Re: New Iguana as a Christmas present

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Posted by bexley on December 29, 2002 at 15:47:31:

In Reply to: New Iguana as a Christmas present posted by Katey-did on December 29, 2002 at 11:31:24:

Well, you've come to the right place for information :) Grats on your new pet! Truely, you are now a slave to the green, but its a wonderful thing to be.

If you download the green iguana document at www.anapsid.org you will have tons of up to date information on just about everything. There's great information on feeding, lighting, caging and anything else you can think of. There's several other really good iguana sites out on the net as well, plus of course here is a great resource!

For lightning, my ig has a flourescent UVB desert reptile bulb and a household bulb for basking on timers, and an infrared heat lamp (that will change to a ceramic heat emitter when it blows)on all the time. I have several thermometers throughout his enclosure so I know how hot or cool it is at each level (its 4x2.5x6 feet, and I'm building a bigger one for him in the spring). The gradient from top to bottom, is mid to high 80's at the top, and mid to low 70's at the bottom of his enclosure through the day, and about 5 degrees cooler than that at night. His basking spot ranges in temperature from the high 80's to mid 90's. If its cold, I cover some of the cage vents, if its hot, I can take panels off and just have heavy plastic mesh but so far that hasn't been a problem.

For food, I feed Tempest fresh mixed greens every day, mostly comprising of collard greens, dandelion, escarole, endive, cress, mustard greens and whatever else I can find at the store. Once a month or so, I throw a squash, some peas, beans, a carrot and any other healthy veggie in a food processor and finely shred it all, bag it up into week-use bags, and freeze it. When one bag is empty, I get the next out the freezer, thaw it and use it. He gets about half a cup of mixed shredded veggies a day, with a big double handful of greens, and he usually eats it all (he's just over 2lbs, and maybe 3 feet long). I also leave dry iguana pellets in his cage at all times, he is a rescue and I want him to always have food available as he is still a bit run down and thin, plus he really likes the pellets. Most igs don't, but I feel as long as he's eating plenty of greens and veggies a day, they aren't going to harm him.

Handle your iglet as much as you can! Tempest is not used to being handled, he's slowly calming down, but I wish he was easier to deal with. At least he's not that big yet. I bath him at least once a week, plus at all times he has a tub in his enclosure that he can soak in. He has a hidey-hole if he wants to get out of site, things he can climb up and down on, and I'm adding more stuff to his cage all the time. I try to stick to things I can throw in the wash if he poops on it though, or that I can throw out and not mind.

Good luck and keep us posted on how your baby is doing, plus photos of course :)

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