Iguana Update!
Hey everyone! I made a post here a few days ago about a rescue Iguana I was getting ready to get. And OH-MY-GOD. I got him today, and again, OH-MY-GOD.
1) This "baby" iguana is a 3 year old male who is a good 3 1/2 feet long.
2) The morons had their heat lamp inside of the cage. The light was literally laying on it's side directly inside the cage. Needless to say, the iguana is covered in scarring from bad bad burns.
3) No UVB light at all.
4) Skinny like a mofo. I can count it's ribs if I run my fingers over it's sides. And it's pelvic girdle is also pretty bony.
5) Cage is a mesh wire cage that you generally put rats in. Or maybe a chinchilla. Because of this caging, he is missing at least one toe nail.
So tomorrow I am calling the vet to take him in for a over all health check. His burn scars look healed, so I'm not worried about those. However, I'm betting on parasites, dehydration, and probably other stuff. Lucky for me I am experienced in giving reptiles injections so that won't be a problem if need be.
The first thing I did when I got him home was clean his VERY dirty water and food dish. Then I gave him a HUGE plate of collard greens, shredded carrot, sweet potato, lima beans, peas, and corn. He LOVED all of it. I'm willing to bet that he hasn't seen a meal in a while. I also sprinkled 2:1 ratio calcium/phosphorous powder on his food and he gobbled it up.
Later tonight (the first day we had him) I decided to be brave. So I stuck my hand in the cage and gently stroked his head and back. He closed his eyes and looked so relaxed. So I got braver and gently wrapped in him a towel and took him out of his cage. He flipped out for about half of a second and then calmed down. I sat on the couch with him on the towel on my lap, and began to hand feed him some greens and sweet potato (his favorite). He alternated between eating some greens and falling asleep with him face in the dish. Bed time!! So I draped a towel over half of his horrible cage to give him some secure space.
And here are my plans to help him recover. Instead of one meal a day, I'm going to give him two, similar to the diet I mentioned above, plus some more variety. I'm going to add some pedialite to his water dish to add some electrolytes. I'm going to get him under a high powered UVB bulb. And I'm going to handle him as much as possible to try to "tame" him. But overall, he seems like a fairly friendly iguana. But we'll see what happens to his temperment once he's completly healthy and strong again.
And here is a picture of the cage that I'm planning on getting for him for the time being. What do you think? I plan on carpeting the shelves and putting a ramp and a branch in. Minus the pink and the kittens :)
1) This "baby" iguana is a 3 year old male who is a good 3 1/2 feet long.
2) The morons had their heat lamp inside of the cage. The light was literally laying on it's side directly inside the cage. Needless to say, the iguana is covered in scarring from bad bad burns.
3) No UVB light at all.
4) Skinny like a mofo. I can count it's ribs if I run my fingers over it's sides. And it's pelvic girdle is also pretty bony.
5) Cage is a mesh wire cage that you generally put rats in. Or maybe a chinchilla. Because of this caging, he is missing at least one toe nail.
So tomorrow I am calling the vet to take him in for a over all health check. His burn scars look healed, so I'm not worried about those. However, I'm betting on parasites, dehydration, and probably other stuff. Lucky for me I am experienced in giving reptiles injections so that won't be a problem if need be.
The first thing I did when I got him home was clean his VERY dirty water and food dish. Then I gave him a HUGE plate of collard greens, shredded carrot, sweet potato, lima beans, peas, and corn. He LOVED all of it. I'm willing to bet that he hasn't seen a meal in a while. I also sprinkled 2:1 ratio calcium/phosphorous powder on his food and he gobbled it up.
Later tonight (the first day we had him) I decided to be brave. So I stuck my hand in the cage and gently stroked his head and back. He closed his eyes and looked so relaxed. So I got braver and gently wrapped in him a towel and took him out of his cage. He flipped out for about half of a second and then calmed down. I sat on the couch with him on the towel on my lap, and began to hand feed him some greens and sweet potato (his favorite). He alternated between eating some greens and falling asleep with him face in the dish. Bed time!! So I draped a towel over half of his horrible cage to give him some secure space.
And here are my plans to help him recover. Instead of one meal a day, I'm going to give him two, similar to the diet I mentioned above, plus some more variety. I'm going to add some pedialite to his water dish to add some electrolytes. I'm going to get him under a high powered UVB bulb. And I'm going to handle him as much as possible to try to "tame" him. But overall, he seems like a fairly friendly iguana. But we'll see what happens to his temperment once he's completly healthy and strong again.
And here is a picture of the cage that I'm planning on getting for him for the time being. What do you think? I plan on carpeting the shelves and putting a ramp and a branch in. Minus the pink and the kittens :)