Use a fixed two-minute check at the morning feed, in the same order each day. Look first without handling: posture, breathing and jaw held normally, then eyes that are bright, open and full rather than sunken or half closed. Scan the skin from the dewlap and spines to the tail tip and toes for retained shed, dull patches before a shed, swelling, wounds or colour that is darker or paler than the iguana's usual green, and weigh the salad in and out so appetite becomes a number, not a guess.
Skin, Toes and Spines in Detail
Work from the head towards the tail so no area gets skipped on a busy morning. Check the dewlap and the skin folds at the shoulders and hips, where retained shed can sit in a pale, tight ring. Follow the row of spines along the back for bent, missing or swollen points, then look at the tail in sections, because the tip darkens and thins first when shed stays stuck. Spread each foot gently only if the iguana is calm, and look between the toes for a constricting band of old skin. A whole-body dulling that lifts evenly over a few days usually fits a normal shed cycle, while a single dull, swollen or sore-looking patch is a change worth recording and watching closely.
Note the colour in the same light each day. A green iguana that looks brown-grey at basking time, black along one flank, or unusually pale has told you something has shifted, even though colour alone never tells you why. Photograph the same side once a week in the same light, without a flash, so slow changes in a patch, a spine or the tail tip become visible when daily impressions blur together.
Eyes and Appetite as Paired Signals
Look at both eyes together, because a difference between them is easier to spot than a slow change in either. Both eyes should open fully, look rounded and clear, and track movement in a similar way. A closed eye, a sunken look, swelling around one eye, or discharge is a prompt to contact a reptile vet promptly rather than a detail to watch for another week.
Appetite needs the same paired approach. Weigh the filled salad bowl and weigh what remains after the feeding period, then write down both figures and note which items were left. An iguana that still eats the full amount but suddenly refuses a long-standing favourite item has changed in a different way from one that eats half of everything. A single quiet day after a large meal or during a shed means less than a falling total across three or four days in a row. Pair the food figures with the eye and skin notes for that date, because the three signals together point a vet towards a useful first question far faster than any one signal alone.
Recording the Baseline and Acting on a Change
Keep the record to four short lines a day: the eyes, the skin, the grams eaten and one line for behaviour, such as basking normally, hiding or pacing. Add a weekly weight, taken at the same time of day, and keep the enclosure temperatures for that morning beside it, because a cool night can explain a slow morning and a lost basking temperature can explain a lost appetite. Review the lines every Sunday and circle any item that has moved for three days running, since a trend you can date is the point of the whole routine.
Seek a reptile vet promptly if you see an eye that stays closed or sunken, a rapidly swelling area, a wound, blackening at the tail tip or a toe, or an appetite that falls and stays down alongside hiding or unusual stillness. Take the dated log and the weekly photographs with you, and do not wait for every signal to worsen before you call. KinsLe's Care Teams helps you keep this sequence shared, by letting you assign the morning observation, the weekly weight and the Sunday review to named helpers and see a timestamp for each finished task.