Iguana Growth & Cage Size/Design

Hello, I am looking into getting a baby iguana. I was wanting to know how much they grow with in a years time or so?.. Also I want to be able to get a great cage for him when he grows bigger..but I've seen so many different designs..What do you recommend?

 

do some searches on google for growth charts and what kind of cage do u want. cheap, nice, small, or large. how much space do u have avalible?

 

to keep it plain and simple...if you have done your research and have truly decided that you want an iguana...then the best advice is this: if you iguana is properly fed and cared for with the proper lighting then expect its growth to be extremely fast. you best bet is to start building an enclosure of 6'lx6'hx5'w and that should last its entire life. but bigger is always better. Hummingbird, Biochic, and Axe all know way more about iguanas then anyone i know you should probly ask them

 

like klik said, iggies grow pretty quickly when you feed them right. expect a 2 year old to be soemthing like 18" or 24" (including whip-like tail). as you probably already know, iguanas will reach at least 3 or 4 feet long and need a pretty large cage. i would say the smallest cage you could get by with for an adult ig would be about 4' long x 5' high x 3' wide and you have to include some big sturdy climbing branches. uv light is a must (natural AND artificial [through the use of fluorescent tube-type bulbs]).

i would *highly* recommend building your own cage. 99% of the commercial ones are NOT suitable for iguanas. they usually are made of wire which can snag toenails and does not hold humidity at all OR are way too small OR have absolutely nothing in them to climb on. a large wooden-framed cage with plexiglass doors (or all sides plexiglass) is ideal, in my opinion. some screening at the top for ventilation is great, too, and also gives you a place to put the heat and uv lamps. i would put a couple shelves in there large enough for an adult ig to hang out on. leading to these shelves should be some big limbs for him to climb on. cut some limbs out of a big tree or find someone who's cutting down a tree and ask for some limbs. you can also collect some freshly-fallen limbs from wooded areas. scrub them down really good with hot water and let them sit for a few weeks inside before using them. you can freeze the limbs for 48 hours, too, (if you have a huge freezer) and i've even heard of people baking them (be careful if you do this - the limbs WILL catch on fire). all this helps get rid of mites, tree fungus, insects, etc.

i'd also put a big rubbermaid (a couple feet wide by a couple feet long by 5" or 6" deep) in the bottom with warm water in it - they like to lay in it, will occasionally drink from it, and some will become trained to poop in the water for easy cleanup. be sure to change the water frequently, though, even when it looks clean.

igs need high humidity (a good 60%) and you can spray the cage down with warm water a few times a day or you can get an ultrasonic humidifier and hook it up under the cage with pvc piping that leads the mist into the cage. great way to humidify the cage. put the ultrasonic humidifier on a timer to be on 3 hours and off 3 hours, on 3 hours and off 3 hours, etc or some similar schedule.

well i guess i'll shut up now - if you have any more questions, feel free to ask! we have lots of iggy lovers around here and we're always here to help! B)

 

Thanks a lot ... I know quite a lot about iguanas and I am still reading about them everyday and learning more. I love to hear what other people have to say that are more experienced, because theres still stuff I don't know enough about. I'm planning on building a cage 6' Tall x 5' Long x 3' Wide. Probably out of wood and plexiglass and some other materials, I haven't quite decided yet though on everything. Thanks again 8)

 

no problem at all! i'm so glad to hear that you're learning all you can *before* getting an animal - great decision. i think you'll make a great iguana parent!

 

dont get a mesh cage. wat u r thinking of sound great. my igg died 3 days ago because of a mesh cage.

bye

theone (jp)

 

Sounds like you've got a great start. If you can, I'd definitely build the biggest cage possible as soon as you get him. That way you can avoid having to build multiple cages and also avoid putting off building until he's way too overgrown for the cage he's in. Also, if you build out of wood, make sure it's sealed extremely well with some kind of polyurethane/polycrylic and that you line the bottom with some thick plastic. After we sealed ours, we cut one piece of plastic for the bottom and then glued it down, then cut another piece and laid on top of that so we have something removable for cleaning/changing and something permanent to protect the wood. Some people use floor tile/linoleum and I've also seen slate for the bottoms of their cages instead of using wood chips/bedding. I'm not sure how floor tile would look but it certainly would clean and disinfect easily.

 

Not to impose on your question, LeLue, but I was wondering what the best kind of substrate would be for an Iggy. Currently I am thinking about getting some Astroturf, and melting the edges together to keep him or her from ingesting the fraying parts and...blocking up.

Thanks!

 

hey napolean - can't believe we missed your post for this long . . .

that astroturf stuff really is bad. it's so hard to keep it from fraying. i would highly recommend Repti-Bark or the reptile carpet that is more like actual carpet (Repti-Cage Carpet).

 

The minimum size enclosure/cage for an adult iguana is 8w x 4d x 6h, which, coincidentally, is about the maximum size sheet of most materials you can easily buy. 12w x 4d x 8h would be even better, but building it would be quite a feat.

