Sad story Please read

[brzlnsk8r]

Hello everyone I am brand new to this website and by the looks of it, it is exactly the right community for me Iguana Lovers! I first owned an iguana back in 05 and it was in a 10 gallon with a regular bulb for heat (I know I know its bad) Lucky for me I love to learn and I absolutely loved my new iguana (shrek) who was about 3 inches Svl. Within a month he moved to a 65 gallon reptarium and was eating collards and squash and the the whole 9 yards. I had him for about a year and a half and he grew very big for that time and was super green. Unfortunately I had to give him up for my mom (now passed) had leukemia and it was doc's order. It was the hardest drive for me (17 at the time) heading towards the animal shelter with shrek on my shoulders. I stayed for about 3 hours there holding him and didn't leave until a lady called Judy Thomas took him as she was experienced and had many other iguanas. Till this day I try not to look for him as I know I will try to steal him =P.

Recently 5/29/08 I purchased a baby iguana from a pet store and along with that i bought 65 gallon reptarium, 24in reptisun 10.0, mini tub of water, water bowl, collards, squash, snap peas, okras, mustard and turnip greens. The little guy ate maybe 1 piece of squash a day and that was it. I gave him a warm bath every morning and misted his cage which was outside out of direct sunshine which is way to hot here. I live in Orlando and it has been nice outside. I misted his cage a lot as i was afraid this guy was going to get dehydrated. I have many little fake leaves and those vines from the shop so his cage looks real nice. But anyways today to my surprise he was on the floor of his cage in the morning ! barely moving and dark stripes. I picked him up for his bath and noticed he was barely alive. I tried to feed him but I knew he wasn't going to eat. He stopped breathing in my arms and I am heart broke. I purchased two more baby iguanas from a different pet shop because they looked like they didn't want to be there =P. I moved the reptarium inside,scared that maybe the 90 degree weather killed him, into an empty room next to a window. The temp in the room is 78-80 and a basking spot of 95-98 (same setup as my baby =< ) There are many vines underneath the basking spot so they can share the general spot for now until they grow a few more inches. One of the iguanas is eating a lot of the butternut squash i put in the salad so I am happy for that. The other one is a crazy iguana that flies all over the place when I get near the cage and I only picked him up to try to feed him. I waited for his little "I'm going to open my mouth and bite you but not really face" and put in some collard's and he ate them for success!! The mellow guy looks at the green but always heads for squash. Any ways any advice or tips or comments are welcome as I really hope these two grow to fit in my 125 reptarium within a year and of course later a custom built cage like I had for my Shrek (6X6x3)

[Dawn]

Welcome to the forums (o: I'm very glad you've found us.

patricksiguana.proboards23.com/index.cgi?board=Care&action=display&thread=1245
This is a link to our iguana care sheet. This will help tremendously in providing proper care for your iguanas (o:

I'm not familiar with the different sizes of reptariums, (Sorry, my iguana has been in a pretty big enclosure his entire life), but I was curious what the different temps were in the reptarium its self.
The temperature ranges in the enclosure should be 70-80 degrees in one area, 85-88 degrees in another area with the basking area being 92-98 degrees with a UVA UVB bulb (Mega ray is the best). It's very important for their health and safety to have the range of temperatures as they would in nature. I'm not sure if you have them free roaming or not, but if not, the room temperature will only slightly change the temperature of the reptarium if you are using the lights.
As for food, the diet looks pretty good, except that they really need the greens as their main food source. Therefore I'd suggest getting a food processor, the type used to make salsa, and mulch up their food small enough that they can not be picky. This way they are getting all the vitamins they need. Just make sure the greens make up 80% of their diet. I would also suggest getting some reptile vitamins and sprinkling it on their food two to three times a week. I use Reptivite, as our iguana prefers it. That will help make sure they have the balanced diet. It's important to remember the 2:1 Calcium, phosphorus ratio.
I don't think it would hurt to put them in the larger reptarium now. It is usually easier to get the temperatures right in a larger enclosure. Also, what types of thermometers are you using to gauge the temperatures?
Misting them is always a positive (o: You're doing well there.
Again, check out our care sheet. It will help tremendously (o:
Please post pictures of them soon.

[brzlnsk8r]

Thank you for the advise. I have one of those 65 gallon apogee reptariums (mesh). The room is shutoff to ac so the temperature is 79-81. I have too zoo med basking lights near the top on the vines along with the 10.0 reptisun about 10 inches from the basking vines where they spend most of there time. Up there is one of the sticky thermometers that reads 92-95 and another on the cool side near the bottom. The only thing I need to get is one of the food processors, so salsa like is what there food has to look like? I will go ahead and try that along with reptivite. I have a calcimize and electrolize water supplement from exo terra and before using I wanted to ask if anyone else uses it. thanks =D

[brzlnsk8r]

Update* I took the advice and bought a 40dollar food processor and put mostly collard,turnip, and mustard greens along with okra snap peas and slice of butternut squash. The results were Awesome! the pieces were all super tiny and a little slimy probably from okra and snap peas. Any ways two of the 3 baby's ate a good amount considering they couldn't pick out there favorites (muhaha). The last baby is still the crazy one that dashes everywhere if i get to close and I am not sure if he eats when I am not looking but i hope so. I ordered a 160 watt mega ray from Patrick yesterday so hopefully i can move them all from the apogee 65 reptarium to my 125 reptarium (both are reptile cages with a mesh screen) If theres anything else please don't hesitate to leave any replies thank you!!!!

[starmanp]

cool I may have to get me a food processor mine are doing well them selves :-)

[ChamZilla]

Hello there and welcome

Could you maybe post some photos of your little ones and the set up you currently have them in please That would be much appreciated and will post another reply after I see some pictures Sounds as though you are changing some things, but taking a picture helps us see what you are seeing. Thanks and talk to you soon

[brzlnsk8r]

Some pictures from Chamzilla request =D I should be getting two megarays coming along with a infrared temp gun so I'm so excited
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[Dawn]

That is beautiful!!! I'd love to make one of those for Sir Emmy to spend some outside time in. Your little guys look very happy lol. They look very alert and healthy! (o:

I'm glad the food processing worked well for you (o: Sir Emmy is a very picky eater and is notorious for picking out his favorites while leaving the greens if we don't use one on his food.

[ChamZilla]

Those are two very healthy looking little ones. I have more to add to this post but am just on my way out the door, I will get back to you

[ChamZilla]

Ok there, I hope you read the care sheet again and hope you are following it closely. Also I hope you know that iguana's are solitary animals and when they get bigger they will start fighting. This could lead to serious injury and even death. It is not a recomended thing to do.
The UV light you have is a reptisun 10.0? It will do for a short time, but those bulbs are only good for approx 6 months for there UV quality and need to be replaced. The Mega Ray as Dawn suggested is a much better bulb and will last a lot longer than the reptisun.
You could also purchase a probe thermometer available in most stores in the weather section. Well at my store its the weather section, with all the humidity gages and stuff. They are a very handy thing to have as you can put them right under the basking spots to ensure they are he proper temperature. I paid 10$ canadian for the one I have and there are a few different types available as well.

That enclosure is good for now but your iggy's will out grow it pretty quickly. The screen type enclosures work when they are smaller but once they start go get some weight to them, those enlosures arn't very good. They can cause broken nails/toes or even pulled out nails from the ig trying to climb around on them.

Do you have any other questions? Problems, concerns?