Not basking

[laxfiend69]

Hey all its been a while since ive been the forum,::shame on me:: im curious is the reason for the following because of seasonor opther issue. Usually SLim would bask all day directly under her UV tube and heat lamp but now she seems to lay on the cool side of the cage which ranges from 70-80 degrees. She eats a little less but still eats and poops regularly. Her diet has not changed she gets a mixed bag depending on what ig et, either collards, kale, spinach, dandelion greens, ocra, blueberries, string beans. And occassional dry food but rarely. Thanks in advance, i will also be posting updated pics, shes huge now

[prism_wolf]

Well...kale and spinach are rare foods...or foods to use in very small amounts with a larger mix of the better foods. It sounds like you offer only a couple of those foods at a time. Am I reading it right?

[laxfiend69]

yes ts usually not a mix but like 2 days of this one day of that and so on

[deanie]

Keep in mind that an Ig can still puff up "so to speak" giving the owner the false sense of doiing right, when in fact you are condeming them to a short life, because of the care!

[prism_wolf]

Deanie - Maybe you could explain a little more what you mean. I don't quite follow, although I think I do. You're saying she could still look good with a diet that could use a serious revamp with a better variety?

The diet does need a revamp. You should have no less than 5 items a day. She's not getting the nutrition she needs with just a couple of items here and one there. Here's a couple of short diets (keep in mind the more variety the better. I use about 10-12 items):

Variation #1:
collard greens
mustard greens
turnip greens
parsnip
green beans
butternut squash
red bell pepper

Variation #2:
collard greens
mustard greens
turnip greens
yellow wax beans
cilantro
acorn squash
yellow bell pepper

Do you use any vitamin or calcium supplements? These are important too...especially if she has been getting such a small variety of food choices.

[laxfiend69]

yes i use rep cal and another multivitamin I don't have bottle in front of me and i cant remember the name, she also ahs no problem eatign the food with supplements she is not very picky. Also we all got a bit off topic, about her frequenting the cooler side of her cage....

[prism_wolf]

Diet can be part of the topic. If she's feeling a bit under the weather she will seek the cooler side of the enclosure more than she will bask. Sick reptiles do this. It's great you've been adding the supplements, but that's not enough. It helps, but it only keeps an ig from getting sicker a little slower. She still needs a better diet. It's like offering a person just one or two healthy things a day and boosting the diet with supplements hoping to stay healthy. It doesn't generally happen that way. The poor diet eventually catches up.

I'm not saying this is what's happened...but it's possible. This is why I asked.

Have you taken her to the vet for a regular check-up in the last year? I might not be a bad idea to get one done now. This will rule anything out medically.

[laxfiend69]

yeah she ahs been, but its not a problem to go again, Im in long Island very suburban area my herp vet is only 10 min away. Thank god, I read before some of you guys have to hike over 2 hours.....god bless ya

[deanie]

prismwolf said:

Deanie - Maybe you could explain a little more what you mean. I don't quite follow, although I think I do. You're saying she could still look good with a diet that could use a serious revamp with a better variety?

V, that is exactly what I was saying. When i got Iggy, last January, she looked good, [legs were a little skinny, but I didn't know the difffrence then]. Her body wasn't much smaller than it is now. You can feed all the wrong things and have all the wrong lighting , and temps and still make it look like the Ig is doing just fine, and I know that is what my in-laws thought too, but after the research that I did, did I realize that that is not the case. Like I said the body size hasn't changed much, but the size of the legs sure has!