john

--- In IguanaDen (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com, Susan Mule' <tarantulakidsmom@...>


I had a similar scare last summer. I put Buckwheat outside for an
afternoon of sunshine and left him alone. When I came back, I saw he
was motionless and was foaming at the mouth. When I picked him up, his
body was limp. I quickly rushed him to the veterinarian (whose office
is, luckily, down the street from me).

The vet was paged during his lunch break and returned to the office to
examine Buckwheat. His diagnosis was heat exhaustion. Heat exhaustion?
But they're native to the jungles of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central
and South America. The vet asked if I had a shaded area where
Buckwheat could move to if he got hot. Well, I didn't, and that was
the big problem.

He then said that it's not necessary for me to leave him out for long
periods of time, that an hour or so of sunlight evey few days is
plenty for a pet iguana. He also said that I need to provide a shaded
area for him to enter when he gets too hot or over-stressed from the
noise and the birds and airplanes flying overhead. He also said that
Buckwheat may have adjusted to surviving at lower temperatures than
his wild counterparts in the equatorial region and his body may not be
able to handle too much time in the summer heat.

Buckwheat was treated and released that day, and ever since he's only
been out for an hour or so at a time. It seems to work well and I
haven't had any repeats of that incident.

By the way, the temperature was in the low-90s that day and with about
75% humidity.