Drako's Mom
Senior
"It's.....it's.......green!"
Posts: 145
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Post by Drako's Mom on Jul 4, 2004 13:15:34 GMT -8
Well Drako hasn't tried to eat dirt yet, but I have definately noticed that he has a favorite color - Yellow. If I try to feed him in any other color dish, he backs away and looks upset. When I come with the yellow one, he always licks it, bites the edge, then goes on to the salad.
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Post by prism_wolf on Jul 10, 2004 17:47:48 GMT -8
Not only is eating dirt (called "pica") buying a one way ticket to impaction, but there are lots of micro-organisms in dirt that can be harmful to captive bred/raised iguanas...and herps in general.
This is also why you don't feed wild caught mice to captive bred snakes...the reptile has not built up an immunity as a young herp to the bacterias and micro-organisms that in the wild may not have bothered it at all, but now could cause huge problems. Another example: Native American's and small pox.
If it is a gut flora issue...a couple of tablespoons of plain yogurt will do the trick.
Since an iguana takes anywhere from 24-36 hours for digestion to take place, for dirt to continually being added to the "diet"...no matter how small the amount...will build up over time...and the bacteria and micro-organisms more time to take hold and impaction to become worse.
There are also parasites in yard dirt that come from wild herps left behind from defecation...partially eaten, unseen food, etc. These can also become a problem when they find the ig to be a good host.
Since most captive igs are in a constant state of some degree of dehydration, this problem is made even worse since the dirt and all it contains is not moved through the ig as fast as it should.
In James Hatfield's book "Green Iguana - The Ultimate Owner's Manual" there is an excerpt on page 293, but not even there does it say the why pica is practiced. There are lots of theories, but no scientific evidence.
By all means, do everything you can to keep your ig from eating dirt.
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