#11030

 Very sick Iguana, please help!

Hi, my brother’s Iguana, "Oops", is almost exactly three years old. Oops has been very active and healthy throughout these years. Oops has been handled lots and is very friendly. This morning, oops seems very sick. She is just lying there, still alive, but not eating and not moving. I think my brother has been somewhat neglectiful about feeding Oops, on occasion missing food for an entire day. The UV lamp burnt out about a month ago and has not been replaced yet. But right after we got oops, she never had a UV lamp for almost half a year and did quite well. I thinking about buying some gatoraid and nursing it to oops as I saw suggested somewhere else, can anyone give me any other advice for nursing our iguana back to health? Thank-you.

 #11042

 Very sick Iguana, please help!

I think the best thing you should do is take Oops to a vet or ask a vet for advice on what to give her. I had never heard of giving an iguana gatorade, it might not be good for them. Also you definitely need to get a UV lamp with both UVA and UVB. They’re more expensive but it’s very important for their overall health. She may also have parasites. Iguanas also need calcium, I give mine Repti Cal with no phosphorus. It’s about $8. I’m sorry to say, but usually you don’t see the signs of an iguana being that sick until it’s too late. That being said, a vet would be the best idea for Oops. I hope she gets better.

 #11071

 Very sick Iguana, please help!

Iguanas need UV...just because she was okay for 6months, doesn’t mean she wouldn’t have been healthier with one. She needs a UV lamp immediately, a nutritious diet of calcium rich greens like collard, mustard, turnip greens, escarole, dandelion, endive, watercress, squash. She needs to see a vet...when they show illness, it is a bad sign. Please see that she is fed daily and her temps are warm...and she gets plenty of calcium. Good luck. Oh...and take a fresh stool sample to the vet.

 #11084

 Very sick Iguana, please help!

I agree with LezLee. If you know for a fact that the iguana has been neglected you should start by getting the vet to check it out. We used to use gatorade years ago because it had electolites in it. So if we had a lizard that was stressed from travel we would give it some gatorade. However, your best bet is to take your iguana in to a vet. It may also be dehydrated too, do to lack of a proper diet. What was your brother feeding him? PE

 #11177

 Very sick Iguana, please help!

Take poor OOPS to the vet..I was giving my iguana gatorade for her kidney disease before i can get her to the vet ..Actually when i got to the vet and asked him if it could hurt her he told me in large amounts it actually can..Gatorade has lots of sugar in it..Water can do the same thing for OOPS..Water can replace her electrolytes just as good as gatorade can..So try rehydrating him first before you actually start to feed him anything..Get that UV bulb going or else you are going to have a very sick animal..Give him a bath in warm water..That can help him..I know it helps my iguana that has kidney disease..My iguana didnt eat in a whole month..She was drinking lots of water though..Thank god or else she could’ve died on us..I started her on fluid injections that the vet gave me..I rehydrated her and then she started eating on her own again..THANK GOD i thought i was going to loose her many of times..