Reptile & Amphibian Forums

About 7 weeks old.....I have to force feed baby food....just wondering when it will take greens....any ideas will help.....thank you

Any baby iguana should eat greens a few days after hatching. If you have to force feed it than something else is wrong. If your are keeping it indoors spend $60 on a Trex light bulb,they are the best and it's money well spent. Depending on the size of your cage you may not be able to use a large Trex bulb. Me personally I wouldnt put a baby cyclura in anything smaller than a 3 ft vision cage because small cages limit the lighting you can use and even a baby rhino is a good size hatched out.. A small 20 gallon would probably get too hot with a Trex bulb so you are forced to use cheap 75 and 100 watt bulbs. You can get other small bulbs that offer UVB and no heat but nothing compares to a Trex in my opinion. I've brought back sick animals with them and have noticed huge changes in appetite and energy in healthy animals. Also get a laser temp gun immediately and make sure your basking temp is somewhere between 110-120 degrees. That's basking temp not the ambient temp of the cage. I can't imagine setting up a reptile without knowing it's basking temp. We all use to do without temp guns years ago but with technology these days there is no reason every reptile keeper shouldn't have one. Temp and lighting is most important, next to diet. What kind of setup do you have and what are you using for lighting and heat? What specific foods have you offered the lizard? How long have you had it? Rhino iguanas are very affordable lizards but you will spend much more than the cost of the lizard to set it up properly, and that's a baby not a 15-20 pound adult.

Thanks for the reply....feeding him squash baby food and carrot baby food....temps are good...had him for a month now....cage is good size...I do have a lot of experience with reptiles....just not with a lot of hatchlings...

If your Rhino is 7 weeks old than it should have been eating greens and other veggies six weeks ago. How long have you been feeding him baby food because that is not a healthy balanced diet. If you ever do get him eating on his own he's certainly not going to accept greens well if you've force fed him tasty baby food everyday. If you must force feed him than blend up a properly balanced diet with fresh ingredients, supplements and put it in a large syringe. What was he feeding on before you got him? Sometimes springmix is good to get them started but that's a few days after they've hatched. What's your ambient and basking temp? Any UVB lighting? Iv'e had my fair share of reptiles over the years and 95% of them I raised from hatchlings. I learn new stuff all the time, constantly humbled and remain hungry to continue learning.

Again thanks....yes I need to switch to greens...I guess I'll have to puree them...as far as temps ambient around 80-85 basking at 105-110....26 watt uvb....the breeder said he was eating but I think not.....

I would bump his basking temp up a little. Depending on how he's set up it could be the difference of bringing the basking area a couple inches closer to the light such as placing a rock under the light ect. If that isn't possible maybe a slightly larger bulb if it doesn't raise the ambient too much. Blend up primarily greens with some veggies and a little fruit to make it more watery, add some vitD supplement. I just had to nurse a sick hatchling I recently received already under the weather. It lost the use of its back legs two or three days after I got him and kept its eyes closed a lot of the time. A week under a Trex bulb at 120 degree basking temp, force fed a couple times with high calcium vitD dose and it bounced back in a week 100%. Less than a month later this beast has doubled in size, has one of the craziest appetites I've seen in an iguana and is now the alpha king of the enclosure. If you have not used a Trex UVB heat bulb before, you need to go out and buy one. It's not the sun but it's about as close as your gonna get indoors.