Re: my iguana won't poop, help!

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Posted by xta on July 11, 2002 at 18:42:03:

In Reply to: my iguana won't poop, help! posted by josh on July 11, 2002 at 17:11:24:

John-Paul could be right. You may want to have an x-ray done if it doesn't improve soon.

You could improve in some other areas-- and that may help as well. Her diet needs work. The squash and turnip greens are fine, and a little fruit is okay, but brocolli/cauliflower should be used rarely. Kale shouldn't be used often either. Most of her diet should consist of collards, mustards, turnip greens, dandelion, watercress, endive, escarole. You can add green beans and snow peas along with a variety of squash and a little fruit (melon, berries, mango, and papaya are especially good).

You can supplement with vitamins (Rep-Cal makes good ones) at least once per week and calcium a couple times per week. If your diet is calcium rich with the greens I mentioned above, you don't have to supplement calcium as much.

Do you have a UV light? You need the Zoomed Iguana 5.0 or the Powersun bulb, or the Active UV light. If you get the Zoomed 5 light, you will need a separate heat bulb as well. The others provide heat and UV.

You can try soaking her in luke warm water everyday to encourage her to go poop. And provide at least a small water dish for her in her cage.

A fecal and blood test are a good idea to determine if she has parasites, her calium level is off, or she has signs of an infection. Go to a QUALIFIED herp vet.

Perhaps she has eggs. More than likely she has some type of bowel obstruction, but she could have a variety of problems all at once. My last iguana ate everything not nailed down and many foreign objects were found in his belly during his necropsy (including a 6" toy). Needless to say, this can eventually lead to her death just from a slow infection that can occur over time so definitely don't treat this lightly.

Good luck and keep us posted.

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: John-Paul could be right. You may want to have an x-ray done if it doesn't improve soon. : You could improve in some other areas-- and that may help as well. Her diet needs work. The squash and turnip greens are fine, and a little fruit is okay, but brocolli/cauliflower should be used rarely. Kale shouldn't be used often either. Most of her diet should consist of collards, mustards, turnip greens, dandelion, watercress, endive, escarole. You can add green beans and snow peas along with a variety of squash and a little fruit (melon, berries, mango, and papaya are especially good). : You can supplement with vitamins (Rep-Cal makes good ones) at least once per week and calcium a couple times per week. If your diet is calcium rich with the greens I mentioned above, you don't have to supplement calcium as much. : Do you have a UV light? You need the Zoomed Iguana 5.0 or the Powersun bulb, or the Active UV light. If you get the Zoomed 5 light, you will need a separate heat bulb as well. The others provide heat and UV. : You can try soaking her in luke warm water everyday to encourage her to go poop. And provide at least a small water dish for her in her cage. : A fecal and blood test are a good idea to determine if she has parasites, her calium level is off, or she has signs of an infection. Go to a QUALIFIED herp vet. : Perhaps she has eggs. More than likely she has some type of bowel obstruction, but she could have a variety of problems all at once. My last iguana ate everything not nailed down and many foreign objects were found in his belly during his necropsy (including a 6" toy). Needless to say, this can eventually lead to her death just from a slow infection that can occur over time so definitely don't treat this lightly. : Good luck and keep us posted.

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