Iguana care?

[Dalishar]

How low is the cool side? The UV really won't do much for temperature so it's useless to move it off the basking tbh. CHE's are extremely hot and not really safe to use with tanks.

Red lights I'm not sure of. I personally don't like using any sort of visible light at night as it just doesn't seem like it'd be best, but iguanas supposedly can't see certain colors / rays so that's up to you.

The overhead freak out is perfectly natural! If you want it a little "easier" you can try coming at them from the side instead of over and they won't have a complete tantrum, but it takes a lot longer to catch the buggers .

[I<3Dreamsicles]

How low is the cool side? The UV really won't do much for temperature so it's useless to move it off the basking tbh. CHE's are extremely hot and not really safe to use with tanks.

Red lights I'm not sure of. I personally don't like using any sort of visible light at night as it just doesn't seem like it'd be best, but iguanas supposedly can't see certain colors / rays so that's up to you.

The overhead freak out is perfectly natural! If you want it a little "easier" you can try coming at them from the side instead of over and they won't have a complete tantrum, but it takes a lot longer to catch the buggers .

well i think the cool side was around 75 or something, theres really no heat to it. still having a hard time with the humidity... i put paper towels on the news paper to hold water better.

is there places they dont like to be touched or does it just depend on the iguana? he doesnt seem to like me around his head. mostly only around the top though. its kinda weird. lol. maybe its the same as the thing with picking him up... I think he might have eaten some of the shredded carrots i gave him, its hard to tell. still trying to get real food for him.

[Dalishar]

That's pretty natural. They have a... "sensor" I guess (you can see it, it's a funky looking scale on their head) that enables them to tell if a predator is above them. The youngsters are pretty low on the food chain up until full growth, so they tend to be a bit more nervous about anything above them (and everything else...) than an adult would.

Once he's more comfortable though, he probably won't mind the head. Mine used to go into complete sleepy-bliss mode if I rubbed between his eyes. But they're all different, so that depends entirely on him.

Do you have the water bowl on the hot side? That could help humidity a tad. Otherwise I'd just spray him 2-3 times a day. I'm not really sure what you can do about the heat without destroying what humidity you have, I was a sucker and just kept my room at 80 for them (it was miserable) :\. Maybe a low wattage bulb? Like a regular house light, and just go up in watts until it settles. Assuming your family is crazy like mine and keeps like 20 different lightbulbs in the cupboards.

[I<3Dreamsicles]

I put the waterbowl on the cool side. along with the food, so the food doesnt get dried out. lol, my room used to be really hot i dont know why, but it was good for my snake... i didnt even do anything to increase the heat it just got hot.a low wattage blub might work, but wouldnt help at night... i have a feeling it would do the same as a red light but not as bad. ill see what i can do, also idk i guess the temp is changing a bit but last time i checked the cool side was like 85. i dont know whats going on
the basking spot is good though so atleast he has some where to go if he needs heat...

[I<3Dreamsicles]

and i wouldnt bother with the waterbowl on the hot side, i tried that with my snake with a large water dish and it hardly did anything, the iguana one is much smaller so it probably wouldnt have any effect.

[I<3Dreamsicles]

I actually thing he ate some of the shredded carrots i put in the dish. my moms supposed to picking up some of the foods iguanas eat today, i gave her a sheet of the foods they eat from that website you posted. I also have a drinking water dish and a large black plastic thing that i put in for him to soak in if he wants too.

[I<3Dreamsicles]

He actually seems to be doing better now, his skin feels alot softer and i think hes been eating, at least some because the leaves are missing peices. He doesnt LOOK as skinny anymore, his ribs cant be seen as much and he is alot more alert... now he trys to run away when you want to pick him up. Before he didnt.

[Dalishar]

Yeap, being a brat is a sure sign of good health!

Glad he's doing better! Did you ever get the humidity sorted out, or just resorting to baths to keep him hydrated?

[I<3Dreamsicles]

Yeap, being a brat is a sure sign of good health!

Glad he's doing better! Did you ever get the humidity sorted out, or just resorting to baths to keep him hydrated?

Humidity is doing its own thing lol. Some times its good sometimes its low, i still spray it a few times a day and he has a water bowl along with the bigger dish of water that he could soak in. Hes been eating thuogh which is good. What about calcium suppliments? how much/ often should i use it if at all?

[Dalishar]

For Dibble I use ReptiCal (I think you can pick it up at pretty much any pet store). Usually just get a pinch and mix it up really good with the food. I've been doing it every day of the week, and will probably drop off to about ~3-4 times a week once he's 4 years old (as Cubans seem to grow a little slower than Greens do). You could probably drop it down to fewer days at ~2-2 1/2 years old.

You may also want to supplement a multivitamin. I crushed up Centrum tablets and just add another pinch in along with the calcium supplements about ~4 times a week. This will drop down to ~2 times a week at 4 years.

Just be careful about over doing it, as too much calcium is just as bad as not enough.