some is wrong with my iguanas foot

Question

my iguanas foot   QUESTION: Ok my iguana is around 4 years old and its front right foot is swollen and his thumb (i guess that is what you would call it)is bent up. It seems like he cant move it, but he uses the arm to climb in his cage but now it seems like its getting worst i noticed it about 3 days ago and now it is a little red like it was bleeding but there is no blood its starting to scare me and i don't know what to do please help me

ANSWER: James,

Yikes, that looks awfully painful for your iguana. I am reading and re-reading what you described and what strikes me the most is that he is 4 years old and fits that comfortably in your hand in the photograph. This, along with the injury you describe and the way it looks leads me to believe that your iguana broke his thumb pretty badly but I think the real problem is with his calcium levels. When iguanas develop calcium deficiency, they generally remain significantly smaller than they ought to for their age group and they become especially prone to breaks and fractures, particularly in the fingers/toes, knees, and legs. I will discuss the injury and also how to handle possible calcium deficiency.

THE INJURY-

It looks to me like an obvious break in the bone, a fracture, or whatever the proper term would be. When a break occurs, localized swelling will occur because it is the body's natural way of creating a cast around the injury to promote healing. Your iguana is probably not able to move it because of the swelling and also that it hurts. The fact that there is a cut on the skin is questionable, but by looking at the position of the finger, it could not bend into that position without a break/fracture. The cut could come from a serious fracture in which the bone actually pierces through the skin, or perhaps the injury consisted of him getting his finger caught on something (maybe chicken wire or something like that if he has a metal cage) then him trying to break it free. Iguanas cannot move their fingers independently of each other, so if they get a finger stuck, they will sometimes yank the whole hand and if the finger is latched tightly onto something, it will break and in cases of really bad calcium deficiency, it can take the entire finger off.

Alright, so what should you do? I cannot tell you what to do but I can tell you what I do in situations like this, but truthfully, there is not much you can do. If you had no problem with spending about $100 dollars on him, you could get him antibiotics and pain medication. If you had no problem spending a lot more, you could have surgery done to straighten the bone out. What your main concern should be is preventing a serious infection or dry gangrene. It would be wise to get the antibiotic so that infection doesn't occur and become septic which could kill him, but if you cannot do that, it would be good to flush the wound with saline solution and betadine solution mixed together approx twice a day to prevent bacteria from harvesting. Broken bones will usually heal on their own by 6 weeks later. If he develops a very serious infection, pus, if the finger turns black and dies, etc...it would be VERY wise to seek out those antibiotics for him. A good vet will keep a reptile on antibiotics for at least a month because they are slow to metabolize and heal because they are cold blooded and their immune system hibernates when they are not warm enough.

THE CALCIUM DEFICIENCY

A very large majority of captive iguanas has calcium deficiency to some degree. Iguanas require a delicate balance of calcium and phosphate levels in for healthy bones. The two number one reasons for developing this deficiency (also known as Metabolic Bone Disease) is LACK OF UVB RAYS and POOR DIET.

Please evaluate your iguana's diet. Make sure you are using collard greens, mustard greens or turnip greens and no lettuce. Lettuce has no nutritional value. Also, avoid spinach, cabbage, carrots and broccoli because their high phosphate content blocks calcium absorption and can contribute to the calcium deficiency I mentioned earlier called Metabolic Bone Disease.

Secondly, it doesn't matter how much calcium you give your iguana if he is not receiving adequate UVB radiation. Without UVB radiation, the iguana cannot digest that calcium, so it goes unused. The body then begins to extract calcium from the bones to keep vital calcium levels in the blood and the body prefers to take the calcium from the fingers, toes, limbs before it will any other bones because those are non-vital for survival. Basically, UVB allows an iguana to produce vitamin D3, which allows an iguana to digest calcium.

Most reptile basking bulbs do not emit UVB, only UVA. If you have even the slightest doubt as to whether or not your iguana is receiving UVB radiation, you need to act fast and get a new UV bulb that you know for a fact has UVB radiation. It WILL say it on the box. Iguanas need UVA and UVB...UVA is used primarily for the heat output and also it has been noted to increase iguana's psychological well-being. UVB is the more important of the two because without it, an iguana cannot digest calcium. Your iguana is made to bask in the sun at very low latitudes in nature and their bodies are formed with a dependency on an outside source for UV rays. They need the UVB or else they become calcium deficient and this can cause an array of health related problems and symptoms including bone breaks, small animals for their age, lethargy, paralysis, deformation and even death. Natural, unfiltered sunlight is even better, but if you are unable to get your iguana outdoors regularly, please pick up a combo bulb or a separate UVA and UVB bulb.

Some good brands are Exo Terra "Solar Glo" Sun simulating lamps and also ZooMed's  "Power Sun".

Treating and reversing Metabolic Bone Disease takes MONTHS! Please start addressing your lighting and diet right now, if not, you are likely to see more breaks and eventually watch your iguana weaken and suffer over the long run.

Please follow up with any remaining questions or concerns.

Thank You,

Sara J. Gwerder
President
Raptor Rescue Iguana Sanctuary
Shreveport, LA
www.RaptorRescue.org



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok Thank you so much....so do you think i should put him in a smaller cage then because right now i have him in a 6ft by 4ft cage. I'm really worried now and what are some other really good things i can feed him like fruit (can i feed him fruit)

Answer

My Favorite Bulb   Don't be worried, it is alright. It is very common to get confused at the pet store and overlook that the light has UVB and also, there are many misconceptions about good foods for iguanas. Iguanas are very hearty animals and recover quite well from injury and illness, so if you provide a UVB source for 10-12 hours a day and give him a good diet, he should be just fine.

About the cage, it doesn't matter how big the cage is as long as you are keeping it warm enough and keeping a strong enough UVB on him. For example, if you have a large cage but have a really small lamp at the top and he cannot get under it because it's too high, this is not going to work. If you want to keep a larger terrarium, get a relatively powerful lamp. The Exo Terra "Solar Glo" Sun Simulating lamp is my favorite because it provides UVA, UVB, and warms the cage very well all with just one bulb. It runs about $35-$40 but it has a 6-month warranty, an overheating sensor that shuts off the bulb for 10 minutes when it gets too hot, and it is formulated especially to treat and prevent metabolic bone disease. For a cage that big, I would say the 160w bulb is a good choice. Be sure the iguana stays warm enough, gets enough UVA and UVB exposure in that large cage and has climbing materials so he can bask under the bulb, but can also get out from under it if he starts to get too hot. I hope this is making sense.

About the fruit, yes fruit is good but it is more like a treat/candy. It is really high in sugar, therefore they say it should only be 10-15% of the iguana's diet. My iguanas like bananas, apple shavings, mangoes, etc.
Other good foods you can use on a large scale are orange-fleshed squash (butternut squash, pumpkin, etc.) also, green beans, sweet peas, escarole leaves, parsnips, dandelions, and small amounts of kale, alfalfa, carrots. Fresh foods area always better, frozen is second best and canned is third best for nutrients.
Try to mix up his diet to make sure he is getting proper nutrition. I usually make a salad so-to-speak with either collard greens, mustard greens or turnip greens as the base, then I shred up some squash with a cheese grater, cut up some green beans, throw some sweet peas on there and maybe some small shavings of banana on top. You can use a reptile vitamin powder 1-2 times per week as well if you want, but a diverse diet is good enough.

If you have any more questions or concerns, please continue to ask. I urge you not to be really worried about anything other than ensuring you have a UVB source and switching up his diet. His finger is probably hurting him, but I have seen much worse and believe me, any animal that can regenerate body parts can heal from injury very well.

Sara