jbgoalie31
Junior Member
Tom the Iguana and Jerry the Dragon to the rescue!!
Posts: 18
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Post by jbgoalie31 on Sept 30, 2004 11:07:00 GMT -8
Hi everyone,
I went shopping to get some better veggies for my new Ig Tom (a couple months old, had him for almost a week). I got spaghetti squash, lots of cliantro, parsley, yellow bell pepper, alfalfa sprouts, and some snow peas. Cilantro was the best staple green I could find. How hard is it to grow collard greens inside? Does anyone do this for winter, I mean grow their own greens etc?
Anyways, my questions is simply this. Tom has been eating, but not much I don't think. I feed him around 11:00AM after he has been basking for a couple hours. His temps are 95 basking, 80 bottom of cage, with UVB bulb 6 inches away. How much did your Iguana eat at a couple months?? I haven't been handling him at all since I brought him home so he can get used to his environment.
Thanks for your feedback!
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Post by EsotericComposer on Sept 30, 2004 19:31:32 GMT -8
You REALLY need to feed him more GREENS.. Collards, Turnip, Mustard Greens. I find mustard, turnip and collards EVERYWHERE.. Ethnic stores, local chain stores. Jewel, Dominicks, Family Foods. The iggy really needs the collards as a staple. I have a mix of collards, mustard greens and turnip greens. My iggy loves the curly mustard greens. Then he enjoys cilantro too. I'm told collards are fairly easy to grow. I buy a 3lb bag for $1.79 and they last for almost two weeks because I clean, wash, and dry them and bag them in a safe way so they don't go bad. As soon as they get saggy they're no good. Well he won't eat them. But keep trying.
Eki is given a small handful three times aday on most days. He's only 3-4 months old. Maybe more like 5 months now. But I'd say he eats a small paper plate full twice a day. Maybe more because of hand feeding.
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Post by prism_wolf on Oct 2, 2004 5:38:35 GMT -8
EC is right about the greens. You need better choices. Cilantro is NOT a staple green. Parsley should be fed VERY minimally. I don't feed this one at all to igs. Don't worry about how much your baby is eating right now. As long as it's eating it's getting nutrition. What you need to be sure of is the quality of foods you are feeding. No amount of food will keep an ig healthy if it is not the right kind. The diet guide on this forum is very good. There is also one here: www.iguanaden.com/diet/grocery.htmThis one gives you the core greens which are the ones that should be used all the time. They list aragula and dandy greens as a core item...and they should be if you can find them...but I can't (as can very many people) so I replace them with the mustard greens and turnip greens.
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jbgoalie31
Junior Member
Tom the Iguana and Jerry the Dragon to the rescue!!
Posts: 18
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Post by jbgoalie31 on Oct 4, 2004 18:56:14 GMT -8
Hey everyone,
I finally was able to find a grocery store in town that carries good greens. A new Sobe's just opened up the road and I was able to get a good bunch of collard greens (Bigger than I thought they were), and picked up some fresh flowering kale for this week. They said they carry collards year yound, so I'm set!! I also got some sugar peas, haven't fed them yet but just wondering if they were a good veggie to go along with spaghetti squash?
Tom (my new 2 month Iggy) still didn't eat hardly anything today, so I am hoping that the better greens will help his appetite. He is basically done shedding now, there are only a few flakes of skin here and there left to fall off, so hopefully he will gain somewhat of an appetite.
I want to ask this again just so I have something to compare to. Anyone who has ever had a young Iggy, how much did they eat a day? I just want to make sure Tom grows up to be a happy healthy Iguana!
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Post by EsotericComposer on Oct 4, 2004 19:02:39 GMT -8
Make sure the collards leaves are removed from the stem. NO BIG STEMS.. They will choke and cannot diges them easily. My lizard hates his collards with any stems. And I spend the time cleaning, tearing and storing them in tuperware weekly. I think NOT SURE that Kale isn't a staple green. Just a thought.
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Nanshe
Senior
I am owned by Elvis & Angel :)
Posts: 167
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Post by Nanshe on Oct 4, 2004 21:59:07 GMT -8
As far a I know, kale is an "ocassional" food - not really a staple - someone please correct me if I'm wrong! However, I have had kale as a core green in my Ig's salad from time to time. If I can only find one of the core greens in decent shape, then I'll opt for kale, bok choy or even chard to mix in with the core green for the week, the Ig's seem to appreciate the variety ~Nan
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Post by Tesa on Oct 5, 2004 4:50:55 GMT -8
hi JB Can ya tell me how big the iguana is rather than just how old? My baby is about 4 inches SVL and eats about a tabespoon of mixed greens per day... hope that helps.
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jbgoalie31
Junior Member
Tom the Iguana and Jerry the Dragon to the rescue!!
Posts: 18
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Post by jbgoalie31 on Oct 5, 2004 15:52:49 GMT -8
Hi Tesa,
I'm not sure exactly how long he is, but I know he isn't over 6" SV, I would probably say 5" on the dot. He ate a little bit today, maybe the collards increased his appetite? How often and when do you feed your baby ig?
I guess I should give you some more info abou the enclosure to, I know that always helps on the forum I use for my bearded dragon.
Tom is living in a 65 gallon (Tall) reptarium and has a brand new 2ft 5.0 bulb, a regular 100 watt bulb, and a 100watt Infared bulb that stays on most of the day and all night. He has several baking areas that offer different temps (taken with pro exotics gun). His primary basking spot will reach 95-98 degrees during the day, while other ones vary from 95 - 88. The bottom of the terrarium stays around 80-85 all day. I was having trouble keepinig night temps up with just the IR bulb, but I solved that by sewing together a sheet that goes around his house at night. Now night temps are around 75 at the bottom of the terrarium.
He has a shallow water dish that gets new water daily, and I mist the enclosure several times a day, and have now started giving baths once a day, he doesn't mind having a bath, as long as he is on my arm. I am going to purchase a humidifier for his room (my room as well) to help keep the humidity up. He has a hide with a facecloth mattress, and I use a smooth vinyl (Shelf liner - Easy to clean and cheap!)for subsstrate.
I am almost done buliding a 5x4x6 corner cage (Keith's cages) for when Tom grows older. How big should he be before I put him the larger enclosure?
I am also expecting some new lights from reptileuv.com, a heat emitter and EB mega-ray. I also got a SB MVB for my bearded dragon.
If you have any suggestions or tips I would greatly appreciate them. Thanks for taking the time to read.
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Post by Tesa on Oct 6, 2004 4:00:40 GMT -8
I feed all my lizards mid-morning (about 10) and give them enough to last all day. His viv sounds good. You can move him into the adult cage any time you want as long as you are sure it's escape proof for such a tiny guy.
The others are right about the greens. Its difficult to give such a little guy a good variety without the food going bad (unless you eat the same things) I generally buy one each of 2-3 veggies, peel, cut, and freeze them so all I have to do is thaw and run thru the food processor. I have also run everything (including greens) thru the food processor to make a "glop". I freeze it on a pizza pan into about tablespoon sized portions. After its frozen I put it in a zip lock bag and voila......TV dinners for the green kid. ;D
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