Hello!
I have posted a few times before, so I am not entirely new to this, but since I don't post much, I will explain our story.

About a year and a half ago my father in law told me he had a friend that wanted to get rid of his iggy. He said that if he idn't have a home for him, that by the end of that week he was just going to let it go, like he did his other one. I (being an animal lover) couldn't let that happen. Later that night I recieved a 4 foot big iggy, in a bread box, and a few days later her 5 foot high, 4.5 long and 18" deep home was delivered. It came with a house hold light bulb, which I replaced with a flood lamp bulb, for more heat. At the time I went to the LPS, which told me she should eat romain lettuce, and *various* other thing, including pinkies. Good thing I didn't give her them, *blach*!!
Once I got the internet I realize her diet was the worst I could have done, and changed it. Not all the best is available at this time of year, but she gets a large variey of things, that are all good for her. She loves apples, cooked carrots and green beans, avoids turnips(but I give them to her anyways) and still gets a leaf of romain, on the bottom (like the delis display meats and cheese )
When I found out the amount of $$ it would take to take proper care of her, I started asking around and trying to find her a home, to no avail. After realizing that their is not very many people willing to even try to care for her, I have decided she is worth everything I can attempt to do for her. This week I am buying a MVB, and getting a second clamp lamp with a heat bulb at the end of the month (the next paycheck). I know I couldn't let her go, the big umph has stolen my heart somehow, and won't give it back. I HATE her enclosure, but it will have to do for now, until we get on our feet again financailly.
Being sort of new to this, I am confused about what changes I should make to her cage. Her basking spot is 13" from the lamp, which has wide open chicken wire, to keep her from going so close to the bulb to burn herself. I don't know where I should put the second clamp lamp when I get it, and/or if I should move the one that is already there?
What is proper temperatures for her during the day, night, and in her basking spot, and the colder area?
I am going to try and attach a pic of her home, she is sitting on top of it...

Here is a better list and more variety of what to feed your iggy. You can also visit our other site which consists of many enclosure ideas and deals with nothing but habitats for our reptiles.

Food list: http://www.herpcenter.com/showthread.php?t=6822

Enclosure site: www.herphabitats.com

__________________
MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

The pic didn't work, so I'll just link it to my photobucket

We started out the same way with with our iggy. We got him in August of 2005 and have been working changing some of the problems he had in his past home. We also had to build a cages and once we did he grew 7".

Well allow me to speak.
The size of your enclosure, 5 foot high, 4.5 long and 18", is good in length, OK in height (6 foot better but 5 foot would do) but too narrow at 18", especially since you seem to have the platform along the short edge.

What you could do is get or make another one of the same size, and take off one of the walls on one side of your current enclosure, and bolt the two together, so that it is now 5 feet tall, 4.5 long by 36 inches deep. Then have the platform along the 4.5 feet side.
Someone taught me how to do this when I was first exploring getting an ig, out of cat cages that were the same size as your current cage. I opted not to use it and build my own cage but since you already have half the cage I can see it working for you and saving money.

Nice looking enclosure!

What brand and type of MVB are you getting?

Basking temps should be 92-98.
Ambient (overall) should be 80-85
Coldest spot--no lower than 70-75 (on ground furthest away from basking area)
Night time should be no lower than 70-75 but can be same as daytime ambient 80-85.

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Jan. 25, 1963 - Sept. 10, 2006 (R.I.P)

Clamp lights can readily be found at Home Depot, Lowes, or Walmart.

There is no UVB passing through the window and if you were to open the window (temps premitting) the bug-screen will attenuate the UVB by roughly half. But summer is coming in quickly -- yes I know many lakes are still frozen over as I grew up in northern Michigan and my brother still lives up there. Once summer hits there are some things you can do to greatly improve care with next to no monitary cost and just a little bit of time.
1) use the raw sun for UVB, go outside for 45 mintues to an hour daily
2) get some seed packets and try growing some. Collards are slow to grow initially but thrive in colder temps so will gorw well into October in the northland. Either toss the seeds in an area and don't mow that part of the lawn or use some large well draining tubs. And we all know how well Dandelions grow and the whole plant is a great food source.

What is the ig eating in your user icon?

The diet needs some help. Carrots, and everything else for that matter, don't need to be cooked. Carrots are not the best and should not be fed too often.

Other hard veggies which are good for igs include winter squashes like butternut and acorn as well as yams / sweet-potatoes just use something like a cheese grater to prepare these. You can top the salad with either soaked iguana-diet pellets like Rep-Cal brand or soaked alfalfa pellets like those sold for rabbit food.

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~ Mark

I am purchasing a SBMVB from reptile UV..
She is eating dogfood inthat pic, it's the only time she has, I thought it was funny that she would eat it, even though her plate was less then 6" away. Everything I listed is not alll she gets, she gets way more things than that, that is just what she is has in the frisge right now, but the green beans, apples, and carrots are the most frequented foods, as they are the easiest to get. Spinach and kale are given about 1 week out of the month, and parsnips are regularily grated in for her.
There are other things as well, like oranges, dandelions, (whenever the kids pick them), rose leaves, alfalfa, bananas (whenever I eat one she gets a couple bites) green, red, and yellow peppers, occasional bok choy, (when the grocery store has next to nothing good for her), broccoli (when we have it) cabbage, every couple months (i hate the smell) celery, and occasional brussel sprouts. None of the store carry endive, collards, or escarole.I have never seen watercress either...
I wish they would, because she perfers leafy things, to the "heavier" things.
I know her diet could use a kick, for sure, but the groceries stores are soo limited in the choices they offer *bangs head on wall*

As for her home, like I said before, I HATE IT, lol. It's difficult to clean, not wide enough, and I would like it to be AT LEAST 6" taller. Her hidey box is in horrible condition. I can't wait to be more financailly secure so that I can build her an entirely new condo. I want it to be closed in, but still have mesh on the front, with plexiglass on the outside, to keep the temp steady, and still be able to cling to the front and stare at me, like she likes to do

Being that I live on Vancouver Island, nothing freezes in the winter, we hardly get any snow. But I will be buying collards, if I find them, I'll take a look today. I cook the carrots, because she likes them more like that. Before she wouldn't even touch green beans (she got sick of them) then one day when I was in school, my bf threw them in the pot with the carrots and she ate them all, so that's what I have done since.

Thank you guys, for not being hard on me. *hugs*

Check your frozen section for frozen greens. Fresh is best but if you can't find fresh then frozen thawed may be an option. You would want to maybe supplement a little thiamine (human pharmacy has it) to compensate for it being frozen if too much of the diet is frozen. I have used some frozen when the fresh was gross. I always seem to catch the mustard greens when they are going bad.

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Jan. 25, 1963 - Sept. 10, 2006 (R.I.P)