This is Dragon, a very sick green iguana rescue

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The other ay I rescued an adult male green iguana. My sister mentioned that she had a friend who was in the process of moving to West Virginia, and that the friend's family had left there green iguana behind. I learned that the iguana had been left on his own in a tiny enclosure for weeks at a time without heat, light or food. The enclosure, (I use that term loosely) was probably all of 3ft. long and half as deep. For comparison, an adult iguana requires an enclosure 6 by 9 feet to live comfortably.

How this iguana is still alive is a real mystery. A healthy animal could probably survive a week without foodf or water in a vacant trailer. Somehow, Dragon has survived a lifetime of being mistreated. Needless to say, he's very sick. He will not eat and is quite frail. Many of his bones are deformed and have been repeatedly broken ( a result of metabolic bone disorder MBD, the body leeching calcium from the bones, turning them to mush) and other than to puff up when I have to bother him, he can't domuch moving. I'm doing the best I can for him, but I fear that isn't enough. Dragon the iguana needs to see a reptile vet. I had to borrow money just to buy heat lamps for him, I simply don't have the funds to pay for a vet visit, let alone possible treatment.

Please, if anyone can help, donate anything you can. Money would be nice, buti'm also excepting large quantities of positive energy and/or your well wishes.

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P.S. I aplogize if it isn't kosher to post this here, i'll remove it on request.

 

[2i2_D3gr33s]

If the Iguana's best intrest is in your mind, and you can't afford the proper care, there are Iquana/Reptile rescues out there, if you can find one close to home. Sometimes it's just a family that has made it a personal goal of to do this on their own, sometimes it's an organization.

Just something you might want to consider.

P.S. Best of Luck with the guy.

 

[ultimuttone]

Dragon is lucky you are there to try and nurse him back to health. Best of luck with him and all the positive energy we can muster from here .

 

[Sisuitl]

Oh my gosh the poor dude! You are a wonderful person to take him in. My iguana, Pavel, was in a similar situation when I got him. He had a broken dewlap bone, broken femur, three broken toes, deformed jaw from MBD, mouth rot so bad he couldn't shut his mouth, nose rubbed raw from being in a tiny wire cage, beginning stages of kidney failure, and was emaciated and dehydrated. I'll try to offer any advice I can, since I was 16 and financially destitute when he came to me. There is hope, as he is 17 years old now, healthy, and happily roaming the house. I have to wonder with you, how do they manage to survive in such horrid conditions?

Anyway, if he won't eat try the following:

Double and triple check his temps. If they aren't right, then he won't eat.

What foods have you tried him on? A lot of iguanas are picky eaters. My iguana goes through food kicks, where he loves to eat one thing, and then suddenly one day will refuse to touch it and move to a totally new favorite food. Here are some things that were his favorites:

Raw sweet potato cut in little chunks
Steamed acorn squash
Steamed green beans
Sugar snap peas
Steamed carrot
Grapes cut in half
Banana
Nasturtiums
Dandelions! (he used to do a little dance on his hind legs for dandelions when he was young and spry)
Collard Greens
Artichoke Hearts


You will have to experiment a little bit to find out what he likes best, but when you do find it he should eat like a champion. Steaming veggies seems to release the smell and make them more palatable to a picky iguana. Also, if he wasn't well cared for he might not recognize a lot of fruits and vegetables as food. Is there any way to find out what they were feeding him?

My iguana was diagnosed with chronic depression by three different vets. He happens to be very social with people, walking around to everybodies laps and such. He seems to really enjoy car rides and visiting people. When Pavel got all anorexic and depressed I could take him for a drive whenever I needed him to eat, or take him to a school for a demonstration, and he would eat the greens given to him by the children. If you iguana doesn't seem to mind getting attention from you, you might try just hanging out with him and feeding him by hand. They are social animals in the wild.

Melissa Kaplan's website has a wealth of medical and husbandry information on it. It has saved my iguanas life more than once. I highly reccomend you go and read everything on there.

http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/

She has a really great high nutrition food mush recipe that saved my iguana when he had mouth rot and his mouth hurt so bad he couldn't eat. He had to be fed this stuff from a giant syringe, and boy he was glad to get it.

