Post by nicolie85 on Mar 2, 2009 9:34:00 GMT -8
For the past two or three weeks I have been very concerned about the overall happiness of my juvenile iguana 
.
My guess is that he is coming up on one year old. Right now, I am keeping him in a 2'x2'x3' cage that I know is way too small for his size. He can still move around in the cage, but I know he requires one at least twice the size of his current cage. I plan to build him a new cage when my tax return comes in the mail; which should be any day now. I have already decided to build him an intermediate cage that is 4'x4'x4' that should last him another year or two. I will build him a full size cage of 6'x6'x6' when i move in to a much larger apartment later down the line (the apartment I am in right now is very small).
About two months ago, I upgraded the lighting on top of his current cage, since I read that iguanas require specific lighting to see better indoors. He has a ReptiSun 100 watt bulb, an 18" regular florescent bulb and a 50 watt halogen bulb. I plan to purchase a Megaray bulb for him with the tax return as well to replace the ReptiSun.
I provide him with clean water and fresh greens every morning and I add fruits and vegetables a few times a week as well. He readily cleans his plate, but doesn't seem to care much for vegetables as much as he does his tasty greens (I buy the bag of pre-washed mixed greens with turnip, mustard and collard greens).
I also provide him with a separate cat box at the bottom of the cage filled with clean water to do his business in. He will usually drop his feces and urates into the box from above on one of his jungle vines. I never actually see him go into the box.
He gets a generous warm misting every morning and a nice warm shower at least once a week.
He is handled at least three times a week for short sessions, since he seems to still be getting used to my boyfriend and I. I know I need to handle him at least once everyday, but I am trying to work on trust still. He never tries to bite, but always gives me a run for my money when I try to remove him from the cage. As soon as he is out, he calms down, but still seems a bit flighty.
I have done everything I can to provide the best life possible for my scaly little member of the family.
So, on to my current problem. Over the past two or three weeks, my iguana seems very dazed and has a look of stress on his face. The first week, he was doing a lot of head bobbing to his reflection. This was a lot more bobbing than usual, since he would only do it here and there. Then, last week when I was getting ready to leave the house for work, he seemed to have completely lost his mind. He was jumping all over his cage and then dove right into the feces filled cat box. I hadn't got to cleaning it out yet and he was splashing feces all over the entire cage. He stayed in the box for about a minute with his head under water swimming back and forth. It almost seems like he was hiding from the other iguana (a.k.a. his reflection) in the cage. I gently took him out of the cage and gave him a quick shower to clean him off. I cleaned out the entire cage, placed him back inside and left for work. When I came home, it looked like he hadn't moved the entire day and had a distant stare in his eyes. By the next day, he seemed to be just fine and things were back to normal. This morning, however, he did the whole thing over again. I don't know what sparked this behavior, but it has me really concerned. I know that excessive stress can kill reptiles.
Has anyone ever had this happen before
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. I also plan to take him into the vet as soon as possible.
. My guess is that he is coming up on one year old. Right now, I am keeping him in a 2'x2'x3' cage that I know is way too small for his size. He can still move around in the cage, but I know he requires one at least twice the size of his current cage. I plan to build him a new cage when my tax return comes in the mail; which should be any day now. I have already decided to build him an intermediate cage that is 4'x4'x4' that should last him another year or two. I will build him a full size cage of 6'x6'x6' when i move in to a much larger apartment later down the line (the apartment I am in right now is very small).
About two months ago, I upgraded the lighting on top of his current cage, since I read that iguanas require specific lighting to see better indoors. He has a ReptiSun 100 watt bulb, an 18" regular florescent bulb and a 50 watt halogen bulb. I plan to purchase a Megaray bulb for him with the tax return as well to replace the ReptiSun.
I provide him with clean water and fresh greens every morning and I add fruits and vegetables a few times a week as well. He readily cleans his plate, but doesn't seem to care much for vegetables as much as he does his tasty greens (I buy the bag of pre-washed mixed greens with turnip, mustard and collard greens).
I also provide him with a separate cat box at the bottom of the cage filled with clean water to do his business in. He will usually drop his feces and urates into the box from above on one of his jungle vines. I never actually see him go into the box.
He gets a generous warm misting every morning and a nice warm shower at least once a week.
He is handled at least three times a week for short sessions, since he seems to still be getting used to my boyfriend and I. I know I need to handle him at least once everyday, but I am trying to work on trust still. He never tries to bite, but always gives me a run for my money when I try to remove him from the cage. As soon as he is out, he calms down, but still seems a bit flighty.
I have done everything I can to provide the best life possible for my scaly little member of the family.
So, on to my current problem. Over the past two or three weeks, my iguana seems very dazed and has a look of stress on his face. The first week, he was doing a lot of head bobbing to his reflection. This was a lot more bobbing than usual, since he would only do it here and there. Then, last week when I was getting ready to leave the house for work, he seemed to have completely lost his mind. He was jumping all over his cage and then dove right into the feces filled cat box. I hadn't got to cleaning it out yet and he was splashing feces all over the entire cage. He stayed in the box for about a minute with his head under water swimming back and forth. It almost seems like he was hiding from the other iguana (a.k.a. his reflection) in the cage. I gently took him out of the cage and gave him a quick shower to clean him off. I cleaned out the entire cage, placed him back inside and left for work. When I came home, it looked like he hadn't moved the entire day and had a distant stare in his eyes. By the next day, he seemed to be just fine and things were back to normal. This morning, however, he did the whole thing over again. I don't know what sparked this behavior, but it has me really concerned. I know that excessive stress can kill reptiles.
Has anyone ever had this happen before
Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. I also plan to take him into the vet as soon as possible.
.
). He said that the pinworms may be the cause of Delano's spaz attacks. He described the way the pinworms probably feel squiggling around in my iguana's stomach and how uncomfortable it must feel. It makes perfect sense and I think that feeling would drive me crazy too. So, Saturday afternoon, I took Delano into the store for a treatment of Panacur. I am going back for his second dose in two weeks to kill all of the adult worms and their eggs. Good writtens to parasites and here's to having a perfectly healthy little iggy 