File :-(, x, )
Green Iguanas Anonymous
hay, /AN/yone own iguanas? How do you care for yours?
I'd like to take on owning one, but all the sites i read for information make it seem really difficult. I was thinking maybe you iguana owners find a special way to take care of them that is easier than the guides make it seem. Like, where you put them. I've seen people who own them let them free roam in one room and others who keep them in a glass tank. Which is the right way?
>> Anonymous
I used to own one when I was a teen but I my parents made me get rid of him. Mine was batshit insane, and I'm pretty sure it was because he came from horrible living conditions and was traumatized by the little anti-christs known as my cousins back then. I kept him for a little over a year and he still was mean and not tamed.
It can depend on the iguana and they are not beginner lizards.

At first I had mine in a tank because he was small and while I worked on a proper cage for him. It was 5ft high and 4ft wide, which I believe is about the minimum size for an adult iguana.
Its better to have a wired cage, and it will let more air through. Most iguanas can be very difficult and persistently in trying to escape to the point where they will injure themselves rubbing against the glass of a tank.
>> Anonymous
would you say it was very difficult to keep the iguana alive, or did it seem fairly easy to take care of it with all the food, cleanliness, and lighting?
>> Anonymous
>>70395
I had no trouble keeping him alive. He had enough space, plenty of things to climb on, proper heating(actually it took me about two weeks to get the lighting right because i was doing all this shit myself) and bathing(even though it was hard as fuck to get him to calm down). The food thing I started having difficulty with because my father was sick of me telling him that my iguana needed more food. I always fed him fresh fruits and veggies but I'd run out pretty fast and I didn't want to freeze it(apparently then it doesn't have much vitamins or some shit like that. i don't remember its been awhile). Then he just handed me this dry, petstore iguana food and told me no more fresh food for him. And the next day I found someone to take him and he still lives with that person, and is still mean as fuck.

Cleaning was pretty easy. If he took a crap I'd just clean it, and every week I'd take him out and lock him in the bathroom while I cleaned out his cage.
Also what I forgot to mention is that people do let their iguanas room free, but thats normally when they are bigger. Not babies.
I only let mine chill out in the bathroom while I cleaned his cage. Iguanas that roam free are tamed and should be watched at all times. A lot of iguanas will swallow things, knock shit over, etc. They should be allowed to have some freedom with supervision at all times. Plus, the larger the space, the less time that they will try and escape the cage.

tl;dr i know.
>> Anonymous
DO NOT get the iguana if you don't think you'l'l be able to take care of it when it's 5-6 feet long. Far too many people get a cute little baby iguana and then abandon the animal when it grows up.

I went to my university's herpetological society meetings with some friends for about a year, and there were ALWAYS iguanas that needed to adopted, every single time that I went.
>> Anonymous
The web sites don't lie. Iguanas are challenging to care for. Mainly they grow huge and usually get very aggressive, even when handled from a young age. Many are also wild-caught and sickly to begin with.

In my oppinion, you are much better off keeping the iguana in a huge tank/terrarium or a huge "condo" style ferret cage. I've seen several well-cared for iggies in cages similar to this one: http://www.mightypets.com/Precision-Pets/Ferret.html
Ferret cages are actually much easier to move and clean than giant glass tanks are, and they also provide better ventilation.

Many iguanas become aggressive as they reach sexual maturity. You should find an experienced reptile vet to neuter or spay the iguana when this occurs. I've seen practially untouchable animals chill out completly after having this done.
>> Anonymous
Iguanas are rather easy to care for honestly, make sure he has a heating stone in his cage, clean water, vitamin powder for his food and that you hold him regularly to keep him used to being touched.
>> Anonymous
>>70454

Heated rocks can burn your herps, don't use them!
>> Anonymous
My uncle has a few that are mean as hell.

When they whip their tail, it's pretty much like getting hit with a real whip, it cuts your skin pretty bad.

I would only say get one if you've had reptiles before (geckos, bearded dragons, etc) because not only will you know the cost of set up (well into the hundreds), you'll be a little more ready to try to raise one. Not for beginners AT ALL.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
I had an iguana that was pretty sizable for six months right before I got into college. When I first got him he hated being handled because he'd basically been left alone since he gained some size; the beast was like four feet from head to tail. I handled him A LOT and he was just starting to get used to it when I had to let someone else take care of him and go off to school. I had been feeding him fresh fruit and kale every day, but the people I let take care of him switched him to dry food and he got kidney disease, which apparently they are very suseptable to. I cam ehome for christmas break and his anus prolapsed, so I got to stay with him for about another week before I had to sit on him. It was pretty horrible, cause to me he was just like a very nasty dog that would sit still to be pet from time to time so he could be pet. That and its pretty awesome to walk around the neighborhood with a four foot lizard on your shoulders. XD
>> Anonymous
they need a heat lamp that you need a new bulb for weekly because FUCKING just to piss you off and theyre claws are a bitch so you will be cut
>> Anonymous
Oh, they are a pain. If its not humid enough they dont shed right. If you give them a fountain they use it like a toilet. They need moist food but once addicted to lettuce wont eat anything else. Fruit? You try washing that face every day, they dont like it. Oh, and litter? You have to use something that wont harm them because they will eat it. I had one that roamed a few hours a day, found him sleeping on a light bulb. Please dont get a baby, if anything find an adult to rescue. On a good note, the heating rocks work well if you make little thick covers for them. Try a bearded Dragon, more relaxed and easier to care for.
>> Anonymous
You'll need a huge (a high tank, with lots of branches in it, they're tree dwellers) tank for it, as they get quite big.
Don't use heating rocks, ever. instead have an easily accessible branch close to the top of the tank near the heating lamp (not to close, the iguana should not be able to touch it)
Keeping them in an ordinary room wouldn't work in the long run, they need to be kept in a moist enviroment (about 80-100% air humidity).

They're strictly vegetarian and should be fed a broad variety of fruits and veggies, although no cabbage, broccoli, rhubarb or cauliflower <- they contain lots of iron, we don't want that, Iron binds calcium. we want calcium.
Give it iguana pellets to complete its diet and buy calcium-powder (at your local pharmacist) and mix it with the food every other day.
Apart from the regular lighing you'll need an UV-lamp (UV-light stimulates the lizards production of vitamin D, without vitamin D it can't use the calcium)
feed it twice a day or so, and be quick to clean out any uneaten veggies before they go bad (as well as anything else in the tank that shouldn't be there, such as poo)

If you want it tame (a painful process, but it makes it easier and less stressfull for the iguana in the long run), take it out of the tank once a day at first, it will struggle and claw you but don't let go of it, loosen your grip only when it calms down, hold it for a while and the put it back in the tank. it will learn that it is no point struggling and that you don't intend to hurt it. when it gets more comfortable with you touching it, take it our more often. and there you have a tame iguana (and probably no skin left on your hands)
>> Anonymous
I had this awesome pet iguana when I was about thirteen. He grew to about four feet long and would ride around on my shoulders in the summer time when the hot california sun was up. He would just sit there starring... Ever silent... Plotting... He also hated my mom and would whip her every time she entered the room, so I never had to worry about hiding my porn much. In the winter I had to keep him in a special cage that stunk up the room so he would not freeze. I fed him romaine lettuce (not iceberg the stuff that comes in the ball has no nutrients) every day and gave him water from the refrigerator filter. All in all it was like five dollars a week to feed him and I also treated him oranges and stuff.