iguanna???

[laura]

my parents inheratied my lil brothers iguanna when he went to college 2 years ago. ever since they have had him, he is bright orange. he is never ever green, and he sheds his skin about every other week. now for the last few days he wont eat. he will nibble a few bites but he doesn't wanna eat. he is about 4-5 years old. the bright orange skin color is what worries me. also since they have had him, his spikes that go up his back and neck, are flimsy, they are like bent over, orange, and they are full, it's like what ever is suppost to be in them is gone, they feel hollow. i hope i explained that correctly. i just wanna help him, so he doesnt die. thanks in advance.

laura
AKA goat lady

[Patrick Kubeja]

well Does he look like this somewhat

If yes he is in Breeding Season they do slow down on there eating....

[laura]

yes he is all orange like that, he has been orange like that for about 2 years now. perfict pic!! that is exactly what i was talking about on the orange!!

he hasn't ate but about 2 bites a day for a week now. mom got him to eat some hot dog last night. she tried dandolines (he usally eats them right up) he didn't touch them, she tried broccli and some mixed veggies and he ate that. we gonna get him some greens and chicken at lunch today and take home to him. and i brought him some alfalfa hay, i thought i would try a bit of that and see if he will eat any.

he looks so sad just laying there under his lights. his lil ribs are starting to show a bit.

i would know what to do if he were a goatie, but i know nothing about lizards, and mom and dad really don't either.

[amo69]

ok i joined the site.....

i am laura

i took some photos of ceasar earlier at my lunch break.. here he is.

also can you guys tell by looking at him if he is indead a boy and not a girl.

i looked at the links that said how to tell, me and hubby think he is a girl, mom and dad say boy??? can you tell??

here he is
s122.photobucket.com/albums/o255/rerunlaura/

and i got him to eat some green peas at lunch time, and i picked him some danalions and left in his cage hopefully he'll eat one or two of them.

[Denise]

Hello and Welcome Laura

First of all Ceasar does look like a male to me,but not for sure unless you can see his hind legs? They should look like bumps if he's male and zippers if a female.
I see there are wood chips with him and that is not good at all! Please remove them as he does taste with his tounge and may ingest some and it could harm him. Some of the things you are feeding him isn't good either. They don't eat animal protein at all. They eat all vegetable protein,like collard mustard and turnip greens,plus other greens is most of their diet plus veggies and some fruits . Here is a good diet from Green Iguana Society : www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm
Plus he needs lots of room and UVB lighting and right temp."s and humidity. Please take a look around the site there is a lot of good information here or Green Iguana society. Melissa Kaplan has good information also, www.anapsid.org/ PLease feel free to ask more questions and Thanks for joining!

[really]

Hi Laura. Has Ceasar ever been to the vet? It might be a good time to find a good reptile vet and have him (or her) checked out thoroughly. Also, as Denise suggested, change out the woodchips for newspaper and please don't give him things like hot dogs anymore. The Green Iguana Society and Kaplan's site are both excellent suggestions. The Iguana Den also has helpful information (www.iguanaden.org)

We're all here to help you get Ceasar healthy, but none of us can substitute for a good vet.

Susan

[ChamZilla]

WELCOME

One thing you really need to do is please stop feeding him animal protein (MEAT) any kind of meat is bad for an iguana. We are all here to help eachother and a lot of us have also made this big mistake. But its never to late to change

Sometimes iguanas turn orange and stay that way from Kidney damage. My iguana was really orange but was in bad health and has a lot of kidney damage from being fed animal protein and dog food.

Good luck and keep us posted. But a vet visit would be benificial.

[amo69]

thank you all so much, i told her about the hot dogs after she fed them to ceasar. i am printing off every thing i can get my hands on to give them.

how do i do the news paper, just cut it up in strips, or lay it down whole?

thanks for the welcome! i'm glad to be here, and learn all i can for ceasar.

[0ooAshleyoo0]

Hi! and Welcome! everyopne has corrected you on the feeding... so i wont go there..but just really check everything out.. and when youre feeding the greens to him, make sure the leaves are cut up to sizes that he can swollow, since they dont chew liek us.. in the wild they rip chunks off of leaves still on a plant, sothey only get mouthfull sizes.

as for the newspaper...i think you can do it either way.. but i imagne laying it flat down unshredded would be best. i dont know much about it thoguh... as i have a tile flooring for my iguanas cage,so i dont need substrate( which is one of the best options to do for flooring..in my opinion)

do you have a UVB source? or just normal lighting? UVB rays are essential to an iguanas survival..it doesnt cause imediate death but it will slowly kill them without it! they can get MBD and other things from it.

just read up on as much info as you can... it may take a while to read about everything! but its worth it for your ceasar!!! just think of him!

[amo69]

yes he has several lights actually, he has a heat light over one end of the cage. and a long light fixture that holds 2 bulbs, one is broad sprectrum bulb, and the other looks like a black light bulb, it is made for reptiles.. sorry i'm not sure what it is called, up untill now i just walked by him, or brought him some dandalions to eat on, i have never messed with him any. and he is where he can get the sunlight all day also.

well he is starting to hold his head up again, eating again (not 100% yet but he is really picking up) and being more like himself. k

[Patrick Kubeja]

Hi Laura

I been reading what you posted and the lights that you have for your guy doesn’t sound right to me. You have a Florissant fixer with 2 bulbs in it, one Black and one it seems to be a light? Now I have heard of some black lights being good for some nighttime reptiles but not an iguana.

You really have to read what they need, your Guy look like a great guy to keep around. The heat, what hey eat and what kind of enclosure they will need and the right lighting like UVB lighting that they need.

Here is a link I have some on sale at the store and I am welling to help you get it all right, but you have to read too, to make sure it is right. Get the Book Iguana For Dummies and James Hatfield Book both of them will help you a great deal. Well here is the link store.everythingreptileinc.com/ here is another link on basic Care www.patricksiguanasite.com/ a little easier to read.

Patrick

[natalie]

Hi laura, I'm not a member here, but I just wanted to say that is essential that your iguana to have a UVB light or your iguana can develop MBD (metabolic bone disease). Do this as soon as possible! Also, you stated that he is in a place where he can get sunlight all day... If you are refering to a window in your house, please know that most windows are made to filter out all UVB ever since the late 1970's, so all a window would be doing is providing a light source for your iguana. The bare essentials are a basking light (for heat, any type of UVA bulb will work) and a UVB bulb.

[prismwolf]

I hope laura will have seen your post, Natalie, but this one is pretty old. She hasn't posted in many, many months. We can only hope her iggy is fine...:-)