Your Pet Green Iguana

Tips on Choosing and Caring for a Green Iguana

The Green Iguana is a reptile. It comes from South America. It enjoys warm, tropical climates. It can also make a wonderful pet. Here are some helpful tips on choosing and caring for your Green Iguana.
How do you choose your Iguana? It's simple. When you go to your local
pet store ask for help, or you can follow these tips:

1. Avoid Iguanas that are very thin and are not active.
2. Avoid Iguanas that have swollen toes or jaws.
3. Avoid Iguanas that have dark or black patches on their skin.
4. Avoid old Iguanas. Select a young Iguana, it will adapt easier and be friendlier.

If you follow this advice, the Iguana you choose will be healthy and happy.

Now that you have your Green iguana where will it live? That's not hard either. The Iguana grows very fast in the first two years of life. It is best to select an enclosure that is large. As a starter tank, a standard 25-gallon glass aquarium is best. It should have a screen cover.
What to put inside of your new iguana's enclosure is important too. There should be branches placed diagonally across the enclosure. This gives the animal something to lay on, your Iguana needs a place to rest. There should also be a heat light at the ceiling of the enclosure, and a heat rock the bottom. Iguanas need to have heat sources. They are tropical natives. The Iguanas new home should be lined with cedar chips or something thing similar. These should be changes once a week for hygiene purposes.

Feeding your Iguana the right foods will help it to grow healthy. Ask your local pet store for help selecting special iguana food. Iguanas also like fresh vegetables such as lettuce and carrots. Make sure always to have fresh water in the enclosure too. Water should be in a shallow dish or bowl. The Iguana will not only drink this water, but may also choose to bathe in it too. Change the water and give fresh food daily.
Iguanas also need to be groomed. You should trim your Iguana's claws on a regular basis. General cleanliness is important for the well being of your Iguana. Let your Iguana bathe in a warm container of water once a week. This will keep it clean.

Related information
  • Avoid old Iguanas. Select a young Iguana, it will adapt easier and be friendlier.
  • Feeding your Iguana the right foods will help it to grow healthy.
  • Get to know your Iguana by devolving a pet/owner relationship.
 
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they bite sometimes

Posted on 09/24/2008 at 5:09:12 PM

what is a heat rock cant you yous a normal rock

Posted on 01/22/2008 at 6:01:15 AM

Dont forget that the iguana will need a UVA/UVB light in its inclosure as well, this is essential for the health of the iguana. I also suggest not to start off with a small aquarium unless you can get a HUGE cage within a year and a half. Almost all iguana reach at least 5ft in length by the time their two and a half. DO ALOT OF RESEARCH BEFORE BUYING THIS REPTILE!!!

Posted on 10/15/2007 at 8:10:00 AM

My son recently brought home an iguana. He wants to keep it as his pets. Since I am an asthmatic patient, can iguanas do any harm? Do they have poisons or toxins from their skin?

Posted on 08/05/2007 at 11:08:00 PM

"Ask your local pet store for help selecting special iguana food." Horrible advice as most pet stores will give bad information such as recommending dog food. Also, your food suggestions of lettuce and carrots is bad information. Lettuce is mostly water and has very little nutritional value. Carrots are high in oxylates, which block calcium absorption. Since calcium is VERY important to a healthy iguana, carrots are only ok as an occasional food.

Posted on 01/15/2007 at 8:01:00 AM

I read your iguana care faq and was a little concerned about what you said with the heat rock. Heat rocks are 100% not acceptable to use for iguanas. iguanas cannot feel the heat and it leads to burns or death. if you want to use a heat source for the bottom of the cage (which is a good idea) purchase a bottom tank heater that sticks on underneath the tank. Or, in my case, i simply use a heat pad. NEVER use a heat rock, that is mis-informative and will lead to burns or death.

Posted on 11/06/2006 at 7:11:00 PM

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