An iguana can be injured several ways. Sometimes
the injury is obvious; sometimes it's not. When the
injuries are minor, you can often treat the injury
yourself, but knowing whether an injury is minor — or
knowing when it goes from being a minor problem to
a major one — is the tricky part.
If you're new to iguanas, or you've never
encountered and dealt properly with the condition
before, don't fiddle around with it. Take your iguana
to a vet immediately. The longer you wait before
taking your iguana to the vet, the bigger the risk to
his health.
Abscesses
Abscesses are pockets of infection containing solid
pus. They commonly occur as a result of injury to
tails, toes, necks, and legs, especially when two
iguanas are kept together and one gets bitten.
Rostral abscesses occur when an iguana repeatedly
injures its nose or snout by banging it into hard
surfaces. However, abscesses don't necessarily
occur at the site of an injury or immediately after an
injury. In fact, they may occur months after an injury
or when there has been no injury.
Abscesses need to be treated by a veterinarian who
may recommend administering a course of
antibiotics first and then surgically removing the
abscess.
Despite being removed and being treated with
antibiotics, abscesses can form again in the same
place within a very short time during the recovery
period. As a result, two or more treatments may be
necessary.
Burns
Burns are most frequently caused by heat sources:
hot rocks, under-the-tank heating pads when used
without a substrate layer, human heating pads when
they're the only source of heat, and overhead heat
lights and ceramic heating elements. The burns may
be mild, with just a small blister, or they may be
severe enough to cause death by the time the
keeper notices them.
Although you can treat minor blistering and burns at
home by soaking them daily in povidone-iodine and
applying a burn ointment, it's best not to guess at
the severity. Even with moderate burns, the iguana
must be seen by a vet. Serious burns destroy skin,
result in heavy fluid loss, and leave the iguana highly
susceptible to invading bacteria. This, in turn, can
lead to a raging, possibly lethal, systemic infection.
You know the saying "Once burned, twice shy"? In
the case of burn victims, it's "Once burned, forever
susceptible to burns." If the burn is on the iguana's
belly or pelvis, do away with all bottom heat sources
for the duration of the recovery period. Once the
burn is healed, you can use a human heating pad in
conjunction with overhead or other radiant heat
sources, but the pad will have to be covered with a
thick terry cloth towel.
Iguanas require a warm environment, not just a hot
surface, to successfully and safely thermoregulate
their core body temperatures. If your iguana is found
hugging a light or light fixture, or if it never leaves
its pad or rock, that's a sure sign that the enclosure
is too cold and that you're watching a burn about to
happen. Fix the situation before it becomes a
problem.
Claws — broken or torn off
Iguanas climb by using their claws as well as their
toes. When walking, climbing, or jumping, they may
jerk their toes instead of disengaging them, resulting
in a broken toe, a ripped-out claw, or both. The same
may happen if the claw is trapped in a tiny hole or
fissure in a piece of wood.
Sometimes the claw may still be attached to the
fingertip by the underlying fleshy structure or a tiny
shred of skin. Removing the claw at this point is
best. If just a tiny shred of tissue is holding the claw
on, you can quickly pull it off; otherwise, you should
take your iguana to the reptile vet to have the claw
cut off. If the claw is gone, dip the toe tip in warm
diluted povidone-iodine and let it soak for several
minutes. Top the tip with antibiotic ointment. For the
next couple of days, repeat the medicated soaks and
apply the antibiotic ointment to the tip at night.
Depending on how much of the nail matrix is left, the
claw may or may not grow back. If it does grow
back, the initial regrowth will be slow.
Keeping the iguana's claws neatly trimmed and
reducing or eliminating the fissures and small holes
in climbing and basking branches that can trap claws
will help prevent future occurrences. Trimming off
the ultra-sharp tip projecting off the main claw won't
hinder his ability to climb.
Crusty mouth
Sometimes, usually in the morning, you may find a
mixture of serous fluid and saliva encrusted around
the edges of your iguana's mouth. It may be thick
and hard enough to have glued your iguana's mouth
shut. The cause is usually a minor injury to the
gums, as from the stem of a leafy green or a small
chunk of squash. Biting cage wire, thin branches,
your favorite ballpoint pen, another iguana's tail, and
other hard objects can also cause minor mouth
tissue injuries.
Remove these deposits by wetting a cotton-tipped
swab in warm water and then twirling it against the
deposit to gently loosen and move it away from the
mouth. Then check inside the mouth, looking for
signs of petechia (tiny red lines indicating bleeding in
the tissue) or plaques (patches of tissue that may be
yellowish, whitish, or greenish in color). If you see no
signs of the plaques or petechial hemorrhaging, then
there's nothing to worry about.
You may have to remove the crusts a couple of
times a day for a few days, but the injured tissue
heals quickly in a healthy iguana, and you don't need
to treat the area with any topical antiseptic.
Stubborn, recurring crusty sores on the rim of the
mouth may mean an infection. If so, your iguana
needs to visit a vet for evaluation.
Petechia, plaques, and regularly occurring crustiness
may indicate a more serious underlying injury or
infection, so you should see your reptile vet before
the infection gets worse or spreads.
Dried food deposits look like crusty mouth deposits
and are just as easily taken care of with a wet
cotton-tipped swab. Iguanas generally grab and gulp
their food, smearing food and juices on their face and
dewlap. The result can, at first glance, look like your
iguana's been bleeding or has other injuries. You can
relax once you realize that your iguana is wearing
the day's strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries.
Because iguanas also walk in their food, check their
toes daily and remove any bits of food found stuck
on them.