Seriously, Hummingbird, would you like to live in an enclosure the size you're recommending? We're talking about a lizard that grows to be about as long as an adult human is tall... Not only that, but they're arboreal and need enough space to thermo-regulate, so tall is as important as long and wide.

 

i have never heard of anyone suggesting a minimum cage size of EIGHT FEET WIDE! that may be a wonderful idea if you have an exorbitant amount of time and space, but a small adult would do okay with the dimensions i have suggested. i have cared for 4 iguanas and done extensive reading and research on them. i am well aware that they are arboreal. are you aware that up to half of the length of an iguana is comprised of its tail (which is normally just hanging)?

also, keep in mind that i said those dimensions were "the smallest you could get by with"! absolute minimum - for a small adult iguana - bigger is ALWAYS better!

no i wouldn't like to live in a cage 5' high x 4' wide x 3' deep, but the major parts of my body take up 5' by 2'. the major parts of even the largest iguanas only take up 3' x 1'.

i don't appreciate the manner in which you responded - especially given the fact that i am one of the major iguana posters on this site and may very well have much more experience than you. either way, you could have suggested your information in a much less volatile manner.

oh and good luck getting people to believe that something that big is the minimum size requirement for a green ig.

 

Half your body length is comprised of your legs. Does that mean you could live in a 3' x 4' x 5' box? You're also neglecting the temperature variations needed. 8' is pushing the minimum limits of temperature choices and stretching room.

5.5-6' is longer than the depth of the enclosure/cage (enclosure is better - solid sides trap humidity and heat). Unless your iguana is lacking a good portion of it's tail, just turning around in a 4' enclosure means it's tail hits the walls...

I guess the tail doesn't matter...your legs don't, either. Let's just saw them all off. (read more to get to my point)

Sorry, dude, I'm basing it on the books. 8' x 4' x 6' is actually smaller than the numbers come out to (which is around 12' x 8' x 10'), but constructing such an enclosure is an enormous undertaking that would more than double the cost and complexity of the project.

The sad fact is that selling *cheap* iguanas should be a crime. They should sell for 500-1000 to restrict ownership to those that will learn their needs and can afford to provide for those needs. No more 10 year olds begging mommy to buy them that cute little iguana in the display at the pet store, no more 15 year olds buying them because they're "cool" and "scary", and nobody giving them away as prizes. A yearly investment of 1000+ is needed just to provide their basic needs, let alone housing costs, which could easily run well over 2k over the lifetime of a single iguana (500+ for an aquarium suitable for a juvenile, then another 500-750 to build an enclosure (or more if you go for better parts and hygeine, like I have), plus various housing needs)... Most don't ever consider this, or they're misled by the lies and misinformation about iguanas. When I ordered all my aluminum alloy frame materials and machining work, the engineer my vendor asked: "What are you building this huge thing for?" (Apparently it's among the largest and most complex he's ever seen.) I told him it was an iguana-sized terrarium. Then, with a straight face, he asked: "Don't they just grow to the size of their aquarium like fish?". It took my breath away that he actually believed that...

It effectively comes down to the fact that you either need to be prepared for free roaming (which means a sparse, iguana-proof house) or you need to devote a portion of your living space to a suitable enclosure, which will be a large portion of most houses. I own dogs, so I need an enclosure. Even though I have a reasonably large house, I still had to move some things around to provide a spot large enough for my currently-undersized enclosure, and I have literally thrown furniture away so I can fit my new one... However, unlike most, I knew I would need this much space eventually.

The fact is that iguanas:
a) Are not cheap pets (for feeding or housing, even though their purchase price is low).
Have complex requirements that are only marginally easier to provide than lizards that consume live food. In fact, that probably leads to their neglect.
c) Grow far too large for most people.
d) Are not practical pets for the vast majority of people.

I know I can't change the world, but I will set the record straight, and I will **edit** moan about the attrocities I see.


I just came looking for good environmental information so I can design my HVAC/Humidity/Lighting system correctly (I would love logs like NOAA provides for coastal boating). Sadly, I haven't seen anyone that has gone to the effort of creating a system to provide their environment at a reasonable price, which is why I'm building one (I'm estimating ~$500 in the end). Everything I see out there is hit-or-miss manual toys - the stuff I keep buying and throwing away that doesn't help much with mimicking their natural environment - Junk "humidifiers", heating systems that would burn, wood that will rot, glass that could break, tops that block UVB, carpet that snags, and tons of junk that is a breeding ground for diseases... Not to mention bad suppliments and worse advice.

[/rant off]

 

I would hardly say that an 8ft wide cage would be a minimum. It is a good size for an adult and yes, a larger cage would be nice and even more comfortable for a large iguana, but 8ft is perfectly acceptable for a finished cage. I would also say that what Hummingbird suggested would be a minimum and that a full grown iguana should be in a larger cage but I think her recommendation was based mostly on providing general information for someone looking into getting an iguana. She by no means intended that that was the perfect sized cage or the maximum, she clearly said it was the minimum and if you look around the web at some of the pre-fab cages and how-to sites, many of them have similar measurements and suggestions. My point is that neither of you are in the minority in your beliefs and I think it's time to agree to disagree...in other words, keep it friendly or I'll lock the thread. There's no need to get heated or nasty with one another. We're all friends here trying to help out others. Also, watch the language, I had to edit your post.

