Rep-Cal Juvenile Iguana Food

[willowtreepets]

Hi, alll! I recently acquired a juvenile iguana who came from a raid on a really bad pet store. I've had him for a month now, and he's still brown and thin. He seems active, though, and he does eat. I've been offering him the Rep-Cal Juvenile Iguana Food prepared diet that the rescue people sent with him (her?), which he eats heartily. He's shedding like somebody's business. I have been offering him greens, and I'm going to start offering more variety in the form of vegetables and fruits. I just worry that the Rep-Cal formula may be too high in protein. Has anyone had any experience with this prepared diet? Thanks in advance for any and all advice and feedback.

[sean46877]

The rep-cal iguana pellets are ok as a treat, We sometimes use them as a salad topper. Just be sure to soak them in water first. That makes them good for hydration. Thanks for rescue the iguana!

[ChamZilla]

Hi there,

Good job with the rescue, rescues don't usually gain weight very fast, show improvement with color for at least a few months. You have to make sure that there temperatures are correct and that will help them on there way. It is very important that temperatures are correct as that helps them digest there food. 12 hours of light, 12 hours of dark. Basking temperature in the day time NO higher than 90. Night time no lower than 70, for a baby or a rescue, until they are back to a healthy state.
As far as diets.... If you read here... www.anapsid.org/iguana/icfs/index.html (click on the BLUE link of Iguana Care, feeding & Socialization) read the whole thing and it will show you an outline of excellent iguana diets. Be careful with fruits as they can give your iguana the runs and be filled with empty calories. There are some greens,veggies and frutis that are harmful to iguana's so be careful and make sure you read the toxic list.
I feed the Rep-Cal sometimes, but be sure to soak it in water until it won't soak up anymore water. Then mix it into the greens and it will entice a picky eater to eat as well. Rep-cal reminds me of fruity pebbles.... I'm sure to us the pebbles taste way better lol.

Any more questions? Its really sad when people do bad things to animals and don't take care of them properly. Glad you took on the responsiblity as iguanas are big responsibilitys and can live a long time with proper care. Feel free to post some pictures under the green iguana section

And welcome to the forum

[willowtreepets]

Wow, ChamZilla, thanks so much. I followed the link to Melissa's site, which, of course, was incredibly helpfu. I'll get the makings for her "salad" tomorrow and start switching Iggie over to it slowly (I'll mix in soaked Rep-Cal [it does look like Fruity Pebbles, doesn't it?!], then slowly reduce how much of that I put in until he's eating only the salad, which indeed sounds as if it will be much better for him). Thanks for the information about the temperature gradients. I've been keeping Iggie in high temperature (upwards of 100 degrees) and high humidity (close to 100%). Are readings bad? I really want to do well by Iggie. We've come to enjoy him very much and we hope to have him for a long time to come. Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm glad to be aboard. Cheers, Kerry

[ChamZilla]

Hello Kerry and Iggy,

Thats great that you are going to do that for him. Just be sure that the foods you feed him/her are high in calcium and low in phospherous. Spinich has a very high phospherous ratio and it harmful to them if fed regularly. I'm not sure if you read that part on Melissa's site. Here is a page dedicated to explain it all. I need to construct my own page for us here for this still... Stable means daily, occasional means 1 or 2x a week and treat means a treat. lol. www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm

As for temperature upwards of 100 is WAY to high. Iguana's suffer brain damage at 103 degrees so its imparative that you keep it in the 75 cool and 85 - 90 hot. We wouldn't want him having fried brains.

Also I forgot to mention UV lighting... they need this to stay healthy and have healthy bones. If you read the thread about METABOLIC BONE DISEASE under the green iguana section... its sticky'd to the top you will see first hand what happens when iguana's catch this HORRIBLE disease. Mega Rays are the BEST thing that we can purchase on the market. They are a bit costly but they DO do a great job. And last a full year. Some info on the preticular bulb and how important UV is... www.reptileuv.com/why-use-megaray.php

The long tube bulbs called repti-suns use in a 10.0 these need to be no more than 12" from your iguana for them to get any useful uv's from it. These are only good for 6 months. And need to be replaced. They also need to be two of them the WHOLE length of your iguana's enclosure.

So the megarays are the better way to go. Here is a link where you can buy them... store.everythingreptileinc.com/mega-ray-ebkit.html or from the manufacturer if Patrick doesn't have any at.... www.reptileuv.com/megaray-eb-60-watt-flood-uvb-lamp-kit.php

But if you think those arn't the way to go for you.... here is a link to the tube bulbs... I personally recommend the mega-ray as I myself own an MBD iguana who is deformed for the rest of her life from this horrible disease. They can be found here OR at your local pet store... but be sure they are these bulbs as pet stores will tell you anything in order to sell there products. store.everythingreptileinc.com/os-36.html THESE tube bulbs are ones I have used in the past. The 8.0 bulbs are also acceptable but do not anywhere near produce the amount of uv that the mega-ray does. NOR do they have a warrenty.

So let me know how you make out ANd I'm glad and i'm sure iggy is glad your going to take care of him/her to the best of your ability. Hoping to hear back

[willowtreepets]

Wow, ChamZilla, I can't tell you how much I appreciate all this great info. So, a 24" ZooMed IguanaLight 5.0 is not sufficient, especially filtered through plexiglass as it is? Is there an IguanaLight 10.0? I'm definitely going to look into the MegaRays device you mentioned. Thanks. Look forward to your reply, Kerry

[ChamZilla]

Hello there, I am unsure about if they have 10.0's in the IguanaLight....But deffinatly 24" if your enclosure is 24" and double them up. I don't know if you realized thats what I ment. I live in Canada so a lot of the things that you have in the US we do not have here. But if its through glass or plexiglass then for sure the uv has been comprimised.

Feel free to ask anything else How is your set up coming along with temperature and things like that? Oh what are you putting on the bottom of the enclosure... like wood chips or what? Hope to hear back soon

Megrays... That is great... it is deffinatly worth the money you spend on it.