Properly Housing Your Pet Iguana

One of the most popular pet lizards available in pet stores today, iguanas are inexpensive to purchase, often misleading people to believe that they are cheap, easy to maintain and, sadly, practically disposable. Many pet stores will sell iguanas for as low as $10-20.00 yet fail to tell potential buyers that iguanas are costly, high maintenance and potentially dangerous, if not handled properly. Still interested in what keeping an exotic lizard, such as an iguana, entails? Read on to learn more about the housing needs of the common green iguana.

Iguanas are not overly active creatures, but they do need room to move freely. If cared for properly, a captive green iguana can live 15-20 years and can reach lengths of 5-7 feet. In other words, if you plan on raising an iguana, please realize that this reptile will require a great deal of space as he grows; while over half of their length is tail, one must still take the time to realize how difficult it must be to drag such a length around behind them, especially when quarters are cramped. Not only is there a great risk of injury, but your iguana will soon turn into something dirty and untouchable when he is forced to drag that long tail through his own waste.

Some people mistakenly believe that they can let their iguanas have free roam of their house, but nothing could be further from the truth. Letting an iguana free in one’s house is simply courting disaster! Remember that the 8” little lizard that you see today, will one day shred your curtains as he tries to haul his 18-20 pound body up your draperies. That cute little tail will one day be able to clear a table of china figurines with one swipe and, acting like the powerful crack of a bullwhip, it can actually cause harm to other house pets that get too close and nosey. Adult iguanas have actually been known to be capable of breaking a dog’s leg with a lash from their tail and a fight can erupt before even a watchful owner can intervene.