| Member |
Message |
|
#375466
Sathane
View Profile
|
 Iguana Adoption
Tommorrow I will be heading to the Herp Show in Mississauga and while I’m in the area I will be visiting an 7 year old male Ig that has been put up for adoption. He has a huge enclosure that I will be taking with him, if we decide to take him after visiting. He recently (June 6th) underwent surgery for an abcess on his right front leg and is taking antibiotics due to bacteria that was in the abcess. While he was at the veterinary hospital, his current owner redid his enclosure; new liner, new uvb florescents, and new heating bulbs. When he returned from the vet hospital he was somewhat stressed due to the change in his enclosure but has started to calm down recently. The owner needs to put him up for adoption as one of her family members has recently developed an allergy to him. I have no problems with completing his medical treatment and ensuring he is properly dosed with the medication he has been prescribed as I have experience with this in the past so my question is this:
Which do you think would be better for the Ig; To request that I be allowed to take him tommorrow or that I wait until he has finished his treatment with his current owner and has calmed down due to the change in his enclosure?
The reason I ask is because I am not completely sure as to what will make the transition easier on him, and on us. Taking him now would allow him to acclimate to his new surrounding completely while he is still getting used to the changes in his enclosure. I understand that his stress levels will increase but they will decrease concurrently with the stress of getting used to his new enclosure and medical treatment. Taking him later will allow him to get used to the changes in his enclosure and deal with the treatment but once he has calmed down from that stress he will be stressed again when he acclimates to my home. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially if you currently own a large male Ig. Xta?
|
|
06/19/05 01:22am
|
|
|
#375638
Xta
View Profile
|
Message To: Sathane In reference to Message Id: 375466
Iguana Adoption
It’s hard to say as he will be stressed no matter what. My first thought would be to let him finish his treatment of meds and get a bit more used to his cage. They easily get sick when they are stressed and if he is already fighting something and dealing with the antibiotics which are also hard on them, I’d give him an opportunity to heal a bit more. If he is used to his cage, the transition won’t be as bad into a new home as at least his cage will be familiar. Again, there may not be enough time in between to make a huge difference so it is really up to you. Some are more sensitive than others but they do all hate change it seems. Good luck with whatever you decide.
|
|
06/19/05 01:25pm
|
|
|
#376273
Sathane
View Profile
|
Message To: Xta In reference to Message Id: 375638
Iguana Adoption
Thanks Xta. We ended up moving him today after visiting and seeing the conditions he was in. The previous owner was actually the lady who was taking care of him’s son who was always away with work so she would take care of the Ig. The problem was that she was scared of him and rarely actually paid attention to him. She pretty much just fed him. After looking him over I noticed that a lot of very basic husbandry has gone unattended for some time. Proper diet, nail trimming, proper UVB lights, etc. She has been feeding him romaine lettuce as the main part of his diet with collards and squash to supplement it once in a while. The stitched up wound from the abcess was black and oozy when he was there. He also has a chunk missing from his ’lip’ and many missing spikes. She had never treated the lip as she was afraid that he’d bite her if she went near his mouth. We brought him home and I started to reassemble his enclosure. It took a while since it is huge and I had to make some modifications to make it safer. There were screws used to mount the hinges on the ramps that were slightly too long and penetrated the wood, leaving sharp spikes at the top of the ramp. The holes cut in the metal top for the light fixtures had very sharp edges. Stuff like that. It’s also very plain and dreary looking so my girlfriend wants to decorate it for him. When we got him home we gave him a quick bath and cleaned and treated the stitched abcess wound. No more black gunk. It looks clean and good now. I attemtped to trim his nails but he didn’t seem to like me touching his toes. The caretaker admitted to not trimming his nails for about 4 years and some of them are so long that they are curling and twisting around. Some of his toes appear twisted because of this as well so I’m not sure if it hurts him when I hold his toe to trim it. I’ll be taking him to our vet for a quick checkup and a nail trim tommorrow. After all this he ended up just laying across our lap while we pet him and he seems to really enjoy it and was calm. He seems very mellow and tame now but we’ll see how things go in the next couple of days...
