My Iguana, is he ok?

Question

I have a verry healthy green iguana(I think)

i noticed his legs and arms have a slight sag or some extra skin it seems is this normal? if not what am I doing wrong?

you can go to youtube.com and search "cageddarkness" and there is a video of him on my profile. any help will be appreciated thank you.

Best answer chosen based on accuracy of answer.so,dont spam =]

Answer 1

He doesn't appear to look too bad for a young iguana. How old is he? What does he eat? What type of UV are you using?

http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html

This is a link to the perfect person to talk to or read about care on iguanas. She spent I believe almost 30 years raising, rescuing and researching care on iguanas. I have one of her books and it is very helpful even with other lizards.

You need to have a varied diet for your iguana and she has a great recipe for a iguana salad. My reptile veterianian always recommend changing your types of veggies (she makes a list) every two weeks to make sure you are providing adequate nutrition. Staying with the same vegtables each time may not provide enough sources of some minerals and vitamins and too many of others. This will also help you avoid liver problems and metabolic bone disease. Another tip to avoid picky eaters - put your vegtables in a food processor and blend them up together so there is a good mixture and he can not be picky about eating his vegtables.

Also, make sure you are providing an adequate UV source. Some UV florecent tubes only provide UV for 4 to 6 months but will still produce light for years and do nothing for your iguana. You may need to replace your bulb because UV stimulates appetite. Mercury vapor bulbs provide UV for up to a year, but they also supply a lot of heat too.

Watch your temperatures and make sure you are keeping your gradient. Number one most common problem I see with reptiles coming through our office with problems is because clients keep them too hot. I recommend getting a laser guided temperature gun to check your temperatures so you know exactly what they are and where. You will also learn a lot about what your iguana does at what temperatures and eventually you will be able to figure out when he is feeling hungry and when he is not.

http://www.tempgun.com/order.html#pe2

or

http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apple-Di...

Good Luck, hope this helps. Besides he looks good and has great color you can't be off by much at all.  

Answer 2

well i think he is shedding and i have a iggy so yeah it was like that too

Answer 3

You're iguana looks like a pretty healthy looking normal iguana. He looks hydrated, which can sometimes be a challenge. Didn't look too bad like tons of skin/scales hanging from what I saw, if you're iguanas back legs were like tooth picks then I'd be more concerned.

Love it when the little ones love to show there dewlap when the camera is around. In time he/she may get better around the camera/video.

Hopefully you are providing the proper living space, nothing less then a 55 gallon if your iguana is in the age range of 8-12 months.

Providing the proper UVB?

UVB: (12 hrs on during day - 12 hrs off during night no light)

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm - http://www.uvguide.co.uk/fluorescenttube...

Floor covering, some can cause blockage (wood chips, moss, small rocks). Safe newspaper (unprinted if possible), vinyl flooring, indoor/outdoor carpeting

Temps

never let drop below 70F ...

basking 92-96F if temp is too low digestion is slowed too high food digests too fast and nutrition is lost

medium/middle (overall) 88-92F

cool 75-84F

at night 73-84F

Food, looks like your little guy/gal is eating, hopefully he/she isn't one of those pickie eaters ... stay away from spinach, spinach has oxalate acids bind to the calcium, so even though spinach is high in calcium, almost none is actually available for the iguana to use, also the oxalate acids can form oxalate crystals which can and do build up in the kidneys causing kidney damage/failure ... keep his/her diet, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens (if you can find), endive, radicchio, arugula, mache (if you can find), watercress ... some greens to give occasionally kale, bok choy, escarole ... romaine is mostly water no nutrience, you can add small amount and occasionally in w/ the good staple greens (collard, mustard, etc) but do not make romaine just your iguanas choice of greens (or any other type of lettuce most of us humans eat) ... some things to add (small amounts) snap peas, bell peppers (every now and then), parsnip, sweet potato/yam, acorn squash, butternut squash, buttercup squash ... fruits should only be given every now and then once or twice a week type of thing fruits are like junk food to iguanas ... some fruits to try papay, kiwi, mango, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, honeydew (great water source), canalope (great water source), 12 grain wheat bread ... if anything has seeds make sure you remove seed before you give it to your iguana anything w/ small seeds like strawberries wait like 3 days before giving anymore ... watermelon (seedless) can be frozen and then shaved onto your iguanas food helps w/ hydration everyday

Sites for you to read:

http://www.greenigsociety.org/ - http://www.iguanaden.org/ - http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html

A great book to read and have on hand:

Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan

Yahoo has some great sites for Iguana owners... these groups helped me and still help w/ questions .. if you'd like to join:

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/BabyI... - http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Iguan...

- If you want to see my girl pigging out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti9GLkeVm...

Answer 4

He looks really healthy to me, the extra skin you've noticed is just some extra for him to grow into. My parent's iguanas were much larger, so maybe he is leaving some room to grow! My leopard gecko also has some loose skin, and she doesn't seem any worse for it. Truly, he looks great and you don't seem to be doing anything wrong!