Here's more than a little help! (long)

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Iguana Forum ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Diana on May 31, 2001 at 12:21:03:

In Reply to: new iguana owner.....need a little help please!!! posted by Steven on May 31, 2001 at 09:27:55:

Hi Steven,
Welcome to the forum! This is going to be long, but please read it in its entirety.

What I'm going to say to you can not be taken lightly: Around 80% of baby iguanas die within the first year of captivity.

This is due to improper care, wrong diet, not having the right uv lights up, and keeping them in too small of cages etc. etc. etc.

If you don't want to be burrying that little green iguana you just bought, it is going to be crucial that you take an active interest in reading about green iguana care, and that you do everything in your power to make sure that he/she (as they said, you won't know until it's around a year and a half old) survives.

I had a baby iguana sort of "dumped" on me about two years ago and my life has not been the same since. I was told ALL the wrong things about them, like "They can eat only this canned "iguana food and be fine." or "Iguanas don't drink water out of a bowl so you don't need to provide it with one." or "If you dont want your iguana to become huge, keep it in a small cage and it will only grow as big as you want it to." and "Some crickets are good for your iguana to eat now and then. They need animal protein." and "Iguanas only need to eat every other day or so."

I was hit with a ton of bad information and I followed some of it. As a result, when our baby iguana (she's now three years old and quite a fatty!) was still tiny, she started to die from malnutrition--she even lost a few fingers and started on the down-slope towards death.

Luckily, I found this forum, as well as a wealth of GOOD information from some of the websites people have already steered you toward, and was able to reverse the dying process for my female. Her fingers never grew back, but the deformity has served to remind me of how much I didn't know, and of how far I've come now.

As soon as we learned that WE were causing her death, we got her out of her tiny tank she was in, immediately got her the proper Reptisun 5.0 Iguana lightbulb with UV rays to prevent Metabolic Bone Disorder, and to help her digest her nutrients properly, we stopped feeding her only iceburg lettuce and mandarin oranges and canned food, (which is what the petstore told the previous owner to do) and offered her a clean water bowl to drink from, we potty trained her to go in a Rubbermaid tub and not have "accidents" anymore, and I even made her soft bedding with her initial monogramed on it. She is a spoiled, happy, 39" long, fat lizard today, who would have preferred being an only lizard, except that in February, we adopted a male iguana from the local pet store who was keeping it in HORRIBLE circumstances. No UV lighting, no heat, lettuce to eat from a huge dog bowl, no water, sitting in his own feces etc etc. Now he too, is on his way to being a fat, happy, spoiled lizard.

My point is this : Now that your iguana lives in captivity, it has only ONE chance to make it: YOU. It's life depends upon whether or not you take it seriously.

I sincerely hope you become one of us--a true Iguana lover, and a "Champion of the Cause". So many of these beautiful creatures die needless deathes before they even reach adult hood because of owner misinformation and lack of care! Some people figure, "Heck the animal only cost me $9.99! No way am I going to build it a several-hundred-dollar cage, chop fresh vegetables every day, fortify with calcuim if needed, buy expensive UV lighing, provide adequate heating, take it to the vet when it needs it and devote so much time reading about its care."

It is my hope that you will read a ton on Giant Green Iguana Care and find out how specialized their needs are.

Again, Welcome to this forum! I hope you stick around. You, like all of us at first, have SO much to learn! It can be exciting, frustrating, sad, happy, exhilerating, and maddening to learn all about iguanas, but I promise you this: You will learn more than you ever thought possible about these animals if you stay on this forum. We will steer you to the "good stuff" regarding your iguanas care. Your iguana will thrive if you really do place value on him/her, and if you provide the very best care you can.

Please feel free to write back and ask us any other questions you have as you dig in to the research on the Internet about iguanas. You're bound to have some: much of the information out there contradicts itself, and there is many versions of the truth. Let us help you decipher it, and use us as a sounding board. We're here to help!

