#4262

 Just got a quick "?"

what’s the average length of a newly hatched baby iguana? Mine all together is 10.5" long. it’s body is 3" long & it’s tail is 7.5" long. i just wanted to try to get an estimate on how old he is. -melissa >^_^<

 #4283

 Re: Just got a quick "?"

it’s about 3 to 4 months old....

 #4287

 Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

I disagree, many igs are 12 inches long right out of the shell. Like humans, reptiles come in many different shapes and sizes so it’s tough to guess an age based on length alone. Hatchling size varies from 7 to 12 inches so as you can see there’s a wide range. Unless you know when an ig hatched age is always a very rough guess, especially as most igs are mass-bred on farms where inbreeding, parasites, overcrowding and very stressful shipping in crates of hundreds of animals occur and so many are stunted right from the start. Jobbers will buy iguanas in lots of several hundred at a time for about $1.50 apiece and just keep them in the shipping crates with no heating or UVB until they get orders from petshops so some igs are still quite small and sickly but can actually be months or even years old! I sure hope there’s a special heaven for iguanas because mankind puts them through hell in the pet trade.

 #4293

 Re: Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

me too

 #4475

 Re: Just got a quick "?"

I think my iguana is small for his age he is only 3 feet long snout to tail and he is 4 to 5 years old. When I got him he seemed skinny. He is healthy now but I am wondering if his "starvation" early on will cause him to be smaller for the rest of his life.

 #4480

 Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

He is small for his age... does he have his full tail? And how old was he when you got him? My iguana grew about 5 inches in the first year tha I owned him. I got him when he was almost 3 years old and he had MBD, so he didn’t eat much at all for a couple months. I figure that he did most of his growing in the latter half of the year. Iguanas never really stop growing, although they do slow down after they’re a few years old. If you provide him with everything he needs in terms of diet, lighting and space, your ig should keep growing, although he may never reach the same size that an iguana who’s been healthy his whole life would reach.

 #4482

 Re: Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

I’m guessing he was a year and a half old when I got him and i have had him for 3 years. He’s grown 17 inches since I got him, but like I said he seemed starved a little and dehydrated because of the lateral folds in his skin and his hip bones by the base of his tail were visible.

 #4585

 Re: Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

well actually i got him from the wild...not from a pet shop

 #4586

 Re: Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

i got him 6-27 of this year...& he does have him full tail...the length i mentioned, was his length of the first day i got him...my boyfriend’s brother & cousin caught him for me at his cousin’s house...baby iguanas are always getting in the house...plus they felt bad cuase i did have an iguana last year but he passed away.

 #4588

 Re: Re: Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

What happened to your first iguana, if you don’t mind me asking? Kate

 #4641

 Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Just got a quick "?"

i honestly don’t know...he ran off somewhere in my house & when i found him he looked a little weird & then he had like internal bleeding coming out from the anal area...so i figured something fell on him...he had no scratches or bite marks...so i don’t think it was the cat...i called a vet hopital place & got help from my neighbor (she’s into birds & used to breed dogs but knows a lot about other animals & what to do)the vet named all this stuff i had to do & i did do them but he (i named him "Lizard") didn’t make it...i still wonder what may have caused it but i don’t know