my iguana will not eat on his own he will only eat if I hand feed him on my lap I have had him or her for about 5 weeks the lady in the shop said he will eat if he's hungry but we left him for a week and he still did not eat I always put food in his tank for him but he wont touch it he is at the right temp I cut up and grate his food finely and I vary his food a lot but its no go' hope someone can help me out on this as I am not sure I am feeding him enough like this.
by the way he is only a baby. and seems healthy and active.

Okay first off Welcome to HC.

Next up, tell us about your set up, cage size, actually temps (not just that they are 'right') lighting, what exactly you are feeding, things of that nature. If you list it all right off we are better able to help you.

It sounds like you have spoiled your iguana. There are two ways to handle this.
#1 you can take the tough love route and just hold out on him and not feed him anywhere but in his bowl in his cage. A healthy iguana WILL NOT strave itself to death.
#2 you can try to wean him off of hand feeding. Start by feeding him on your lap like usual but feed him out of the bowl that will be in his cage, that way he associates the bowl with food. Move closer and closer to his cage feeding him and eventually put him and the bowl in his cage and try to hand feed him from there, slowly lessen the amount you feed by hand and hopefully he will learn to associate the bowl with food and not your hand.
Personally I would use the 'tough love' idea. If he is heathy and all of your husbandry is up to par he should buckle and eat eventually. Igs can be very stubborn, he might go an alarmingly long time with out food but eventually a healthy iguana will give in.

Good luck!

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Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos

my husband built him a tank in tha alcove of our living room it has branches
and bark for him to climb on plus he has an hammock hanging up that he sleeps in the temp is 90-95 and the tank is 3 and half foot high and 3 foot wide i have feed him shredded suash swede curly cale carrots green beans dandilions asparagos tomatoes mango sharon fruit pears peas watercress banana you all speek a lot about collared greens and turnip greens but I cant get them anywhere only cabbage but i've heard you are not to feed them this
also I sometimes sprinkle alfalfa on his food am I doing anything wrong
thanks for your help

we have a u.v light plus a basking heat lamp

Ok we have been there and done that! Our iggy would only eat when hand fed by my son Sean. We are not talking about a baby here, we are talking about 4'8" iggy. We did the tough love bit and it took him almost a month to start eating on his own. I was a really hard thing to do but, he now cleans his bowl every day. He gets his attention at other times then at feeding time.
Here is the link to the suggested staple list from our site.
http://www.herpcenter.com/showthread.php?t=6822

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Colleen

Welcome to HC Network....I agree...you will have to try the tough love route....he may be nibbling while you arent watching....he will come around...wait and see......

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Warmest Regards from Lyn

Just out of curiosity where are you located that you can't get the proper greens?
Maybe some one is nearby that can direct you to a good source.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Hi donnat!

Welcome to Herp Center! Good luck with your Ig, you've come to the right place!

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Smile and the world will think that you are up to something!

Steve

i live in dinas powis a small village not far from cardiff in the u.k so if anyone can think of a place I can get these greens it would be such a help
also I would like to thank you all for your much appreciated help
thanks again donnat

some times collared greens are called "spring greens" in the UK. We have afew other UK members who have iguanas, i'm sure they will show up eventually...

__________________

Those who say it can't be done should get out of the way of those who are doing it.

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos