iguana sitting... could use some advice!

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Posted by maureen on May 05, 2000 at 13:59:30:

I'm sitting my brother's roommate's iguana for the summer while they take off to Europe, and they just dropped her off last night. First let me say I also have two "adopted" iguanas that have been with me about two years now, and are both wonderfully healthy and pushing 4 feet, so I'm not a complete novice to iguanas, but I've never cared for one this young before. I believe he's had the iguana for a little less than a year now, and it's pretty small, not quite a foot long. It's a pretty iguana and has good bright green color and no obvious signs of disease or injury. But the little guy (or girl) is very skinny, I can see it's ribs when it inhales. My bro's roomie isn't the most responsible guy in the world (this is his third iguana, the other two didn't last over a year), and he "remembers" to feed it every third day or so, sometimes once a week before he gets it fresh greens. He's been feeding it romaine lettuce and grapes, and complains that he doesn't feed it every day because it doesn't eat all it's food. I've dealt with this poor critter before, and I've taken it dry food when I've visited them, which it loves. The cage setup isn't bad... it's on that astro-turf critter carpet in a 50-gallon long tank, and it has a lot of sticks to climb on. He has a large water dish in there that is actually one of those plastic turtle-ponds they sell at pet stores, and for some reason he put an air bubbler in the water. (the iguana inherited it from his turtle, which also didn't make it more than a year)
Any advice on what I can do to give the little guy a boost in the couple of months I'll be taking care of him? Last time I visited my brother I gave the iguana (I don't know it's name!) a dose of hydro-life because it was looking a little sluggish. I don't know if it's ever had a de-worming treatment, and I'm fully stocked on rid-worm and hydro-life, which I'm thinking I'll give him another dose of. I gave him some of the dry food that my iguanas adore this morning, but he/she hasn't come down off of his perch yet. He's not used to being handled and is therefore pretty darn unfriendly, and tail-whipped the heck out of me while I was taking the old food out this morning.
Sorry for the super-long post, but any advice would be great! :)

Follow Ups:

talk bro's roomie into not having any pets! ninja 05/21/00 (0)
Re: iguana sitting... could use some advice! BabyHerp 05/08/00 (0)
Talk your brother's roommate into another type of pet....... Samcin 05/05/00 (2)
- Re: Talk your brother's roommate into another type of pet....... maureen 05/07/00 (1)
  - Give it 2 weeks to adjust Samcin 05/07/00 (0)

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: I'm sitting my brother's roommate's iguana for the summer while they take off to Europe, and they just dropped her off last night. First let me say I also have two "adopted" iguanas that have been with me about two years now, and are both wonderfully healthy and pushing 4 feet, so I'm not a complete novice to iguanas, but I've never cared for one this young before. I believe he's had the iguana for a little less than a year now, and it's pretty small, not quite a foot long. It's a pretty iguana and has good bright green color and no obvious signs of disease or injury. But the little guy (or girl) is very skinny, I can see it's ribs when it inhales. My bro's roomie isn't the most responsible guy in the world (this is his third iguana, the other two didn't last over a year), and he "remembers" to feed it every third day or so, sometimes once a week before he gets it fresh greens. He's been feeding it romaine lettuce and grapes, and complains that he doesn't feed it every day because it doesn't eat all it's food. I've dealt with this poor critter before, and I've taken it dry food when I've visited them, which it loves. The cage setup isn't bad... it's on that astro-turf critter carpet in a 50-gallon long tank, and it has a lot of sticks to climb on. He has a large water dish in there that is actually one of those plastic turtle-ponds they sell at pet stores, and for some reason he put an air bubbler in the water. (the iguana inherited it from his turtle, which also didn't make it more than a year) : Any advice on what I can do to give the little guy a boost in the couple of months I'll be taking care of him? Last time I visited my brother I gave the iguana (I don't know it's name!) a dose of hydro-life because it was looking a little sluggish. I don't know if it's ever had a de-worming treatment, and I'm fully stocked on rid-worm and hydro-life, which I'm thinking I'll give him another dose of. I gave him some of the dry food that my iguanas adore this morning, but he/she hasn't come down off of his perch yet. He's not used to being handled and is therefore pretty darn unfriendly, and tail-whipped the heck out of me while I was taking the old food out this morning. : Sorry for the super-long post, but any advice would be great! :)

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