Re: very sick iguana found

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Posted by iZ's mom on April 13, 2000 at 18:42:35:

In Reply to: very sick iguana found posted by Sherry on April 13, 2000 at 14:07:42:

Mark + Cirsisue have some good advice, i'll just add to it ...

am unsure from your post if you have herps/have any experience syringe feeding, so if i'm telling you stuff you already know, blame it on my *long* week at work ok? (*grin*)

sounds like you are prob'ly gonna have to syringe feed her for a little while anyway ... (i cringe at the term "force-feeding") ... (oral syringe or medicine dropper, btw)

getting some fluids into your iglet is probably one of the most important things right now and Pedialyte (or something similar) is better than plain water for rehydrating ... unflavored is prob'ly a safer bet than the flavored ones they have ... (especially) if she's is not eating, i'd try to get at least 10cc of Pedialyte, per pound of ig, into her per day ...

like Cirisue said, go slow with the food for now so you don't shock her system ... the yogurt is a good idea (iZ likes strawberry) ... use the kind with 'live cultures' and that will aid her body in getting the good bacteria back ... feed maybe 5-10cc of that a day for a few days ... try baby food vegies or collard greens put thru the blender and feed that with a syringe too ...

hopefully the syringe part is only gonna be for a few days, til she calms down and gets rehydrated ...

here's iZ's mom's helpful hints for syringe feeding (*grin*):
wrap the iggy in a nice thick bath towel with her head sticking out and set her on your lap ...

talk softly + comfortingly while you're doing all this so you both stay calm ...

have the fluids/food already in the syringes and slightly warmed ...

gently open the ig's mouth with one hand (i pull the lower jaw down gently) and squirt about 1/2 to 1cc of fluid into her mouth ... relax and *go slow* so she doesn't aspirate anything!

she's gonna want to stick her nose way up in the air while you're doing this ... *don't let her!* ... the fluid will hit the back of her throat rather than her tongue and she'll freak out cuz she'll think you're gonna drowned her ... try to keep her head at least level with the ground, but even better if you can have her nose pointing downwards a bit!

once the two of you get the hang of it, you can prob'ly give a bit bigger squirts than 1cc, but start slow + small ...

~~~
how big is she????
let us know how we can help + keep us posted ok???

here's some links to great ig-info sites:
Giant Green Iguana Care

Basking Spot

best wishes + good luck!!!
iZ's mom

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: Mark + Cirsisue have some good advice, i'll just add to it ... : am unsure from your post if you have herps/have any experience syringe feeding, so if i'm telling you stuff you already know, blame it on my *long* week at work ok? (*grin*) : sounds like you are prob'ly gonna have to syringe feed her for a little while anyway ... (i cringe at the term "force-feeding") ... (oral syringe or medicine dropper, btw) : getting some fluids into your iglet is probably one of the most important things right now and Pedialyte (or something similar) is better than plain water for rehydrating ... unflavored is prob'ly a safer bet than the flavored ones they have ... (especially) if she's is not eating, i'd try to get at least 10cc of Pedialyte, per pound of ig, into her per day ... : like Cirisue said, go slow with the food for now so you don't shock her system ... the yogurt is a good idea (iZ likes strawberry) ... use the kind with 'live cultures' and that will aid her body in getting the good bacteria back ... feed maybe 5-10cc of that a day for a few days ... try baby food vegies or collard greens put thru the blender and feed that with a syringe too ... : hopefully the syringe part is only gonna be for a few days, til she calms down and gets rehydrated ... : here's iZ's mom's helpful hints for syringe feeding (*grin*): : wrap the iggy in a nice thick bath towel with her head sticking out and set her on your lap ... : talk softly + comfortingly while you're doing all this so you both stay calm ... : have the fluids/food already in the syringes and slightly warmed ... : gently open the ig's mouth with one hand (i pull the lower jaw down gently) and squirt about 1/2 to 1cc of fluid into her mouth ... relax and *go slow* so she doesn't aspirate anything! : she's gonna want to stick her nose way up in the air while you're doing this ... *don't let her!* ... the fluid will hit the back of her throat rather than her tongue and she'll freak out cuz she'll think you're gonna drowned her ... try to keep her head at least level with the ground, but even better if you can have her nose pointing downwards a bit! : once the two of you get the hang of it, you can prob'ly give a bit bigger squirts than 1cc, but start slow + small ... : ~~~ : how big is she???? : let us know how we can help + keep us posted ok??? : here's some links to great ig-info sites: : <A HREF="http://thunder.sonic.net/~melissk/ig_care.html">Giant Green Iguana Care</A> : <A HREF="http://baskingspot.com/iguanas/igbook/index.html">Basking Spot</A> : best wishes + good luck!!! : iZ's mom

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