Well, #1 you didn't pay for the ig, so the shop didn't make any money on keeping a sick one. So that's a good start. Take those photos and email it to the humane society or whomever they need to go to, with a letter on how sick the ig was.

Man that ig is skinny. Talk to Nicole, she knows all about re-habbing death doorstep Igs. I'm not sure in the ensure. Isn't it chock full of protein? Protein will ruin an igs kidneys. I'd stick with good fresh veggies, get him going in the right direction. Chop it super super fine.

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My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

How about instead of the ensure, make a slurry with the veggies in a blender and use that if you don't think he can handle chopped up ones. That way you still have 100% control over what he gets.

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First off, no one HERE is going to flame anyone!
We just won't have it!

Now the ig. That poor thing is in seriously bad shape, but igs are tough critters if given half a chance. Judging from the pictures, it is starving, with possibly a good load of internal parasites.

Mites are a pain and in the shape the ig is in could be the straw that broke the camel's back. The betadine baths will help to knock down the numbers but will not eliminate the mites. Pick up some Reptile Relief spray by Natural Chemistry. Its the safest most effective treatment I know of and can be used on the animal as well as the enclosure. Petco carries it, possibly Petsmart as well. Follow the label directions

Is the ig eating at all?
Instead of the ensure, take the greens that you use for regular feeding and put them in a blender and liquify with a bit of the pedialyte to thin it down and try letting the ig lick it from a dropper.

Taking the ig outside for a dose of natural sunlight is great. Do it for at least an hour a day.
And the breeze will not cool the ig off. They have no sweat to evaporate like we do. As long as the outside temperature is good the breeze is of no consequence.
Good luck on your mission!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I just felt like updating on the igs.

Mikki is doing great! All my worries I had about him possibly being too skinny have flat out gone out the door! He is a fat, super-green little dude, with an 'tude to boot!! I'm beginning to see that he likes being held even less in the morning than at night. I'm trying really hard to not do the dash-n-grab routine during the day, but do on occation so he can have a bath. Just trying to get him used to the idea that when the door opens and I enter his cage that it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to hunt him down.

I LOVE having his heat on a thermostat!! I love checking the temp just to see that it is on track. Sure is a lot less stressful than worrying if it's too high or too low. But then again, LOW was never my problem to begin with. lol

As for the ig on the other end of the spectrum...

I weighed her today. She only weighs 47 grams; 1.625 oz. That's pretty light for a snout to vent length 5" ig. Poor little thing. Good news overall though:
** She's still breathing. I thought for sure she was 'gone' on many occations.
** At 8 am this morning she slowly drank 1/3 ml of pedialite/water by lapping at the syringe on her own. I didn't have to help her. Then she turned her head as if to say "enough for now." She didn't take anymore.
* At noon, I took your advice and pureed the normal ig food with pedialite as small as I could. I added a small pinch of extra calcium and vit/min supplement to about a 1/2 cup of mixture. I opted to take the liquid from the mix in a syringe (and all the small bits of veggie-goodness that got sucked in, too.) She seemed to really go for that, considering her state. I think she tried to bite the syringe a couple of times, although it really is hard to tell right now. Again, after about a 1/3 ml, she turned her head and wouldn't take any more. So I put her back on a new sock-bed, which she seems to like.
* I replaced the sock-bed at lunch, too, because there were hundreds of little mites crawling all around on it!! GROSS!!
* About 1:30 I heard her move around for the first time. When I checked on her, she had done a 180 deg turn off her sock and left a little suprise on her sock. She defecated, but it was primarily white with a touch of yellow on one side - like a cooked egg would look in a pan, less the brown crispies. It was a little dry, but that is probably because of the heat lamp because it was stuck to the sock. (I hope she drowned a few mites in her poo!!!!) I replaced her sock again.
* I gave her another betadine bath, followed by a long plain-water bath; almost 45 minutes worth of warm water. There were tons of mites in both soaks! How can there be that may mites on one small creature? I put her back on her sock-bed to rest.

I'm not sure if she enjoys the baths, or simply shuts them out. She will go completely limp and rests her head fully on my supporting fingers, and she lets me gently caress her body and tail trying to work out those pesky mites. She did put up resistance when I went to put betadine on her face after her initial beta-bath, so she does have some spunk way down in that little shell of a body. I thought maybe she had had enough of me, but when I put her in a new plain-water bath, she did the same thing and totally relaxed.

Does anyone know how 10% betadine feels on open sores? I personally don't want to go cut myself on purpose to find out thank you very much. I wonder how it feels for her to soak in the diluted baths. They seem to be working, though. Where she looked orange-dirty yesterday, there are patches of what appear to be grey skin between the scales. I hope this is a good thing. I'll take another close up pick of her bad foot to compare to the one I took yesterday. The image quality was so great yesterday, that is how I accidentally found out she had a ton of mites under her scales!! I could see their shiny little bodies WAY TOO clearly!

