help with an iguana

[dragonblood105]

i just got an iguana, and it wasnt taken care of really well in its previous home. i kinda saved it i guess. the person said it was about 8-10 years old, and is about 2 and 1/2 ft, and like half her tail is gone too. about how much should she be eating, because i dont think she eats enough. and about how long is the average life-span?
here's a pic of about how much she gets
<a href="http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tessandfood7rd.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7070/tessandfood7rd.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
and here's her
<a href="http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tess3vd.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/6425/tess3vd.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

<a href="http://img97.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tess32xt.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9193/tess32xt.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
k. answers. please.

[Reptileking636]

http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html this well tell you what you need to know good luck with your ig

[Junkyard]

I always give the two Igs I have more food than I would think necessary. I use a ziplock sandwich container. I fill it up completely while hand feeding. Both my Igs are rescues, one is 9 years old and the other's age is unknown. The 9 year old is a wild caught, she walked into a backyard when she was very young and was fed there. She had free roam out in the wild, but a home were there was always food. Two years ago she was caged, she is a mean thing and will not allow any handling at all. The other was a captive display. She was not handled a lot but she will tolerate it if she trusts you.

I have noticed something very interesting with iguanas, this is also in watching friends personal Igs and my buddy's rescue with over 10 Igs. Wild caught do not eat nearly as much as the captives. They are also skinnier and they are less handleable. The captives take food readily and are much fatter. The 9 year old is really skinny and I rarely ever see her eat, but I always give them both the same amount of food. The 9 year old is also far more active than the other one, which could explain her not being as fat. Next time you are looking at Igs you may noticed the most handleable and nicest Igs are the fattest.

I would suggest feeding your Ig a lot of food and seeing how much she eats. I would also suggest giving your Ig some sunlight, she will be very happy having a place to lay in the sun.

[dragonblood105]

ya, i let the iguana out in the yard for a few hours every day, so she gets some sun. i dont have a UV light for her, so is that natural light enough for her?

[coyote]

ya, i let the iguana out in the yard for a few hours every day, so she gets some sun. i dont have a UV light for her, so is that natural light enough for her?

But, only a few hours is not enough. A minimum access to sunlight would be more like 6 hours per day. This means unfiltered sunlight.

Under no circumstances should you ever put any animal outside while enclosed in a container that has glass or solid walls of any material. Even so, while outside the iguana needs to have access to shade and cool areas when it chooses to get out of the sun. I strongly reccomend that you purchase either a 5.0 UVB florescent tube or a 100 watt mercury vapor bulb. These artificial UVB bulbs lose wavelength strength over time and need to be replaced about every 6 months. There is no escaping the need to supply natural and/or artificial UVB. Calcium supplements formulated for reptiles are also a must.

[coyote]

On last thing, I see spinach in her bowl in the top picture. Spinach is one of those greens that should not be fed to iguanas except infrequently and in small amounts. It contains a compound that interferes with the digestive system's ability to absorb calcium from its meal.

[dragonblood105]

this is what Tess's diet consists of:

just about every meal includes:
squash (acorn squash or butternut squash)
a spring mix (baby lettuces, greens, endive, and redicchio)
watercress
collard greens
mustard greens

and i alternate with these:
apples
bananas
parsley
red bell peppers
broccoli
prickly pear cactus leaves
carrots
kale
spinach
pears
tomatoes
and yucca root when i can find it

treats:
black/raspberries
wheat bread

Is her diet balanced?

[coyote]

Drop the spring mix. It is made of baby lettuces and the very young leaves have not built up nutrients like older leaves will. Sprouts are in this same category for the same reason. They are too immature to contain enough nutrients.

Spinach, parsley and kale are good only in small amounts and only seldom. They, like chard, contain a compound that interferes with calcium absorption in the gut. Also, don't feed cabbages, white potato or iceburg lettuce. If you are interested research oxalate.

Wheat bread is (obviously) a grain and grains have the opposite Calcium: Phosphorous ratio needed by reptiles. My iguana loves bread. I use it only as a special treat in very small amounts to reward him when he is being socialized/trained.

Turnip greens are preferable to mustard. If you can substitute them. Other good greens include carrot tops, beet tops, alfalfa, asperagus, and dandelion greens.

Berries are excellent choices for the fruit portion. Don't feed oranges or other citrus fruits.

Many of the other leafy green flavoring herbs are good. Like cilantro, basil, mint, chamomile, etc. Any of the edible flowers like marigold, sunflowers, dandelions, pansys, roses, petunias etc. You can even sprinkle in loose green tea.

Make sure that you are adding a calcium supplement formulated for reptiles at least three times a week if not every day.

Any vitamin supplements you use should only be added once a week.

I am able to harvest a lot of good greens from my yard in the summer. I maintain an organic yard. But, summer is not a long season in Montana. So, I use the commercial iguana diets (pelleted and moist) during the winter along with the smaller variety of available greens that I can purchase at the store.

Proportions advised are these: 60% dark leafy greens
25% vegetables
15% fruit
As a general guideline, the darker, richer and more colorful an item is, the more it has to offer nutritionally.