If you have any questions whatsoever please ask, feel free to PM me or whatever. Best of luck with your new friend!

 

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Thanks for the kind words everyone. I think that simply having people that care about whether he lives or dies will do a world of good for this guy.

I don't feel that putting him in someone else's charge is necessary. I will not turn an animal in need away. For fullscale operations and individual rescuers alike, the animals taken in are a financial burden. Burden as he may be, Dragon would not go without the medical care he needs.

I ask for donations because een though the question of whether to buy school books for the Spring or pay for vet. care. it's an easy one for me, but it would be nice to cover both.

As far as his feeding and living conditions are concerned: he's secluded in my snake room to minimze stress and a blanket covers most of the cage. I was told that he eats "salad stuff" so I first tried repectable leafy greens like kale, romaine, and spinach, as well as iceburg lettuce (I have a hunch he was fed on bagged salad mix) bananas and sugar snap peas. I didn't even try squashes or alfalfa as i'm certain thosewould be entirely alien to him. His previous owner actually zipped his tail into my soft-sided crate...and didn't care. He was never ever handled so while he may be docile now, I doubt he's keen on a hand feeding.

His ambient temps stay around 80f with a basking spot and uv lamp on during the day. I ran him a warm bath this evening in an attempt to get his bowels and digestion moving. He did begin drinking water, but regurgitated most of it. He spent several minutes swallowing and opening/closing his mouth, there was some mucus present but at least the inside of his mouth seemed to have good color. It's a good thing he's going to the vet in the morning!

I've not tried steaming his foods, though I have read MK's site up and down. I'm sure it's comming in quite handy now that there's another ig around the house.

 

[Preita]

Best of luck. It's always horrible to hear of people neglecting their animals. Our animals depend on us!

:-offtopic
Traci, I totally love your avatar! It's SO cute :bowdown:

 

[Porky]

Oh my god, I almost cried. It is a good thing what you are doing for the little guy. A good thing to do is go to a small store and talk to the manager or owner. Tell them you have a sick animal that has poor health and you need some extra help. They will usually give you the extra greens that they would throw out at the end of the day or 2 period. I have heard of it and its worth a try. I got ground turkey and beef heart this way for free. If you can take a picture to show them he is really sick. This could save you a bit of money. Best of luck to you and I have a feeling he will make a good come back. Iceburge lettace isn't the best for iquanas as it isn't very high in nutrients. I recomend any kinds of greens and lots of them.

Best of Luck and Keep us posted!!!!

 

[MegF.]

Iceberg lettuce isn't good for anyone! There isn't a nutrient to be found in it. I hope you can save the poor guy and let us know what the vet says. He's a beautiful animal and it would be a shame if he didn't make it.

 

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Dragon the iguana died in the late morning today.

It's funny just how attached you can become in four days. While this was always a very real possibility, it still comesas a shock. After yesterday's vet visit we were quite optimistic that he would survive.He had some antibiotic and calcium shots, and we started syringe feeding him a specialized herbavore liquid diet. He had simply been abandoned for too long.

I really want to thank everyone for their help in making the end of his life comfortable. It really means a lot to me that other people really cared about his well being. Your words of encouragement were a real help to me as well. After hearing Dragon's story, even my vet was shaken. We did the best we could for him, and at the end of the day that's all you can do.

Again, thank you all.

 

[MegF.]

So sorry to hear about Dragon. At least you did the best that you could, and his final days were more comfortable. I wish there were something you could do about the owner as I think this would qualify as animal abuse.

 

[Taceas]

I agree with Meg, this would qualify as abuse/neglect here.

Heck, a few months ago some white-trash people moved out of their shotgun shack and left their mutt dog tied to his dog house. For 8 days he sat out there with no food or water and all of 5ft of chain. Only after a sheriff deputy seeing kids dragging said dog through an adjacent field and kicking it with doghouse still attached did something get done. Kids were arrested, the dog ultimately went to heaven, and the former owners had to pay a very hefty fine for moving and leaving him behind.

So I'd say that if you can, I'd file a report and talk to the police about the matter. An iguana is a living creature the same as a dog or a cat and requires care and maintenence. With having seen the vet, you could even have that on your side as well to illustrate how dire of shape that iguana was in.