A useful iguana check follows the same route every week, from nose to tail tip, so small changes are caught against last week's picture rather than against memory. Add a weight on the same day each week, note appetite across the days between checks, and photograph anything questionable so next week brings a comparison, not a guess. Anything that changes two weeks running, or one dramatic change overnight, earns a call to an exotics veterinarian.
Eyes, Mouth and Breathing First
Start at the head. Eyes should look clear and full, not sunken or crusted, and the iguana should track movement on both sides. The mouth should close cleanly along its line, with no stringy saliva, bubbles at the lips, or cheesy patches inside — mouth rot in iguanas often announces itself as a mouth that no longer shuts evenly. Breathing at rest should be quiet and unlaboured; clicks, wheezes or open-mouth breathing in a resting iguana belong in a vet call, not in next week's check.
Skin, Limbs and Tail Base
Run your hands and eyes over the skin next, looking for retained shed clinging to toes, tail tip and spines, for sores or burns, and for mites, which show as tiny moving specks gathered around eyes, ears and skin folds. Limbs should feel firm and symmetrical, without swollen joints or a tremor when the iguana pushes against your hand. The tail base should stay thick and muscular; a tail base that thins while appetite holds is a pattern to report. Finish with droppings in the usual place — their form, frequency and the white urate portion all belong in the weekly picture.
The Enclosure Numbers Behind the Check
An iguana can look wrong because the enclosure is wrong, so read the setup alongside the animal. Check the basking temperature where the iguana actually basks, confirm the UVB tube is within its working life, and look at humidity and water cleanliness before blaming the animal. A check that finds dull skin in a dry enclosure has found its first fix. Note the readings beside the health notes for that week, so a change in the animal can be matched against a change in the setup.
Keeping the Weekly Rhythm
Tie the check to a fixed point — the same morning each week, before feeding — so it survives busy weeks. Compare each finding with this iguana's own baseline: his usual appetite, his normal shed pattern, his ordinary droppings. In KinsLe, the Saturday check can sit on the duty list in Care Teams for whoever helps that week; a notification goes out beforehand, and the finished check is timestamped.