I just got my iguana 3 days ago, he was fine for the first 2 days, he moved around the cage.?

Question

Now he looks sick....and he stays in the same spot...I think he is dying....help me please!! I love my little guy!! Anybody know what i can do?!

I do have the special light, i got it from the pet shop, I feed him fruit and crickets!

Answer 1

well first off Iguanas Really aren't insectavores and are vegetarians. I have had an iggy for 8 years now and I feed mine fruits and veggies like lettuce and carrots and cabbage and apple, etc.How old is the Iggy email me at [e-mail] with further details and i will try to help however I can. The way it sounds it is probably sick or just stressed from the move. Have you been handling it a lot?

Do not listen to valval she didn't even know her Iguana needed a heay lamp. and heat rocks are terrible, they burn your reptile and can kill them, another tip, don't listen to petstore employees Most of them are idiots and will try to sell anything, you have a big responsibility now owning an iggy, do a lot of research and become an expert on them. buy books do everything yo can I have done this for all my reptiles and now I have quite a big amount of knowledge on reptiles and it has helped me soooo much. Good luck, Please email me if you have other questions ever about your iggy.

Answer 2

Is the spot your iguana stays in where there is a light or anoter heat source? If he is cold he won't want to leave the warm area. The biggest things with an iguana is to make sure that the cage is the right temperature. If an iguana isn't warm enough it won't be able to properly digest food, which can obviously lead to some major problems. Other than that everyone else has it right, make sure you have the proper lighting, get a spray bottle etch... My iguana, Bowser, doesn't usually move around a lot during this time of the year. Do you have a vet for your iguana? They would probably be the best person to ask.

Answer 3

ACK!

1. NO HEAT ROCK!
2. NO CRICKETS!

Iguanas (green iguana I assume? or mexican spiny tail?) Are 100% vegetarian, they will eat crickets, but that will cause them Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD) reptile version of osteoporosis as far as I can tell only worse.

Vegetarian diet for iguanas: I don't mean ice burg lettuce or spinach either. Collard Greens are the way to go, much nutrients. Give the ig some Calcium vitamin supplement if you can sneak it in the diet. Moistened alfalfa pellets, sweet potatoes, yams, and iguana pellets that you can get at the stores.

Let the ig sit in unfiltered(not through a window) sunlight for a while each day on your arm. This does two things: Bonding, tames the ig. and provides good lighting for your iguana.

Iguanas are heliothermic: They are cold blooded and thermoregulate from suns rays. In other words, they sit in the sun to get warm and find shade to cool off. So you need a basking lamp that provides a spot of light 95 F. Have a reptile thermometer? if not, get one. The cage temperature needs to be 75-85F during the day. Ceramic and infrared heat lamps are available. The temperature at night should be lowered to 65F to give the iguana some rest from the higher metabolic rate. There should be 12 hours of UVB lighting available. This light should be within an inch or two of 18" away. Too far away, not enough light, too close, it is too intense. The light should be replace every 9 months to 1 year.

Thigmotherms like snakes like lying on or under sun-warmed rocks and branches instead of direct sunlight. If I had a snake I would use a lightbulb to warm a rock as I have heard too many horror stories about cooked reptiles from heat rocks.

Give the ig some tree sticks to climb on.

Do not use cedar wood for cage construction, don't clean the cage with pine-sol or anything pine as the phenols in cedar and those types of cleaners are toxic to iguanas. I use ammonia because it evaporates quickly and leaves no residue or smell. I have the iguana in the bath when I clean the tank.

Wash your hands before and after handling the iguana.

Iguanas go through stress when relocating to new environments, and they do sit around for extended periods of time. Hours. Bored on a Friday night? Have a staring contest with your iguana. :)

Buy and read the books I listed as sources:

If you use natural plants in your ig cage, study which plants are poisonous to iguanas, they will eat anything green. Including carpet.

Answer 4

1) What is the temperature in his/her enclosure - get a thermometer and check - it sounds like it's not warm enough (don't use heat rocks - these can cause severe burns to animals).

2) Never feed crickets to an iguana - they are vegetarians! Instead he/she should be getting a lot of dark, leafy greens (collard, endive, romaine, etc.), squash, beans, sweet potato, carrot, plus a little fruit. Too much animal protein will lead to kidney problems.

3) Make sure the lighting you have for the iguana says it has UVB. The "B" is important - UVA is not the same thing. If the light doesn't have it, your iggy can eventually develop problems with it's bones, because it won't be able to use the calcium it gets in it's diet.

4) Get a spray bottle and use it to keep the humidity up.

Source (and more info on iguanas) http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html:

Answer 5

I had an iguana for a while. Make sure he's eating right and has lots of water, but most importantly: when my iguana started looking ill, I took it to the store I bought it from and the employee said to buy a heat lamp for it. Any pet store has it. Iguanas are cold blooded so they need extra heat to be healthy. Go get that lamp! Hope he's okay!

P.S. another good thing to get is a HEAT ROCK. He'll lay on it all the time and love it. :)

Answer 6

Does he have full spectrum lighting? What temperature is his cage? What are you feeding him? Did you do any research on iguanas before you bought him? There's so many factors that could make this happen, I suggest giving a few more details to get a good answer. Or better yet, if you got him from someone reputable, you can always go ask them.

Edited to add.....

Yeah, heat rocks are great untill your iguana cooks itself on it. Undertank heater or heat light, and STILL you need full spectrum.

Answer 7

Well you already have some good answers ,, if you do get the correct full spectrum lights be sure to avoid one common error ,, not all the rays get through glass ,, be sure to have proper cage, screen top to allow the light to provide its rays, also be sure not to over feed many new reptile owners want to feed them like they did there dog or cat..avoid iceberg lettuce ,, go with roman, spinach, broccoli, carrots, peas, Mellon, berries, mix it up ,, powder vitamins should be added to food, now let him adjust ,, avoid pulling him in and out since he did just move in he could be stressed a bit,, once improvement do hold him often !!

Answer 8

of course heez not dying, dont wry, iguanas have the tendancy to stay in the same place for suprisingly long periods of time, even days, probably like hybernation, since its winter, se dont wry definately, there is a pet shop near my house which i visit regularly and they sell iguanas, and they hardly move during this time of the year, dont wry!