 

i couldn't agree with you more on these points.

also, my legs are a huge part of my body, the tail on an iguana (like i mentioned already) hangs most of the time - thus taking up more vertical space than horizontal.

i'm so sick of arguing and i'm done with this thread. if you had ever read anything else i had ever written on these boards, you would know that i do indeed know what i'm talking about. instead you come on, read one sentence of mine, and start ranting about how the absolute minimum cage size for a small adult iguana is an entire bedroom. whatever.

if you just came here to argue, scare people away from getting igs when it may be alright for them to get one (although probably not for the vast majority of people - i agree), and look for info on environmental equipment (which you didn't find any of on here) then you can just go somewhere else and quit causing trouble.

hopefully the mods/admin will close this thread now to keep you from continuing to be a pain in the you-know-what.

 

Even though I'm new here and got way less experience than most people here on ig, I'll add my .02 because sometimes, good judgment is more worthy than experience.

I think many people here are doing "anthropomorphism", that is attributing human qualities to animals. Even Mrs. Kaplan seem to "anthropomorphise" an awful lot herself (even though she might be an awesome ig caretaker). Igs (or any animal) don't feel like we feel they should feel like in a given situation. They don't use our set of values to perceive things. Duh. I think many people here are doing very fine with their ig and are being bashed because they didn't quite correctly recreated a rainforest in their living room. I probably talk trough my ass here since I've had mine recently but I think we underestimate igs adaptable qualities. I live in the Great North (-52 celsius outside today), and outside my house it is a tundra vegetation with a big meter of snow. I've travelled over 3200 km in the last three days (you read well) with my ig on the backseat of my car. I even had a problem with the car midway wich caused me to unexpectably stop for a night in a hotel. She might have been stressed a little but this morning, she is as fine and lively as she ever was. I did provide food, controlled heat and mist occasionnally but bottom line is that she is not such of a wimp as most of you think Igs are. Without being anthropomorphic, I'd even say she probably enjoyed the ride. She can take it, as long as I don't push too far.

Just use good judgment to make a compromise between the rainforest re-creation and what is possible and do-able.

 

I took exception to Hummingbird's suggestion because it appears that she claimed that's the minimum an iguana needs, which we both agree is not true.

Everyone should know (and agree) that just because a pet product claims it can be used for a reptile doesn't mean it's big enough, nor that it's well-suited, let alone good for an iguana. Pet supply companies are out to make money - they're interested in profit, not providing what your pet needs. Many cages and kits for reptiles are nothing more than a common aquarium, some are nothing more than small mammal cages with some added or changed wording to sell the product to another group of people... The fact is that most are inadequate for any reptile, at best, and dangerous, at worst. Nobody makes anything specifically for a full-grown adult iguana. The closest I've seen is two enclosures (clearly originally designed for birds) stuck together and sold as an iguana cage. I won't knock it too much, though, as it *is* the only commercial enclosure I've ever seen that is big enough for an adult iguana, so it's the best available without building one yourself.

There appear to be two groups of thought, and nobody can change the minds of those in the other.

I apologize for my conduct.

 

I think it's better than considering them cold and unfeeling because they're a reptile. Few would keep a medium-sized dog in as small a cage/enclosure as they will an iguana, yet iguanas have far more complex needs than mammals (and, in some aspects, other reptiles).

I'm not bashing them, I'm saying that they need an environment that few can provide.

What about UVB? I think many of the misconceptions about iguanas stem from the fact that they're large reptiles, their needs aren't as obvious, and like most reptiles, they hide their problems from predators. From our mammilian perspective, we cannot naturally understand what a reptile needs or what their natural day involves. Beyond that, since they're larger, damage will take longer to be noticable than with smaller reptiles.

If you take a wild animal (all reptiles are wild animals, none are domesticated) from it's natural environment, I believe that you should make every possible effort to provide the characteristics of that environment. In the case of such a large lizard, this isn't a task to take lightly.

 

excuse me? she was agreeing with ME! she did NOT say that 8 feet wide should be the minimum! in fact, she reitterated what *I* had said! the only thing she said that was even *remotely* on your side was "neither of you are in the minority in your beliefs" (AKA there are many people that think both ways).

again, i totally agree with you here. did you even read my last post? you certainly didn't bother to respond to any of it.

you obviously are not going to listen to anyone and i really don't understand why you are still here . . . unless, of course, you are wanting to perpetuate this disagreement . . .

 

Actually, she seemed a bit confured to me, too. I was reading "I would also say that what Hummingbird suggested would be a minimum and that a full grown iguana should be in a larger cage". I failed to place a "through adulthood" in my response line. Your suggested size is big enough through around 2-3 years, and I agree with that.

I had no comments.