well even a small adult female green iguana needs at least a 4' wide x 3' deep by 5' high cage. it should be made of wood and plexiglass to keep the humidity high. the top should be screening, though, since you have to have some air flow. on top of the screen on top you should have a heat lamp and a uv fluorescent bulb. you also have to have a lot of climbing branches - these guys are meant to climb and if they can't they are at high risk for muscle degeneration.
As an adult, an iguana can easily reach 6ft long if well cared for, and live 15 years or more... At this size she will need a HUGE iguana. We've got two 5ft+ iguanas right now, one lives in an enclosure that's 8'x4'x8', and the other's enclosure is 10'x5'x7'. Iguanas may be cheap, but they are MUCH more expensive to care for than most other reptiles, and are really only for advanced keepers due to the medical problems that they are prone to. Iguanas require a LOT of care to grow & thrive healthily, and as adults, can easily pack away $20/wk or more (each) in salads (ours do).
i totally agree, axe. they can make *great* pets, but so many people get one and then find out how much "trouble" they can be. it's like having a dinosaur around the house - literally. i, personally, think iguanas should cost a LOT more than they do simply because it would discourage many impulse buyers.
Hi Folks- Ditto everyone's response. Buying them is the cheapest part. And I personally believe you should NEVER buy them. It supports an already corrupt and abusive system and there are so many up for adoption you could easily find one to foster, rescue or adopt. Please read up a lot on them before you buy. An educated owner is their best hope!
leopard geckos are an AWESOME pet (such cute wittle faces, too) - and *loads* easier to take care of than an ig.
I'm glad to see you were asking and checking up on stuff BEFORE you purchased. I wish more people would do that. If you're looking into getting your first lizard, then I would definitely get a leo instead of an ig. The first reptile I ever took care of was an iguana. It was brought to me at school (college, I was the Animal Care Supervisor as an undergrad - the job Hummingbird has now) and she was four years old and in a cage that was really too small. Plenty wide for her, just not tall enough at all. But the owners had no idea. Their son had gotten it form a friend who was feeding her canned cat food and the iguana pellet food (I know...nightmare). Well the new owners did a little research and started offering her more greens and only gave her cat food once a week. So she was on her way to a better diet, but they didn't know that the high protein in the cat food was killing her, so by the time I got her and did all the research into her diet, her kineys were hard as marbles only smaller. It was only a year after she had been given to me that she started showing signs of kidney failure. I rushed her to the vet but all the IV's in the world couldn't save her. I think I took the news of her death worse than that of any pet I've ever had. She deserved so much more than she got. Anyways, I'm rambling now...lol...Iggy's are a lot of work and expense. They're worth it, but don't get in over your head your first time through. Try something smaller. You can go more exotic than a leo if you want. There are plenty of lizards out there to try, but I would definitely wait on the iguana. And even then, I would get a rescue from a shelter. Good luck!
the first reptile i ever had was an iguana and he lived for 8 years. i got him when i was 7 and i loved him. he grew to be around 4'8" and he was a great buddy of mine. now im 16 n i have a leopard gecko i want to get another iguana but there are 2 factors stopping me 1: Illegal in Bronx (thanks mayor guliani) and 2: my parents dont want me to get another one because they saw how big they can get :-(
quite frankly klik, those are good reasons. they are big lizards. i'm kinda wondering why your iguana only lived to be 8 years old. and as for making them illegal - at leat it's stopped some of the abuse. green iguanas are like the most abandoned/abused reptile in the *world*.
I really agree with what everyone is saying on here, and I'm also very glad to see someone getting information and weighing out all of the positive and negative before getting one. They are absolutely incredible animals, but they need so much care to be happy and healthy. -Cristine
i had an iguana before and am wanting to get another, except the one i used to have had a light a heat rock and a watering pan, he roamed the house freely and was potty trained, he ate green beans peas lettuce,and abut anything else, his name was, can you guess,...iggy:}. are the bigger ones more exspensive than young ones?
i saw a baby iguana for $70 and a 3' iguana for $30 i'm guessing it's because people think the little ones are cuter....but then again this was at a petsmart when i was getting a new Sun-Glo light for my turtle
I hope you realize that most of what you listed was incorrect husbandry for a green iguana. heat rocks are a no-no and lettuce has no nutritional value whatsoever. And free-roaming is dangerous, they get into a lot of trouble. I've never seen 'bigger' iguanas for sale. Except for one at a trade show that was in a plastic display box and only had half it's tail and was undernourished. They wanted $20 for her and if I'd had the room and felt they wouldn't think that they could get away with selling her in that condition and wouldn't get others to sell, I would've taken her home. Iguanas need a lot of space and care. Unfortunately, not too many owners realize that.
Yes, I've heard of many houses burned down to the ground due to free-roaming iguanas. Definitely not a wise idea
