Hello everyone!
I am new to this forum and to being an iguana owner. I need help with my iguana!!!

He is very small.. unlike the other one in the tank which is growing quickly!.. about a week ago he stopped moving, opening his eyes, his color has changed from green to very light dull green.. almost yellowish.. he wont eat or drink. I have been giving him pedialyte via syringe a few times a day, when I pick him up he just lays there, still wont open his eyes or move. I noticed mites in the tank so I took everything out of the tank, bleached the tank (rinsed well) .. still no change, he doesnt have any cuts or open sores.. what do I do? I have to check on him several times a day just to see if he is still breathing because he looks like he is dead .. please give me some suggestions quick!!!

thanks a million
g

Hello,

Welcome to the HC Network.

From what I just read, it appears that you have 2 iguanas in the same enclosure? That is likely causing the smaller guy extreme stress and accounts for a great deal of what you have described him going through.

Taking on 2 iguanas is a massive responsibility. Right now they may be small and easily manageable, but those 2 little guys are going to get massive and could reach 6+ feet and weigh as much as 35 lbs. They WILL be capable of degloving your fingers.

My first suggestion is that you get them both separated. They can not reside in the same enclosure if the sickly one is to survive.

Could you please tell us the size of the enclosure, substrate, diet, lighting, and heating.

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You definitely need to separate them, if you answer Rich's questions we will be better able to help you.

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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

Welcome to herpcenter.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

thank you for such a quick response! wow

the tank is a 55 gallon tank, I have had the iguanas for over 3 months when the little one just started acting sick about a week ago. The larger iguana is approx 6 inches right now tip of nose to tip of tail, the sick one is about 4 inches tip of nose to tail, at first last week he still had his eyes open, now they just stay closed all the time and he wont move or eat and only drinks when I give it to him via syringe

I forgot this info in the last message.. 55 gallon tank, 150 watt light bulb, heat rock, reptomin soft gel iguana food, (its what they have eaten since they were babies...

thank you

im not experienced with iggys but I would seperate them. Throw the heat rock out!!! See what happens with them being seperate in the next couple days

Ok ditch the heat rock, they are death traps! You need a UVB bulb, that is no option, without that they cannot properly digest their food and will end up with many issues, like metabollic bone disease, among many other issues, they will in the end, die.

Are you feeding anything other than the gel food? They need fresh greens, like collard, mustard greens, etc. You really should look up the diet on the green iguana center on here. They also have wonderful care sheets! They will explain a lot to you.

I agree with Rich, seperate them. That also means now you need, to different Uvb bulbs, basically two of everything.

On anotherr note Welcome to Hc, feel free to ask many more questions, we are here to help

Yikes!

It is time for an overhaul. I hope you knew what you were getting yourself into when you purchased them...

Step one go here: http://reptileguides.herpcenter.com/...-t39.html?t=39

Step two: Buy this:
Amazon.com: Green Iguana: The Ultimate Owner's Manual: Books: James W., III Hatfield

Step three: While you wait for your book to arrive you desperately need to set up your current enclosure properly and set up a second enclosure for the other iguana.

Iguanas are not social creatures and a 55gallon tank is not going to last you long, at all.
Be prepared to make 2 very large enclosures, almost the size of a small bedroom.

Also you need to provide the proper lighting, You need to get a source of UVB light, either a tube light that is within 12-18 inches of the lizards or a MegaRay UV light.

Heat rocks are iguana slow cookers as well, you really should unplug it, cut the cord off of it and use it as a cage decoration.
Iguanas heat receptors are on their bcks so they do ntrealize when it is time to move off of the rock.

The majority of your iguanas diets should be dark leafy greens (no letuce and not much spinich, you want things like collards, mustard, and turnip greens) Most premade foods are full of fillers and bad things and just not natural.

I really hope you can get things sorted out, for the sake of the little guy get him moved out soon!

Bet of luck and welcome to the site, i'm glad you are taking time to learn how to properly care for your pets.

__________________

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

~*~Lacey~*~

My Photos