Baby Green Iguana In Trouble!

Question
My boyfriend and I recently rescued a young 2-3 month old green iguana from a reptile store. This brave little man was in a cage with  15 other babies, 2x and even 3-4x his size. He has been doing fine for the past month that we have had him, but in the past few days, we have noticed that he has had drastic weight loss, and color change. He is eating and pooping normally, we have the cage tempture between 80-85. We feed him twice a day.
We also have another rescue baby in the same cage with him. Do you know what could possibly wrong with him? The soonest we can get to a vet is in two days :( He has gone downhill super quikly and we are worried. Any answer would be helpful... Thank you!

Answer
Hi Lindsay,

The first thing that jumps out at me is your temperature. It is far too cool for an iguana.

The general, ambient background temperature can be 80 - 85F but they need a basking/hot spot of 95 - 105 F. Iguanas typically bask for much of the day.

Temperature is critical for reptiles. Everything from proper digestion, metabolizing nutrients and a functioning immune system relies on them being able to access this range of temperatures to regulate their own body temperature.

This link has good info on heating, lighting and feeding an iguana. Good luck with the vet, I hope your rescue effort has a happy ending.

http://www.greenigsociety.org/careinfo.htm