Have you thought of a name yet? There are some funny ones out there! Let us know what else we can do for you!
Again, WELCOME!
Diana

Follow Ups:

Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:
: Hi Steven, : Welcome to the forum! This is going to be long, but please read it in its entirety. : What I'm going to say to you can not be taken lightly: Around 80% of baby iguanas die within the first year of captivity. : This is due to improper care, wrong diet, not having the right uv lights up, and keeping them in too small of cages etc. etc. etc. : If you don't want to be burrying that little green iguana you just bought, it is going to be crucial that you take an active interest in reading about green iguana care, and that you do everything in your power to make sure that he/she (as they said, you won't know until it's around a year and a half old) survives. : I had a baby iguana sort of "dumped" on me about two years ago and my life has not been the same since. I was told ALL the wrong things about them, like "They can eat only this canned "iguana food and be fine." or "Iguanas don't drink water out of a bowl so you don't need to provide it with one." or "If you dont want your iguana to become huge, keep it in a small cage and it will only grow as big as you want it to." and "Some crickets are good for your iguana to eat now and then. They need animal protein." and "Iguanas only need to eat every other day or so." : I was hit with a ton of bad information and I followed some of it. As a result, when our baby iguana (she's now three years old and quite a fatty!) was still tiny, she started to die from malnutrition--she even lost a few fingers and started on the down-slope towards death. : Luckily, I found this forum, as well as a wealth of GOOD information from some of the websites people have already steered you toward, and was able to reverse the dying process for my female. Her fingers never grew back, but the deformity has served to remind me of how much I didn't know, and of how far I've come now. : As soon as we learned that WE were causing her death, we got her out of her tiny tank she was in, immediately got her the proper Reptisun 5.0 Iguana lightbulb with UV rays to prevent Metabolic Bone Disorder, and to help her digest her nutrients properly, we stopped feeding her only iceburg lettuce and mandarin oranges and canned food, (which is what the petstore told the previous owner to do) and offered her a clean water bowl to drink from, we potty trained her to go in a Rubbermaid tub and not have "accidents" anymore, and I even made her soft bedding with her initial monogramed on it. She is a spoiled, happy, 39" long, fat lizard today, who would have preferred being an only lizard, except that in February, we adopted a male iguana from the local pet store who was keeping it in HORRIBLE circumstances. No UV lighting, no heat, lettuce to eat from a huge dog bowl, no water, sitting in his own feces etc etc. Now he too, is on his way to being a fat, happy, spoiled lizard. : My point is this : Now that your iguana lives in captivity, it has only ONE chance to make it: YOU. It's life depends upon whether or not you take it seriously. : I sincerely hope you become one of us--a true Iguana lover, and a "Champion of the Cause". So many of these beautiful creatures die needless deathes before they even reach adult hood because of owner misinformation and lack of care! Some people figure, "Heck the animal only cost me $9.99! No way am I going to build it a several-hundred-dollar cage, chop fresh vegetables every day, fortify with calcuim if needed, buy expensive UV lighing, provide adequate heating, take it to the vet when it needs it and devote so much time reading about its care." : : It is my hope that you will read a ton on Giant Green Iguana Care and find out how specialized their needs are. : Again, Welcome to this forum! I hope you stick around. You, like all of us at first, have SO much to learn! It can be exciting, frustrating, sad, happy, exhilerating, and maddening to learn all about iguanas, but I promise you this: You will learn more than you ever thought possible about these animals if you stay on this forum. We will steer you to the "good stuff" regarding your iguanas care. Your iguana will thrive if you really do place value on him/her, and if you provide the very best care you can. : Please feel free to write back and ask us any other questions you have as you dig in to the research on the Internet about iguanas. You're bound to have some: much of the information out there contradicts itself, and there is many versions of the truth. Let us help you decipher it, and use us as a sounding board. We're here to help! : Have you thought of a name yet? There are some funny ones out there! Let us know what else we can do for you! : Again, WELCOME! : Diana :

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ The Iguana Forum ] [ FAQ ]