My iggy is a new friend had him a few weeks. He was a rescue from a friend of mine. He has an irregular dark spot on his side (and what are probably some old burns on the other side) I think the old white burn marks are healed ok but I'm wondering about the dark spot, it doesn't seem to change and it doesn't seem to bother him but I know so little about my new friend I want other opinions. He's also got a white foot suddenly that is new since I've had him....when they shed what part of their body sheds first? Is it their feet or do they start at their snout like a snake does? Maybe I'm overreacting and the white foot is just the first signs of a upcoming shed.

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	draco's dark spot.jpg (23.3 KB, 11 views)

I really can't make much out of the dark spot in the one picture but I'd take him into a vet to get it looked at. I wouldn't be worried about the foot though most lizards (geckos and skinks exculded) shed in patches after awhile. Today it's the foot next week it could be the head, back, tail or any other part. Does look alittle strange, maybe some parts need to shed more often. My Veiled sheds on the feet alot more than any place else.

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A vet visit is in order. Blood tests and a fecal test should be performed. I would also request a set of x-rays so you can see how his/her bone density is, and establish if Metabolic Bone Disease is present. The white spots look like scar tissue (very old burns, perhaps), and the black spot looks like a newer burn that is still healing. A vet could confirm this.

Definitely get that ig to the vet... at the very least so you'll have some baseline numbers for future reference.

Also, how about giving us specifics on diet, lighting (brand, type, age of bulb, and distance from basking area), enclosure, etc.

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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

Congrats on your new addition, i'd get him to an EXPERIENCED reptile vet to ask about those burns, sometimes they go much deeper than the skin and cause a lot of problems. If you don;t have a vet yet you can find one here:
ARAV
Herp Vet Connection

Whats that that he is eating?

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Glad to hear you have a new friend! Like the others have said, make a trip to a vet, soon. It looks like in the pictures there are a few areas that are clearly marked differently that that next to it. This could be bad sheds but it could also be signs of other stuff as well....

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Diet: Collard greens, romaine lettuce, green beans, sow thistle leaves (dandelion family), sugar snap peas, green onions, he's a squashaholic butternut squash, summer squash get scarfed instantly, he gets some cut up apples and melon once or twice a week. Occasionally I'll get him a box of mixed bean sprouts but those are kinda expensive so he doesn't get that alot. A friend of mine said hers loved strawberries haven't given him any yet but this guy is a good eater so I bet he'd try it.

I read I should be smashing up some bird cuttle bones and sprinkling that on his food, haven't gotten to pick some up yet I know I should. I also throw in a little bit of canned food occasionally but the little bugger is deft at avoiding the dry crap and just eating the leaves and stuff. His last owner didn't give him anything except dry crap out of a jar poor baby he probably wants to puke at the sight of it.

Lighting: He has a big cage 4X6 6 tall made of pvc and hardware cloth, the light is a igg light sold by petsmart with a 24" tube and two screw in sockets for black lights etc that aren't currently used. I found a place selling lightbulbs of all descriptions so I tried to match the uv outputs of the expensive bulbs at a lower price because they aren't sold for iggs, got it down to 10 bucks a tube and they appear to be the same thing GE Aqua Rays fresh and salwater aquarium lamp F20T12/ar/fs pc: 22911 it's a new bulb and I know I need to change it august sometime. The fixture is currently suspended from the roof of his enclosure, I have rope wrapped lengths of wood for him to climb on and he likes to climb up high so when he's where he normally hangs out he's within about 2 feet of the lamp, his color has cleared up appreciably since I had him, his last daddy just had him outside wasn't giving him any extra uv lamps in his cage, he was pretty black when I first got him but it was also cold too. I'll try to get some shots of the cage tomorrow morning dark outside now.

You have some things that need attention.
The diet needs some tweaking. Your staples should be collard mustard and turnip greens. This should comprise 75-80% of the diet. The lettuce has zip for nutrition and should be eliminated. Same for the bean sprouts.
As I mentioned in the other thread, unless you can find validation of the nutritional content of your wild plant I would not feed it.
The only dry food I would advise feeding is the RepCal brand and you don't feed it dry but after you have soaked it in water. An excellant way to get water into the ig by the way. I feed my adult female about 1/4 cup as a salad topper.

I wouldn't use cuttlebone. Get you some powdered calcium. You want pure calcium without phosphorous or Vit d3. You can find it in the pet store or you can buy calcium carbonate tablets at the vitamin area of the drug or health food store and smash them up.

As for lighting.
You need to change it. A 24 inch light is useless in a large cage. The ig has to be within 6-8 inches of the bulb for it to do any good. With flourescent lights you need a minimum, of a 2 tube 48 inch fixture.
The light you bought is not going to work. You need UVB specifically not just UV. Aquarium lights are not designed to produce UVB. At best they make the colors of things look nicer. You just can't get around having to use the reptile specific UVB lamps unless you house the ig outside.
Please check out the megarays at ReptileUV. Since you will need to be buying all new lighting equipment anyway the mercury vapors are the way to go. They put out far more UVB for far greater distances than the flourescents, and you only need one bulb and it is good for a year as opposed to 6 months for the flourescent.
I know the bulbs aren't cheap but UVB specific bulbs are what you have to have.

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Merlin,
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outside is great as long as he can bask in the sun. No lamp can beat the quality of sun light.

As for the tweeking, Merlin has it right!

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

Thanks for posting all those details. All of Merlin's advice is right-on. The MegaRay lamps are the best! Here's a link to the ReptileUV site.

Also, I have a copy of "Green Iguana: The Ultimate Owner's Manual" that I can mail to you. It's one of the best care guides you can buy. If you'd like a copy, Private Message (don't add it here) me your mailing address, and I'll get on out to you next week.

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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

Thanks for the quick replies, I should have said earlier his cage is outside in a rather protected patio. During certain times of the day he gets some fairly direct sunlight. I think the poor little guy may have a little case of the sniffles right now I hear him sneeze a little bit sometimes, if it's gonna hit below 60 I take him in the house at least at night it was freezing cold here for a week I kept him inside the whole time and gave him a heat lamp to sit under, he was a very good boy didn't even drop a load in the house. A friend of mine directed me to the lizard vet he used to use for his iggies so that's in the works too. I'm having an awful time finding mustard greens for sale in my stores probably going to have to try a green grocer because the sweetbay and albertsons don't carry it.

Oh and it apparently is shedding time, I was at busch gardens the other day and their iggies are all in various stages of skin shedding.