Illness or stress?

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Posted by Dave on April 09, 2001 at 21:59:11:

About 3 months ago I recently started handling my iguana 2-3 times daily in an attempt to tame him (he is almost 5 years old now, and I've had him since he was a hatchling). Over the past 3 months I've noticed a few things different about him. For one, he absolutely won't poop in his cage anymore. He will go days without pooping, but if I give him a bath, he will poop within 30 seconds to a minute. One week I gave him a bath everyday and he pooped everytime, but then the next week he went 3 days without pooping (in his cage), so I had to give him a bath just so he would go! Also, I can't recall the last time shed his skin, he only recently shed a little skin on a part of his tail, but he doesn't shed the rest. Not his head, legs, back, stomach, or anything else for that matter - its been months before the last time I saw him shed. He eats fine, and is pretty fiesty when I am handling him. I'm not a vet or anything, but he seems healthy in my opinion, although I haven't taken him to a vet yet.

I am wondering if all of this is stress related, or is an illness. If it was an illness, wouldn't he be dead by now? Like I said, its been 3 months since he last went to the bathroom in his cage, and he hasn't shed. I spray him with water everyday. I give him baths. I am leaning more towards the stress issue because I notice he constantly awaken at night. You see, he likes to sleep on the top of his cage. Since its in my bedroom, I have lights on, and the TV (although I try to not to make it too loud). Every so often during the night I check on him, and sometimes he is awake. When he is actually sleeping in his cage, and I have the TV on, sometimes I'll just hear him hissing (breathing thru his nose heavily), even when I'm not anywhere near him. I put covers over his cage, so its perfectly dark in there at night. I am currently building a much larger cage for him, a lot farther from the TV, which will have plexiglass to block out the sounds so he can sleep peacefully. Do you guys have any opinions on what could be causing this? Stress or an illness?

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Re: Illness or stress? iZ's mom 04/10/01 (0)
Re: Illness or stress? Travis 04/09/01 (0)
Re: Illness or stress? marisa 04/09/01 (0)

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: About 3 months ago I recently started handling my iguana 2-3 times daily in an attempt to tame him (he is almost 5 years old now, and I've had him since he was a hatchling). Over the past 3 months I've noticed a few things different about him. For one, he absolutely won't poop in his cage anymore. He will go days without pooping, but if I give him a bath, he will poop within 30 seconds to a minute. One week I gave him a bath everyday and he pooped everytime, but then the next week he went 3 days without pooping (in his cage), so I had to give him a bath just so he would go! Also, I can't recall the last time shed his skin, he only recently shed a little skin on a part of his tail, but he doesn't shed the rest. Not his head, legs, back, stomach, or anything else for that matter - its been months before the last time I saw him shed. He eats fine, and is pretty fiesty when I am handling him. I'm not a vet or anything, but he seems healthy in my opinion, although I haven't taken him to a vet yet. : I am wondering if all of this is stress related, or is an illness. If it was an illness, wouldn't he be dead by now? Like I said, its been 3 months since he last went to the bathroom in his cage, and he hasn't shed. I spray him with water everyday. I give him baths. I am leaning more towards the stress issue because I notice he constantly awaken at night. You see, he likes to sleep on the top of his cage. Since its in my bedroom, I have lights on, and the TV (although I try to not to make it too loud). Every so often during the night I check on him, and sometimes he is awake. When he is actually sleeping in his cage, and I have the TV on, sometimes I'll just hear him hissing (breathing thru his nose heavily), even when I'm not anywhere near him. I put covers over his cage, so its perfectly dark in there at night. I am currently building a much larger cage for him, a lot farther from the TV, which will have plexiglass to block out the sounds so he can sleep peacefully. Do you guys have any opinions on what could be causing this? Stress or an illness?

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