|
|
06/20/05 01:45am
|
|
|
#376920
Xta
View Profile
|
Message To: Sathane In reference to Message Id: 376273
Iguana Adoption
It sounds like you did the right thing. Good luck. You may have to slowly trim the nails back if they are so bad. You don’t want to cut into the vein. I can’t imagine not cutting them for so long! Poor thing. Try touching his toes daily for short periods lightly....so he gets used to you handling them. Sleestack only hates it when I pick his toe shed so it doesn’t cut off his circulation...and make him lose a part of a toe. He has no patience and will kick me or move it away from me. He gets a little annoyed with toe trimming but only after I’ve done a couple feet. I try to do them fast. The little scissor with the notch cut out is my favorite trimmer.
And his face sounds bad. Post some pics soon if you can. I’m glad he found you. Sometimes they know a better situation so maybe he will not be too bad for you guys....then again you just never know. Keep us posted.
|
|
06/20/05 08:04pm
|
|
|
#377155
Sathane
View Profile
|
Message To: Xta In reference to Message Id: 376920
Iguana Adoption
I called the local herp vet (I have one right here in town and another 40 mins away) and trimming will cost me 18 dollars. I’ll let them do it for the first time then I’ll maintain them. He’s calmed down a huge amount after only one day and things are going very well. We made a ton of modifications to his enclosure; some necessary for safety’s sake (such as putting proper sized screws in the ramps as some were too long and protruded on the walking surface [kinda makes you wonder how he got the abscess in the first place], and fixing the sharp edges near the lights..) and a whole lot for aesthetics. I think he is very happy now. We took some pictures of him when he was at his original house then took some more approximately 24 hours later after doing most of the modifications and the difference is incredible. You can actually tell by the photos how much his spirits have lifted.
Here is a photo of Troi in his enclosure when we first went to see him at his original keeper’s home.
Here are a couple of photos of him exploring the very same enclosure after most of the modifications.
Here is a photo of the nose rub he got while at the vet hospital. He was there for four days and they kept him in a wire enclosure that he rubbed against. If you right click and save the photo you can zoom in with very little quality loss as it is very high resolution.
|
|
06/20/05 11:32pm
|
|
|
#377401
Zechriel
View Profile
|
Message To: Sathane In reference to Message Id: 377155
 Iguana Adoption
Wow look into his eyes and you can see how happy he is. Kudos on your great job, he’s gorgeous!
|
|
06/21/05 08:45am
|
|
|
#377441
Sathane
View Profile
|
Message To: Zechriel In reference to Message Id: 377401
Iguana Adoption
Thanks Zechriel. He’s such a sweetheart too. Like a big scaly puppy. Whenever we rub his sides or pet his jowels he leans over so far into it that he almost falls over into our hands. Too cute.
|
|
06/21/05 10:45am
|
|
|
#378116
Xta
View Profile
|
Message To: Sathane In reference to Message Id: 377441
Iguana Adoption
He looks way better you are right...hard to believe those photos weren’t weeks/months apart! Nice cage mods.
That is a nasty face rub injury alright...makes Sleestack’s look like a picnic. I also noticed the black foot...maybe a burn? Does he have a slight burn/bruise on the top of his head (hard to tell)? With your care, I’m sure these injuries will get better in no time. Good luck.
|
|
06/21/05 09:04pm
|
|
|
#378189
Sathane
View Profile
|
Message To: Xta In reference to Message Id: 378116
Iguana Adoption
The black mark on his front right foot is actually the stitches from his surgery (He had an abscess) and he does have what looks like a burn on top of his head. It almost looks like he was branded but I’m not sure. He gets a lot of attention here and he’ll get better quickly in our care.
|
|
06/21/05 10:19pm
|
|