I will go find that reptile relief spray, too. Every little bit helps. I put duct tape folded in half all along the upper rim of the tank she is in to catch any red-monstors that try to escape. I took in a rescue Rottweiler once that had lice. THAT sucked!! Just when you thought they were gone for good - BAM! You find them again! It took like a year to be totally rid of those! I sure hope battling mites isn't as annoying as lice was. If it is, oh well, such is life.

Thanks a million for listening!
Jeannie

Battling mites is a long process. Not only do you have to battle them on the reptile itself, but you have to battle ones that are in the enclosure. If you only treat the ig and not the enclosure, all the mites that are hiding in tiny places in the enclosure will come out and BAM! They're on your ig again.

Good luck! From what I've read mites are a pain in the rear end, but they can be taken care of as long as you're vigilant and thorough about getting everything cleaned and scrubbed!

Here's an article on mites, just to give you an idea.

http://www.reptileguides.herpcenter....read.php?t=155

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Professional Pet Sitting/Dog Walking
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yes i am a she ^_^

~My Babies~

1 Rosy Boa (male) Chaos
1 Snow Corn (male) Blizzard
1 Anertherystic Corn (male) Bullet
1 Senegal Parrot (male) Shadow
2 dogs (male) Spot (RIP) and Bear

Well that is very good news that she not only ate but defacated. Keep up the soaks and baths and clean that enclosure EVERY TIME after you treat for the mites. Her tummy is probably teenie tiny right now.

I remember when we took in a cat that was nothing but skin and bones, my mom fed her chicken baby food by the teaspoon full every hour. Slowly she worked up to a table spoon, then two, then a jar, then finally to real cat food. It takes time to get them to be able to handle food again.

__________________
My name is Liz
Do what's best for the animal, not what's best for you.

I just got your PM. That ig is really really skinny. Here is how I would have dealt with that, had it been one dropped on my doorstep.

Obviously that ig needs food and water. You have been given great advice! I would ditch the Ensure, that is not a good thing for the iguana. Too much protein, and I am pretty sure that iguana is already having enough kidney issues without adding the protein. I would have started off with immediate subcu fluids, proper diet, proper uvb, and a lot of baths. Those mites are a real issue, especially on an iguana that does not have great health to begin with. Reptile Relief is an awesome product that I use all the time. I would get rid of the fake grass and do white paper towels. You can see them nasty little critters on white towels. They will also burrow in them in mass quantities, so it is easy to just to take them out and replace them. Keep the cage as simple as possible, because you will be cleaning it daily to get rid of the mites.

I use the Mega Ray for uvb on all my iguanas. I used to use the Power Sun however I have found the Mega Ray does better rehab work. Have you taken the animal to the vet for a reptile panel?

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

You guys are FABULOUS!! Thank you for all the help!!! I will swap out the fake grass with paper towels today and give the tank a good scrub-down. I'll swap out and scrub the tank every day atfter bath time.

She had another BM this morning about 45 mins after her morning feeding. I was white with a little bit of green, too! - not dry at all, but not runny either. Oh, and I gave the Ensure to my grandma! lol

I'm am ordering a MR-MVB; for the next few days she just has the ZM uvb light. I'm hoping for sun again today so I can get her some GOOD uvb exposure.

I have a vet appt on Friday, but I am hoping they can get me in today or on Thursday. I keep checking.

I will keep you all posted on how she's doing in the coming weeks!!
Jeannie

I got your Pm about the vet. I know the one you are talking about and that particular person has shady reviews because that person deserves them. I will not mention any names and I please encourage you not to! There are a lot of Exotic vets in your area. If you have an emergency in the middle of the night, you can use VCA in Seattle. or Access. They are both open 24/7. At the moment you are better off using Access, because VCA is losing all their specialists in exotics, so they stabilize, then transfer anyways, and that is not cheap, lol. Really give the one I told you in the Pm a call. They do not have bad reviews because they are AWESOME! The one who runs the place actually won the exotic vet of the year award for this state a few years back!
Good luck and cancel that appointment 24 hours before so they do not charge you! Explain the situation about the ig to the other one I mentioned. She will get you in, in a big hurry!

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I have sucker tattood on my forehead

Nicole - Thank you a million times over!!! I cancelled the appt with the one vet, and then called to make an appt with the other one, but they are closed on Thursday. I will call tomorrow morning to set the appt. with the new one. I'm hoping they can get her in on Friday, too.

Skinny girl is currenly stable: She's eating and drinking from the syringe - about 1.75ml total yesterday, she's defecating, and it is looking more normal. Of course, she is sleeping like crazy because she is so wiped out. She did start squirming (turning around and hiding back under the towel) during last night's feeding, and a little of the same today, which is encouraging.

Oh, the black spot on her side is disappearing. I'm but about it.

Jeannie