them, ie, with the hope that we can make their lives better, which in turn might make them want to eat better and be in better health.

First, a ten gallon tank for adult desert igs is just cruel, IMO. They are wanderers and need no less than 36x18 inches of foot space, or at least a 20 long if you can't go that big. It is impossible to get the temp range that you describe in a ten gallon tank.

Here is one of my desert ig tanks. It is a 36x18, and there is a Mercury vapor UVB bulb over the lower basking spot. The basking temps ON THAT ROCK SURFACE are in the 115-120 range, but the hot SIDE is in the low to mid 90s. The cool side is in the upper 80s.

Please consider getting a Mercury Vapor bulb for your ig with the eye infection if she is in the 50 gal tank. You will be amazed at how fast she recovers, and your anorexic ig will probably start eating better. I know that you say you take them out for an hour every day, but are you making sure that there isn't a significant temp change when you do that? What do you do in winter? You need to provide a constant temp range with a good, constant basking temp or they won't digest properly and won't eat well. Here is a good bulb that is fairly inexpensive that would work very well on the 50 gal tank
http://www.herpsupplies.com/product.cfm?groupid=18240&id=PT2192

I cannot make suggestions for light/heat changes in the ten gallon tank. You simply cannot achieve a proper temp range for a desert ig in a tank that small. Please consider upgrading them and then try to get a range as I described in mine above.

As for diet, again, they might survive on that diet for awhile, but I doubt they are thriving. Romaine lettuce has a very high water content and so it has little nutritional value. Better greens are collared greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, endive, and dandelion. Hibiscus leaves are also good. Your igs should be eating mostly these greens, and bugs only occasionally. I feed bugs to gravid females more often, but only feed bugs for the most part only after they are eating their salads well. Please try these other greens that are so much better for them.

One thing that I forgot to ask is, do you use supplements? Vitamins? Calcium? D3?

I hope you will consider making these changes. I know that it will make a world of difference to your igs and might solve all of the issues that you are having with them.