Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Basics: Hum: 40-60%, bask: 90 or so, reg temps: 75 @ night 85-90 day, Food: fresh greens, mango, and other assorted veggies, Enclosure: 7ft x 4ft x 4ft, SVL: 18", Age: About 5 yrs

Had this iggy for about 6 months, totally sweet personality, loves the kids, never bites seemed to acclimate well. About 3 1/2 weeks ago, just stopped eating. Thought maybe gravid as she wants to dig at my walls/windows but palpating found nothing. After 2 weeks and a thinner iggy I took to vet. He says all stats good, she's alert/curious/not lethargic, also felt for eggs to no avail..did bloodwork.

All levels good EXCEPT there were traces of muscle enzyme in her blood....he says this indicates an unknown injury of some kind (I have NO idea when or how this occurred...but she is allowed to peruse the basement when someone is down here) so he gave me some Critical Care and anti-inflammatory meds.

A week on those and she is no better. Still wont eat fresh foods, makes insignificant poops but NOW she is extremely agitated and resistant to being force fed...and the other med smells like crap so I can only IMAGINE what it must taste like. Out of money but I want to do the best I can by her (BTW, before I get the spiel on "not owning something you cant afford" I took her in because the previous owner was desperate/gonna put her down because of a move. I am doing my best and though I LOVE reptiles...I own others....I would have never purchased an iggy for that very reason...thank GOD my husband is a carpenter and could build her a proper house on the cheap)

1. Has anyone else experienced this before? How long can it take to heal from something like this? Getting thinner despite treatment.

2. ANY advice on force feeding would be appreciated! It takes a LONG time to do and she makes a HUGE mess. Is this expected or am I doing something wrong? Right now it takes both myself AND my hubby to get the food down her and it seems she hates us more every day. Sorry so long...Jen

up your basking temps about 30 degrees. yours is too low. stop force feeding its just stressing the lizard. Try red foods, strawberries, grapes, hibiscus, etc. also a dip in a bath tub will keep her hydrated and help defecation. Did the vet do xrays? Igs are pretty tough and mask injury well when healthy. Biggest help will be upping the temp
good luck

jf

I Agree!

you need basking temps at least 110-120f and ambient temps 80-90f during the day.. at night normal room temp is fine..

And do not forcefeed!
in this case and this stage its ok to try some super worms pizza cat/dog food banana friuts in general (something that tastes good for humans also like pizza or burgers) just to get her to start eating again!... but as soon as she eats everything you feed her like this for a week.. you must go back to 100% veggies/friuts

and leave it alone! dont stress it... just feed it and take it to the bathtub.. other than that it should be isolated from sights and sounds.. from kids and other pets...

Good luck! and btw most vets dont know a thing about how to save an iguana.. i would say 90% of vets dont have a clue in practise!

Thanks guys.......the most stressful part was the force feeding and I am glad to receive validation to stop doing it. I upped her bask temps and my husband made some creative changes to her habitat to afford her more privacy.....though, to be honest, she just pushes on her little "doggie" door to come out and hang with everyone. She is still super social.....healthwise, though, she is the same...I did get her to eat some mango the other day..but only a few pieces...and she keeps running for our basement door and scratching the crap out of it....can't figure that out.....provided dirt and stuff in the event she wanted to drop eggs, but she ignored it and kept running for the door.

Nice to know I spent a couple hundred $$$ for an "exotic" vet to help me do nothing. Ugh. Anyways, thanks again for the attention.

God Bless, Jen

did you get xrays? they would tell you if she has eggs. kinda sounds like she might by your description of her behavior. put her in the tub? did she go? you should check that everything is working, food in food out, all the limbs work, no lumps , wounds, its a process of elimination

jf

The enzyme in the blood that indicated muscle damage is called cpk.
There are a few reason you will get false high readings of cpk which are very typical in your situation and I have experience many times.
False high reading of cpk can happen because miss handing of the blood sample, ( the sample gets bumped around to much before it gets to the lab)
also taking several samples or looking for a good spot to get blood will cause the cpk to rise this is common when a vet goes hunting to get a blood sample but missies a few times before he actually gets the sample.

What was the white and red blood cell count?
What was the calcium level?
What was the uric acid?
What was the total Protein?

Other suggestions on the thread seem like a good start

Sam Pascucci