A bit of trouble

[Melly]

There's nothing really wrong with my iguana other than the fact he refuses to drink water. He eats okay, but he just dislikes to drink water, so he's pretty dehydrated.

Any advice?

[mar]

My iguana will not drink either but I have learned ways to keep him hydrated -- many others are the same way.

Buy a large fooddish, mine is 14" x 16" and about 1" deep. Place the greens and salad mix in there then pour water over it such that there is about 1/4 inch of water standing in the bottom of the dish. As the ig eats the greens are dripping with water.

Keeping veggies this wet makes them rot quickly so I feed small amounts three times a day, before I leave for school, 9 am, promptly when I return from school, 5 pm, and again mid evening, ~7:30 pm.

What do you feed your ig?

Mark

[sillywoman1969]

I'm with Mark on this one. I have a tupperware sandwich dishes that I put Puppy's salad in and it's so saturated with water and liquid vitamins and calcium that about a 1/4 inch or more of fluid is in the bottom but by the time he's done eating most of the liquid is gone as well. Puppy is fed in the morning before we leave again when I get home and hand fed fruit sometimes before his bedtime, it depends on how readily he takes it.

[Nanshe]

I love that idea Mar and Sillywoman! I'm going to try that with my Igs tomorrow!

~Nan

[IguanaKing]

Yup, just keep his veggies nice and wet, keep his humidity up, and give him regular baths in warm water. This should be all he needs to stay hydrated. You still will want to provide him with clean water to drink, but don't get too alarmed if you never see him drink it. The time to start worrying is actually when you see him drinking water frequently, this usually indicates that there is a problem. Unless of course its a female ig, in which case, being gravid is often accompanied by more water-drinking.

[zeke101]

Do you change the water at least once a day?

And misting him at least three times a day really helps too.. You can get those cheap spray bottles at a dollar store, just make sure you change the water in the mister alot too..

-Melissa&Zeke-

[mar]

I used to use an 8 oz misting bottle. I knew that enough water went in the air when the bottle was empty. Then I knew exactly how long the water had been stagnent as I had to fill it so often. Worked great.

This is all in past tense as the bottle is about dead now and I have to gimp it along until I have time to run to Lows and replace it with a pump sprayer(Friday or Saturday).

[Melly]

He dislikes baths too. He's a pig. XD

[mar]

Sounds like Bob, sounds a lot like Bob. He will have nothing to do with a bath and only will tollerate being misted.

Pour water over his greens as hydration is necessary for the health of your lizard. Without proper water levels the kidneys and liver have a very hard time filtering for the body. This is a very common problem in igs, even those that take baths, and kidney failure has to be in the top 3 causes of iguana death.

Use a very wide but low food dish so there is a lot of water in contact with the food. I am using a deep plastic tray for an adult, a pie plate would be great for a little ig. I used a new non-stick steel cake pan for about a week then I noticed that it was rusting so try to stick to plastic or aluminium -- glass breaks aroung igs.

Misting the cage only puts water around the ig, it carries very little water actually into the ig.

[mar]

About once a week put him in a tub with less than half an inch of water in it. This will clean off his tail after he drags it though crap.

If there is just a little bit of water in the tub he won't mind as much but still be able to splash water across the room.

[dominick]

Many people are successful at spraying the water into the iguanas mouth also. It's the only way we are able to get Rex to "drink". While misting I will gently spray the water at his mouth. Soon he will begin to lick the water that is dripping from his rostrum. At that point I can put the spray bottle right up to his mouth, squeeze slowly and he'll start drinking it in using his tongue.

Like most iguana owners, it's a happy day when I can get a few ounces into him directly. I sleep better at night. ;D

I too agree with really wet greens, misted several times a day and frequent body misting. As Rex is a freeroamer, keeping humidity up is out of the question so wet greens, misting and a soaking bath every few days is the best we can do.

Up until a few weeks ago Rex never seemed to be dehydrated. Then one day....sandy urates (the dreaded crystals!). I force hydrated him for the next few days and he recovered within a week.

Tesa and I discussed possible causes. Since no husbandry had changed and his eating was still good, we deduced that it was probably caused by his eating the cat's dry food in the two days that it happened. What is it with Igs and kibble?? LOL

He is no longer able to get to the cats food and has had nice, fluffy, white urates since then! yeah!

[Nanshe]

Fluffy? Now there's a word that never comes to mind when I look at urates - I'll admit there are a few words that come to mind - repeatedly even - when I see urates, especially when I see them on my sheets, my carpet, my clothes, my furniture....... but "FLUFFY" hasn't ever come to mind ..... usually it goes something like this:

which results in me: while my lizard:


;D

[dominick]

YUP!

I remember those days well.

It's nice to have the nice fluffy white urates and large poops on the newspaper now! LOL

Supposedly urates are supposed to be a nice fluffy consistency, not flat.

So, "fluffy" urates= a good day here! LOL

[sillywoman1969]

Nanshe that lil cartoon was too funny!

I know we are doing really well hydrating Puppy as my son does nothing but complain about how many "wet" newspapers he has to clean up, hehe. Yesterday having his biggest mess ever!! LOL I still think it's funny that we get so excited about his messes, lol I can't tell yall how great it is to literally see him gain his health! AWESOME!

[Melly]

I've been feeding him with those tupperware thingies. I think he likes it. Once he eats, he flips it over and covers his head. XD