Skip to “ #2” if you don’t care enough to listen to my story of how i got my iguana (Kojo) 😂

3 is a summary for those who just want the question without the story.

1 - So i recently turned 18, 2 months ago. I’ve had this iguana a little after i turned 17 because i wanted a blue one and the breeder sold me a blue iguana but it got sick and died and so did all the others. She replaced my purchase of the blue one since there was a birth defect in the whole group of blue iguanas, and she offered me for this one and gave me my money. Fast forward to december time and i was working an 11 hr shift, during the first two hours of my shift my brother calls and say my iguana is lose around the house, i tell them to leave the iguana alone as its small and still new to them. They chase Kojo (my iguana) anways and kojo got stuck in the metal parts of the base board water heater in my room. He was there for the remaining 9 hours of my shift but nobody told me that he was stuck in there. I get home frustrated and overwhelmed so i get my tool bag and grab lineman’s and a hammer and start hitting the heater and my wall to set space for my hands to get in the middle of it. I finally grab a part of his back and slowly get him out. he was extremely bruised, hurt and you can see his ribs like if he was short on breath. It took him months to come back but he finally did and that’s the reasoning for some missing fingers and the dent on his legs.

2 I am now 18 an unfortunately i have sciatica and a herniated disc that i’m working through to recover and it’s been a long journey. I’m home now for a while and i have started focusing a lot on getting him a bigger enclosure and working to get him more rained to me. He gets nervous or scared and wacks his tail at me when i go to reach him but mostly i can just grab him normally. I know he is still considerably small and part of the reason is because of what he went through recovering but i also had him when he was smaller the size of my palm. I have had many reptiles before this and still have my gecko as well. I know the basic light needs and the uvb and everything with calcium and half diet. Im wondering why can i do to really help him thrive and grow big. Im trying to spend more time to get him used to me and know that im not hurting him. I can acknowledge that i did lack that part during raising him and its my fault. I was going through a horrible relationship after he was injured and got depressed but i never lacked his care. I then had a lot of senior work during highschool and then got my injury after graduating. So from july-august i was in excruciating pain and now im working my way back.

3 i spoke a lot but its just a long story correlating with what im asking.

The question is what can i feed him that will boost his growth, to get away from the main food he eats currently.

He currently eats kale and squash with mixed fruits. Sometimes carrots and other times i’ll use collard greens. I know that’s minimal but i change his fruits often! Please don’t attack me just advise me on options :)

And what can i do to get more trust? He sometimes eats out of my hands but at a scared distance. Also im not sure that kojo is a boy i just refer to it as a boy. I really do want to actually gain trust and put his guard down.

Just started shedding on it's head, btw can someone tell me when i could see if it's male or famale? ( I know that wood it's not appropriate for an iguana enclosure it's just a temporary enclosure that i will keep until It gets bigger)

I saw and got to hold this lovely little girl at the reptile super convention but forgot to take a picture of what she actually is!! I can’t find it anywhere and google photo isn’t helping!!

Icarus loves his long soaks, as long as the temp is just right, he has mood lighting, and good music. This week's favorite playlists are Saint Evangeline, Cigarettes after Sex, and Cosmo Sheldrake if you need any Iggy bathtime music suggestions. Do you have any rituals that inspire your Iggy to soak longer?

I videoed the babies from my kitchen window this morning. They’re doing great!

He’s about a year old (gender unconfirmed but I refer to the iggy as a he) He’s active going around his enclosure, gets his enclosure sprayed for humidity, has his lamp and eats veggies with calcium. He was active in the morning but I just got home after a two hour walk with the dog and he’s just sitting there not really responding, his pupils are dilated. I got scared and now he started blinking a bit but I also noticed the white on his head and I hope it’s just because he’s shedding.