Care Sheet for IguanasAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 4.52 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 04/07/2003 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Iguanas |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Eyespy |
Years Experience: | Over 20 Years |
Species: | Green iguana |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | N/A |
Sexing and Characteristics: | Difficult to sex until the iguana reaches sexual maturity. Males have larger femoral pores inside thighs, bumpy fat deposits on their heads ("brain bumps"), larger jowls and an overall bigger head. Hemipenes may be seen during defecation, otherwise you see 2 bulges at the tail base below the vent. Before the age of 2 it’s nearly impossible to sex them accurately unless probed by someone with a lot of experience. |
Mostly Active During: | Day |
Substrate and Water Needs: | The more water the better! A nice wide kitty litter pan for soaking and defecating, a few small water dishes for drinking, misting and daily soaks in the tub. You will seldom catch an ig drinking from a dish so it’s very important to have fresh clean water available for them to soak in through their skins, and also by offering salads still wet from washing the food.
Best substrate is newspaper, linoleum, or other easy to clean and impossible to swallow substrate. Never use particulate substrates like sand or bark as iguanas spend way too much time tongueflicking and trying to eat everything they see! |
Lighting and UVB: | Try to give exposure to natural sunlight whenever possible! There is no good substitute. My igs have multiple basking sites, some with mercury vapor bulbs and some with fluorescent UVB tubes. I’ve never noticed any color or behavioral differences between the different types as some herpers report. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | My iglet Amazon gets a fairly narrow range of temps. He likes his basking spot at 92 and the cool side of the cage at 85. When I kept the cool side at a lower temp he just stayed in one small area of his cage to keep warm and seems much happier since I raised his temps. Nightime temps drop to the mid to low 70s. A waterfall in his cage and frequent misting give humidity of around 70-80%
My adult 4 footer prefers a much wider range. She likes to stay at around 100 for an hour or so after eating, then seeks out temperatures ranging from low 70s to low 90s throughout the day. Because Gizmo wanders so much the humidity levels vary quite a bit. Her closet with the highest basking spot has an ultrasonic humidifier and stays around 85% humidity. She spends about 1 or 2 hours a day and all night long there. I also give her a bath every day since she prefers to roam in lower humidity areas throughout the day. |
Heating and Equipment: | Amazon’s cage is heated with a 160 watt mercury vapor bulb and a flexible heat rope around the base of the cage. His climbing area by the window gets to around 85 just from the sun shining in and so has only a 24" fluorescent UVB tube hanging 8 inches over his preferred branch.
Gizmo’s cage has a hood with 2 100 watt bulbs and a 48 inch fluorescent UVB tube. She spends about half her day there. I also emptied out a walkin closet for her, heated with 2 160 watt MV bulbs. This closet also has her humidifier. She only comes into the closet after meals and then wanders off after an hour or two to cool down.
She also has a cat tree by the window, and 2 fishing nets hung on the wall and the side of a bookcase so she has lots of opportunities for climbing up high and peering down at me. All climbing spots have a UVB fixture above her preferred perch. She spends nearly half of her day going back and forth between one climbing spot and another, stopping for a backscratch or headrubs in between. |
Caging Provided: | Gizmo’s original cage is a 4 foot cube which is way too small for her but she still prefers this cage to any other spot in the house. The cage door is always open so she can free roam the living room and bedroom.
The iglet Amazon is in a 260 gallon Reptarium and also has a cat tree near the window for climbing where he prefers to spend the afternoons. |
Diet: | Herbivorous |
Description of Diet: | Greens and greens and more greens! They each get at least 3 different types of greens from this list every day: collard, mustard, turnip, or dandelion greens, endive, escarole, Swiss chard, bok choy, kale, carrot tops (and bottoms!), and the occasional treat of arugula or raddichio lettuce or spinach. One of the yellow winter sqaushes is offered daily. They also get a rotating mix of other veggies and fruits including green and red bell peppers, snow or snap peas, green beans, parsnips, carrots, sweet potatoes, corn, green peas, broccoli, cauliflower, okra, any berry but cranberry, canteloupe, watermelon, pears, apples, grapes, bing cherries, mango, papaya and bananas. Greens are roughly 2/3 of their diet, the rest is mostly assorted veggies with fruit just for color. They also get handfed treats of fruit regularly. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | The iglet gets ground Tums lightly sprinkled on his salad every day but Sunday when he gets Herptivite multivitamins instead. The adult gets Tums on Wednesday only and the mulitvitamin every other Sunday. |
Maintenance: | They get a lot of physical attention and I talk to them constantly. Both igs make it very clear when they would prefer to be alone by turning their heads away, closing their eyes and waiting for me to go away. Otherwise they pretty much want my attention whenever they see me. Gizmo will climb up on me and headbutt my hand until I rub her. Amazon is more subtle and puts his head under the waterfall until water sprays all over his cage until I come to pick him up. ;) They get their nails checked regularly and trimmed at least weekly. Gizmo lies across my lap and lets me file down any rough edges like she is enjoying the manicure while I have to wait until Amazon is sleepy or it’s wiggly iglet time. Daily baths, then sterilizing and rinsing the tub are an absolute must. Beating up on any item I bring into the house and testing for areas where toes could get stuck and constantly trying to stay one step ahead while iguana-proofing my life and all objects in it is a constant chore.
Finding interesting objects to climb or for hiding is another big must. I eBayed for a large fishing net I cut into sections for my igs to enjoy. Cat furniture, plastic milk crates and lots of other found objects bring a lot of exercise opportunities into my igs’ lives. |
Some Words on this Species: | I spend more time taking care of my iguanas than all the other animals in the house and that includes my time-swallowing budgies! Unless you have lots of space and time an iguana might not be the right pet for you. However, if you enjoy being dominated and feeling like a servant in your own home than you won’t be completely happy unless you have at least one green master. |
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