Posted by BabyHerp on August 26, 2000 at 20:17:44:
In Reply to: My iguana hasnt eaten since I bought it and I need HELP posted by Carlos on August 26, 2000 at 11:01:48:
Hey Carlos!
Well its normal for a new iguana to go off feed for a couple of weeks....they stress very easily...new owner, new enviroment. First thing is to make sure he's got a nice warm area to bask in 85-95. They need the heat to stimulate their appetite and digest their food. Some igs do not like eating in front of anyone until they feel you aren't doing this just to make him vulnerable and then swoop down & eat him!!! So perhaps feed him where he can hide and eat, or when you place the food , close the curtains ;-) Would you take food from a stranger? let alone a potential predator? Find out what were the foods the pet store fed him....try to copy it...if its junk...slowly reduce the junk and put in the good stuff. If you don't know what the good stuff is...just give a holler...this forum has TOP-NOTCH
iguana owners...and we'll help ya out anyway we can. Youre in the right place!
Also you may want to give your ig a lukewarm bath in water no higher than his shoulder level...so he can drink....and maybe poop but with not much in him he may not. But essentail he get some water in him.
If ya have a turkey baster handy...what I would do is buy some Ensure (get it at the grocers or drug store..its a nutritional liquid supplement drink)and mash 1/3 of a banana and mix/ smash to a thick kinda sauce. Give him a little bit at a time, using the turkey baster a few tablespoons worth all together...open his mouth by gently pulling on the dewlap and put it past that little hole his airway (glottis) in the middle of his mouth...and down the poop shoot it goes.
The Ensure has alot of vitamins and is a soy product so don't worry its not the same as cow's milk. It has tons of vitamins in it...thiamine too which is an appetite stimulant, and freaky ig
tranquilizer ;-)
Don't give up...but reduce his stress as much as possible....lest he has a little heart attack!
Gina