Hi All,

I have a baby iguana. He is less than a year old and I have had him for about 5 months. His name is Charlie. For the past month or so he has seemed down in the dumps but only in his cage. He does not climb anymore and he does not bask as much as he used to. He is in a 125 gallon aquaruim. The temps are right, he has UVA/UVB lighting, plenty of places to climb and hide. He eats very well and has no parasites.

When he is out of the cage he becomes a totally new lizard. He explores,tongue flicks and climbs around. He accepts his treats from my hand. He loves his bath time. When it is time for him to go back in his cage he flattens myself onto my hand or my arm and I have to pry him off. Before he would just walk off and sit in the branches (fake) in his cage. Now he immediately goes to the bottom of the tank and sits in the corner looking out.

He is way too small to be free roaming and he is not even close to outgrowing his enclosure. How can I help him? It it because we are getting less natural light? Should I take him to the vet or is he just in a funk and will come out of it?

That is odd. Maybe he's going into breeding season blues. If it is a female, this is very possible. Many female igs will become very laid back during the breeding season. If this is the case, it is kind of odd that it's happening before she's even sexually mature.

Have you changed anything in the enclosure lately? Maybe he's just gotten to the age where he likes being out of the cage more. Maybe he's a born free-roamer. :D If so, when he's big enough, you should think about setting him up his own room.

Thanks for the reply. I hope it's not a female! Then it's name wouldn't fit. :) I did move the basking area to the other side of the tank, so maybe that's it. But that was a while ago. I'll wait and see what happens. Maybe it's just breeding season mood swings, like you said. I'll wait and see if he perks back up.