Hello, I adopted an adult Iguana a week ago. She is 4 1/2 years old and from nose to tail, she is 3 1/2 feet long. She is beautiful and looks healthly. I grew up with an Iguana (Mother had one for 16 years) so I know how to care for them but am no expert. I have tried to offer her a healthly diet of greens, other vegetables and fruit with the right percentage. She doesn't seem to want to eat, the food just looks like it is pushed around. Her former owner just fed her salads from fast food restaurants which contain lettuce and cheese, both items she should not have. My daughter can get her to eat by hand sometimes. I guess I'm asking is it just an adjustment to her new surroundings or is she just not used to a good diet? How can I get her to eat?
Hmm if she's 4 1/2 years old and only 3 1/2 ft long, that seems small. My female iguana is 3 years old, and very close to 4 feet long. Anyways onto the feeding Iguanas can be picky if they are fed the wrong diet and you try to switch them. It would help me if you told me exactly what you are feeding her. She might just need time to adjust as well, but another important factor is the actual time you are feeding her. Are you feeding her early in the morning? If not, this could be your problem. Iguanas need to eat shortly after they wake up. My iguana wakes up at 6am, I feed her at about 7am, giving her long enough to wake up and get adjusted, then she comes down to eat. Iguanas need to eat early in the morning, because they spend the rest of the day basking in the high temperatures, this aids in digestion. You can coax her to eat by finding a particular fruit she might like. Once you know her "soft spot" put that fruit all over her greens, she will then eat the greens while eating her fruit. After she was eating that then you can go about putting the fruit near the bottom and she will just have to eat her way through the greens to get to the fruit. It would help if you just gave me a whole run down on your set up. Cage Size? What are you using for substrate? Basking Bulb/what type? Basking Temp, Cool Side Temp, Ambient temp? What are you measuring temps with? How are you providing extra heat when the basking bulb goes out? Do you have a humidity gauge? What percentage is the humidity at? How often do you mist her? What are you feeding her? Has she defecated? If so what does it look like? What kind of calcium/how often? What kind of vitamins/how often
