Ig Care sheet I wrote - LONG!

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Posted by Kate on September 20, 2002 at 23:06:12:

Here's the care sheet I wrote for the local pet store I mentioned. It's fairly long. I'll appreciate comments and suggstions from anyone who takes the time to read it, about either content or style. (I want it to be readable enough that people will read the whole thing.) Thanks!

Basic Iguana Info: Iguanas are tree-dwelling lizards that come from Mexico, Central and South America. They live mainly in tropical regions. Iguanas are vegetarians, eating the leaves of various kinds of trees almost exclusively in the wild. Although small as hatchlings, iguanas grow very quickly. It is not unusual for a full grown iguana to be 6 feet long, or even more.

Housing: 30 gallon aquariums (aka terrariums) can be used for hatchling iguanas. Iguanas grow very quickly when they are young, and will soon outgrow this sort of temporary housing. Iguanas may reach up to 3 ft. long from head to tail by the time they are one year old. Iguanas require lots of space, especially as they get bigger. The length of the enclosure should be at least 2 to 3 times the full length of the iguana. Depth (front to back) should be one to one and a half times the full length of the iguana. As iguanas are arborial animals and love to climb, their cage should be at least as high as the iguana is long, preferably a little bit higher. The cage should have wide branches, real or artificial, for the iguana to climb and rest on . The cage needs to have light and heat as described below. Lights should be placed so that the iguana cannot touch the bulb, so they do not burn themselves. Iguanas, especially males, are territorial, and should ideally be housed alone. (It is impossible to tell the sex of an iguana until it is at least a year or a year and a half old and becomes sexually mature.) At the bottom of the enclosure, you need a safe, easy to clean substrate. Inkless newspaper and paper towels are cheap and work well. Iguanas check things out with their tongues, so never use a substrate that your iguana could accidentally ingest, such as gravel, sand, or anything else that comes in small to medium-sized pieces. For a large enclosure you can use self-stick linoleum tiles on the floor. Finally, iguanas need a place to hide so they will feel safe and secure.

Diet: Iguanas are vegetarians. In the wild they eat the leaves from the trees they live in. We cannot feed them the same diet in captivity here in central New York, so we have to adapt. The majority of an iguana�s diet should be comprised of leafy greens such as: collards, mustard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, escarole, and endive. Other veggies such as squash, sweet potato, snow peas, green beans, bell peppers. Lettuces do not have many of the nutrients that iguanas need, and are very low in calcium. (The above mentioned greens are high in calcium.) Some greens and veggies that should not be fed much are spinach, chard, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and cauliflower. Iguanas also need variety in their diets. Ideally you should make a salad for your iguana that contains three or more of the listed greens and a couple of the other veggies. Fruit, such as strawberries, blueberries, apple and melon, should make up a small portion of their diets. Other berries are also good to use. For a hatchling or baby iguana, you can put the �salad� into a food processor so it will be fine enough for your tiny iguana to eat. If you do not have a food processor, just cut the food into very fine pieces. As the iguana gets older, you can increase the size of the food pieces. Iguanas also need a shallow dish of fresh water daily. Never feed your iguana animal products such as meat, eggs, or cheese.

Heat and Lighting: Iguanas, like all reptiles, are cold-blooded. They need heat from outside sources to maintain their bodily functions. They also need UVA and UVB light to be healthy. UVA and UVB can be obtained from sunlight, but only direct sunlight � glass filters UV light from sunlight. Your iguana will need specialized reptile bulbs, including a heat/basking bulb that produces UVA and another light that produces UVB. ZooMed makes the ReptiSun 5.0 and the Iguana Light 5.0, both of which are good sources of UVB for iguanas. Mercury Vapor Bulbs are another type of light that produce heat, UVA and UVB, but are more expensive. Active UV is one good brand; another is ZooMed�s PowerSun. Any of these bulbs should be replaced after about six months, as their UV output decreases dramatically after this point. Iguanas need a basking area in which the temperature is at least 88-95� F. Non-basking areas should stay between 75 and 88� F. Temperatures can drop overnight to between 70� and 84� F. Do not use a hot rock, as iguanas frequently burn themselves on these.

Recommended Books on Iguanas:

Green Iguana: The Ultimate Owner�s Manual by James W. Hatfield III
Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan

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