[mlpacht]

My husband and I recently adopted a juvie Iguana that a local pet store had found (apparently someone left the poor thing on the floor in a cold bathroom of the pet store and no one knows how long she was in there before pet store personnel found her)...
We happened to have been in the area that day and had what we needed to care for it at home already, so we adopted the poor thing right away.
We have had her for about a week now and she hasnt eaten anything at all We have tried every type of fresh green imaginable and she just wont touch it... And she is drinking some, but very minimal amounts... She is "bathing" in her pool and we will find her climbing up the walls and top of her cage, but she spends more time huddled in a corner sleeping...
I realize she wasn't well taken care of and just pretty much left to suffer, so I would imagine she is under a ton of stress right now...
But I am wondering if there is anything at all we can do to help her adjust or get her to eat and drink more?
She is only a bit skittish and she does let me hold her and pet her and appears to really like the attention... Im just so worried about her drinking and eating habits right now... In just the week we have had her I can tell she has lost quite a bit of weight and I can almost see her ribs
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Also if anyone has any insight on how old she may be that would be awesome! She is about 18in long right now (mostly tail of course) and only a few inches around maybe? So still quite small...

 

[Sasami]

Has she gone to a vet? What's her set-up like? Especially temperatures, lighting, and size.

 

[mlpacht]

Thanks for the reply! Right now she is in a 3l x 2w x 2 tall cage that we keep between 80-85 deg F with regular hanging heat lamps... She has a cool side with a pool and a warm basking side as well... Although as we speak my husband is finishing up her permanent home which will be about 7x2x3 and we dont have too much in there right now as far as "hiding places", just a a little box hut for now til the other cage is done but I havent seen her use that yet...
We havent had a chance to get her to a vet yet... We live very far out in the country and the nearest is about 30min away... and we arent sure if he sees reptiles yet... So we wanted to explore our options first you know?
We expected her to be stressed out with what she went through and how she was left... but I am so worried about how long she can go without eating much like this and drinking very little the way she has been... Hoping for some home remedy help

 

[Sasami]

If it was me, I'd bring her to the vet if they're experienced with reptiles. They can at least give her fluids, test for parasites, etc. Even a healthy iguana should get a check-up, IMO, since they're generally taken from the wild.

What kind of UV-B bulb are you using? It might also help to post which greens you've offered so far. Hopefully one of the more iguana-experienced posters will pop online soon and can help out more . Good luck!

 

[mlpacht]

I plan to call our vet Monday morning for sure...
Im actually not sure about UV light type? I know we have a day time light (which right now we are using red infrared) and the night time (black like) light...
Every day we offer her pieces of collard greens, romaine lettuce, turnip greens and kale...
Thanks again!

 

[Sasami]

This should help: http://iguanaden.org/care/uvb.htm

Your new iguana definitely needs a good UV-B bulb and it could even partially explain the behavior.

 

[mlpacht]

ooo great thank you!
yeah, we have and have had tons of reptiles of all sorts in the past and even now... but none have proved to be more challenging than this poor girl!

 

[mlpacht]

Whew... Ive been going through that site for hours now! Thank you SO much it is an absolutely wonderful site!

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

From your description of her spending most of her time sleeping, and refusing food, my first thought would be that she may have gotten some sort of infection. Cold can lower immune system function in reptiles. I would really urge a vet visit. If she is losing weight fast, that's another possible sign of an infection. I recommend not handling her, as handling is stressful for reptiles, and her passive acceptance of it may be due to her illness, and not due to her being very tame.

Her basking spot temperature should be 100F, and humidity around 80% (it can drift between 60% and 90%--irregular humidity levels over the course of a day are actually better).

The new Mercury-Vapor reptile lights are a great choice for iguanas, because they produce both high heat and high UVB, the UVB output lasts for 3 years, and they can throw UVB for several feet.

(The Fluorescent UVB lights only produce sufficient UVB for 6 months, and only throw UVB for 6 inches).

 

[mlpacht]

Update!
Thanks so much to everyone's posts and advice! We got the igs cage finished and (although skittish) has been much more active and appears much happier now! He still isn't eating very much, but he is drinking sufficiently and licking condensation off of cage furniture. He sleeps at night and is active throughout the day (except when the kiddos are running around he gets skittish and hangs on the top most part of his cage lol). Temps are good throughout- basking area has stayed at a steady 95 while the remaining ambient temp stays between 77-80 (depending on the time of day or night) and his hide-away-hut stays between 72-75 in the most shaded area.
Next month we plan to invest in a 2nd UVB lamp that will throw the UBV further (this is a HUGE cage) but in the meantime we keep it about 8 inches from his favorite basking spot so he is good to go
Does anyone have any suggestions for better food and water dish placement? Right now I put his food plate near his basking spot since he prefers that area and have water set up near the food bowl as well as a bigger "pool" area on the floor of the cage...
Pics will follow soon... and again thanks to all!

 

[mlpacht]

aaaaaand...
I just found him coming down off the top and start scarfing his food! YEAH!
And that was while the youngest toddler was running around singing as loud as he could banging toys on the floor
VERY happy and proud that I have accomplished the start of what I feel will be a great rehabilitation!
And as a SN as I forgot to mention in above post... he checked out at the Vet and everything was within normal limits Woot!

 

[WingedWolfPsion]

That's great, I'm glad he's feeling better, and coming around.

 

[Sasami]

I'm glad he's (I guess the vet said it was a male, huh? haha) doing better!