[Tony Turbo]

Hello boys and girls.

I had been thinking about getting an Iguana for many years, and just recently I took the lunge and got one. I bought the Viv and furnishings last weekend, and picked the Iggy up on Monday and introduced him to his new home.

I laid everything out so it looks at natural as possible, but what is nice for me to look at might not be nice for the Iggy to look at. I got a 4' x 3' x 2' Viv because I know they like to climb trees so I went for height over length. The only problem is he spends most of time in the trees and up high and won't come down to the ground to drink or eat.

I have bark chippings on the ground and a large waterfall in a corner with space for him to bathe in because I heard they like to splash around in water. Any ideas as to why he won't come down to the ground the eat or drink? The only way I can get him to eat is to move his food up the branches, can't do that with water.

The only pictures I have at moment are some crap ones I took with my phone;

Have I done something wrong, or do I just need more time for him to settle in?


ANY advice would be great, thank you

 

[DeanThorpe]

is it a lot cooler at the bottom?
if the only heat is from above and the viv is on the floor it may be he is comfortable at top, should come down to eat etc though.

maybe a few more branches or log stacks at lower levels to encourage him to explore...he is gona prefer it right up top so he needs encouragment to leave his fav perch i guess.

Dean

 

[manda]

i would say he stays up there due to the uv light being right at the top if you can try to lower it a bit not by too much but enough so he can happily still be close to it
and as dean says make sure the heat at the bottom is hot enough as its a hot/cold sides not hot/cold ends
manda xx

 

[nicky]

to be honest iggies stay up in trees naturally, i have'nt had mine long but similer in style set-up and i have found he comes down when he wants to eat and also uses the water bowl he has for pooing in (which makes cleaning really easy lol) then goes back up..mabey once he gets used to suroundings etc he will feel better to come down...also mabey another level across inbetween one hes on and bottom may help....

 

[reptile-kid]

that looks rele kl i wldnt say dere is anythng rong wid it ova den wen da iggy gets bigga u will nd a much bigga cage lol

 

[eeji]

that looks rele kl i wldnt say dere is anythng rong wid it ova den wen da iggy gets bigga u will nd a much bigga cage lol

wtf does that lot say???!!!!!!! :? :? :wink:

Don't worry about your iggy staying in the trees, thats where they would be in the wild, so you will probably see yours most of the time at the highest point he can get. food n water on the floor is ok, he'll come down and eat when its all gone quiet and everyones out of the house.
how old is yr iggy, cos your gonna have to build a bigger viv sooner or later!

 

[Tony Turbo]

Evening all,

Thank you for the replies, great to get some other opinions

His name is Dutch by the way


I think Dean is right about more logs and plants lower down, I'm going to look into altering this tomorrow. I think it is because he finds it hard to get up and down because he doesn't like using the big log, too steep maybe. So I will make it easier for him to move about.

The temperature is near enough the same top and bottom, the difference is minimal and it is still pretty bright at the bottom, but he does like it at the top more.

The good news is though.... I picked him up for the first time tonight because my mate made me lol. He struggled at first (Dutch, not my mate) but once I got hold of him he stayed still and let us all stroke him as long as we moved slowly, and even closed his eyes for about 10 seconds. I put him down on my bed and he didn't try and run off which is a result! So, I took some better pics.

We used a phone for scale purposes and didn't use a flash. How old would you guys say he is based on his size, 3 - 6 months? I am going to ask the guy at the shop to see if he knows for sure, but Dutch is around 1' long at the moment.

I know this Viv will only last him a short while so I am going to look into getting something custom made when it comes to it.


8)

 

[eeji]

dont worry about stuff being too steep - i've just finished my new iggy viv and put loaaaads of plastic plants on the wall to make it all look a bit prettier, and the little bugger climbs up the walls on these more than the tree i built for him!

 

[Tony Turbo]

Ah ok, thanks. Maybe I should do the same? Can they grip big wide logs without any bark on? There are vines wrapped around it, maybe he is just being lazy lol.


Do you have any pictures of your viv? It would be interesting to compare.

 

[eeji]

i kept the bark on cos it was a real pig to come off (sorry baz!) but there should be no real problem with stripped branches - their claws are mega sharp and made for climbing!

i'm going to put some piccys up soon in the habitat section, just got a few finishing touches to it first (and get round to getting some batteries for the camera!!)

 

[Tony Turbo]

Cool, I'll take a look later.

I didn't have much choice with the logs, I found them bark-less

 

[Flake1]

Lol I wouldn’t worry about the steepness of the logs iguanas can jump and climb pretty well they are tree dwelling lizards after all.

I would say just let him settle down and handle him a lot he will get his confidence up in no time to go down the logs.

Remember if you don’t handle him he will get defensive... And he will need at least 7 - 8 feet by 8 feet cage when he is older... also iguanas take more atention then a dog.

Anyway I’m sure you know all that (hopefully)

Sorry just hope your not someone who just gets an iguana to look cool... i'm sure your not but someone’s got to ask

 

[Tony Turbo]

Thanks for that mate

I don't need an Iguana to look cool 8) PMSL


I just got ome from work and "caught" him at the bottom, as soon as he saw me he climbed back up the top, so it must be a confidence thing. I purposly put his food down there this morning to make him go down there, so maybe that helped.

 

[claire.major]

Hey Tony its Claire (Christian Major's sister) just wanted to say hi, how you getting on with Dutch.

 

[hooded_vixen]

HI,

just thought id add something to this topic that noone else has mentioned as yet, firstly your viv looks cool maybe you could use aquarium backing to cover the bottom glass section of your viv this will make your iguana feel much safer when he/she is eating as of course when eating they are aware they may be vulunerble (naturally built into them for survival even though they are captive instincts are always the same).

Or the other thing you could try would be to make shelf drilled into the side of your viv A FEEDING PLATFORM there are a number of ways you could do this whatever way suiting yourself, I use this method and my iguana loves it she much prefers to eat her fruit annd veg from the feeding platform than from her other bowl on the vivarium floor.

Azura hardly ever uses the bottom half of her viv always hanging round the top or in the bath for some reason she loves the bathroom

 

[Furless-Friends]

Only thing i would suggest ( and bear in mind I havent read whole post as i'm a lazy git tday and trying to post in between serving customers) is a Hide box up in the top left hand corner.

My iggie (Lucifer) loves his hide and will spend alot of time up there.

Just a thought

Andy

 

[Tony Turbo]

Hey Tony its Claire (Christian Major's sister) just wanted to say hi, how you getting on with Dutch.

Hey Claire,

That's funny... I was talking to Mr C today and the topic of you and Bert came up. Then I log back into the forum for the first time in months and you have replied to my topic. LOL

He is doing good thanks, we'll have to catch up on MSN sometime 8)

 

[Tony Turbo]

andyb5 and hooden_vixen

Thank you for your help and advice

A lot has changed since I made this post. He comes down alot more now, mostly when I am out. I come home from work and he has eaten all his food. He will eat happily from my hand though, which has to be a good sign. I might try moving his food to a higher platform for a week, see what happens. I have since re-modelled the viv with more flat areas so he doesn't have to grip all the time.

I am resisting putting a hide in the viv as I don't want him to hide if that makes sense, he isn't scared of us now, but still doesn't like being picked up. Once you have him though he is perfectly happy to just sit there and climb all over you.

 

[basky]

if your worried about him drinking, you could spray him daily and he may drink the droplets. not brilliant but at least he'll be getting some water.