Hi Guys!

Some of you may remember my iguana "fluffy" whom I rescued in october of 2004 from the county fair. He was a prize at a "throw the ball in the cup" booth, to be given away like a stuffed tony the tiger. Ive always been concerned with his size and he is a bit of a runt, which is not surprising considering the skin fungus, internal parasites (yes...shocking...i know), severe dehydration, and the weeks of forcefeeding I had to do with him. Anyways, He's a little over a foot snout to vent length and around 2.5' snout to tail length. He's fat, green, healthy as an ox and gets the best veterinary care when he needs it. He's in a 4'x2'x2' enclosure, hotspot at 95ish farenheit, misted heavily daily, soaked in the tub at least weekly for 30 minutes, and fed the best veggies the grocery store has to offer. Every day I make him a salad with a base of either turnip, mustard, or collard greens (depending on availability plus I switch around), zuccini and yellow squash, green beans and topped off with fresh bananas, mango, or apple periodically. This salad is drenched with water from my mister and then I sprinkle a little "mazuri iguana diet" over the salad every other day for vitamin and mineral supplementation. He has a reptisun 5.0 over his basking spot which is changed out every 6 months-yearly.

I cant figure out what the problem is, he's way too small. My vet believes that it's most likely a genetic issue (hes not ment to get any bigger) due to the fact that he has no obvious illnesses and husbandry is ideal.

What am I doing wrong, and should I be worried? Ive posted about this before and yes I realize that every iguana is genetically different and grow at different rates and attain different adult sizes. But as an almost 3 year old male, he's a fraction of the size he "should" be.

-Adam

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

It may be time for a cage upgrade...

Is he developing male characteristics like larger dewlap and larger subtympanic scales? Has he gone into season?
Dizzy is about 4 years old now and he's 15 inches snout to vent length and about 4 1/2 snout to tail length...

Fluffy losing his tail probably also had an effect as well, they put alot of energy into healing and less into growing with something traumatic like that happens.

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"If you're not falling, you're not trying." - Sonni Trotter

~*~Lacey~*~

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A few other suggestions are 1) to cut up the greens and veggies smaller to maximize the digestive process and amount of nutrients that your ig can pull from the food, and 2) sprinkle a bit of nutribac on the food to encourage friendly gut flora which will also maximize the digestive process.

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~~Steph

"This I believe: That the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world." John Steinbeck

Our Critter stayed about the size you are describing (he was mostly confined to his enclosure) until my son moved out with him and he had free run of the house most of the time. His size about tripled in, I'd estimate, a few months.

Hes started to get some gold coloration, larger dewlap, bad gas, forgetfulness you know...everything that makes a male, a male. hehe just kidding but seriously ive started chopping up his veggies more now and yes he is in need of a cageing upgrade. He's now able to climb up on top of the light dome (which is how he got burned as a baby). I came home one day and he was sitting on top of it lounging around and im like "FLUFFY!" and he looked at me like "...what?.." So, yes his cage will be made at the start of the new year. Most likely ill attempt to built the Ultimate Iguana Habitat from james hatfield's book.

Thanks for the help, and by the way, i would have never thought about the tail thing, i bet thats exactly what's caused his small size.

Thanks again!

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-Adam

"Help Protect our Planet from Overcollection, Purchase Aquacultured Livestock and Captive Bred Herps"

Also as you have pointed out it may just be a genetic thing. Not all iguanas are going to become huge giants. Just like humans they come in slightly different sizes.
As long as he is healthy I would not worry about size comparisons.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

I wouldn't put much of this on genetics. Being that he was so poorly kept before coming to you I would say he was most likely underfeed as well this can easily lead to poor or slow growth. I have a Sav that looked perfectly heathy when she came to me as a hatchling but her growth is not what it should be for the amount she eats now. I think she was most likely sparing feed by her old owner leading to her slow growth and most likely won't end up being normal size as an adult.

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