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Iguana Care

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Basic Iguana Care

     Welcome to my iguana care lens.    I have created this lense to provide new iguana owners with the basic care information that they need to properly care for a green iguana.

     As detailed as this care sheet might be, there is far more iguana care information, health articles, discussion of various problems on the care of the green iguana, links, and resources to be found on my iguana care website.

     The links below the care sheet contain links to various pages on my sites as well as selected links from other great iguana care websites.  Please be sure to read them all if you are serious about caring for your iguana properly.
 

Iguana Care Basics - 101

Copyright Tricia Power 1995 - 2010

If you are a new iguana owner, this care sheet is written just for you!

Hopefully, you have done some research on iguanas prior to becoming "owned" by one? If not, please visit some of the extremely informative iguana care sites listed at the bottom of this page so that you can make sure that you have your iguana set up correctly, and that you are feeding it a well balanced vegetarian diet.

It is extremely important that you have knowledge, and master the basics, of iguana care if you want to have a healthy iguana and have an iguana companion for the next 15 to 20 years.

This is a basic care sheet. The complete text can be found at Iguana Care Basics 101

Great Iguana Care links

Iguana Care basics- 101
Iguana care guide cover everything from housing, temperature, lighting and diet to Iguana behavior and finding a vet.
Iguana Care Tips
Information and tips about iguana forums, rescue, diet, building cages, taming and aggressiveness, poop training and finding a lost lizard!
Taming an Iguana and aggressiveness during breeding season
How to deal with iguana aggression during their breeding season. Tips, behavior and advice.
Green Iguana care collection
Extensive information on the captive care and behavior of green iguanas, and other reptiles and amphibians, by Melissa Kaplan, author of Iguanas for Dummies.
Reptile Logic
Find more great Iguana care information at Reptile Logic, plus members can start their own reptile related blogs and submit reptile and amphibian care articles to the site.
Green Iguana Society
Provides information about care, tips for new owners, message board, membership details, and journal.
The Iguana Pages
Guide to health, housing, nutrition and behavior.
The Iguana Den
Care, rehabilitation, adoptions, and placement.
Iguanahome for Cyclura and Fiji iguana
Information about keeping and breeding several iguana species, as well as links and photos.

Housing

Your iguana, depending upon it's size, should be set up in either a tank or a home made enclosure that is two to three times the length of your iguana, and no less than three times the height of your iguana since they are arboreal (tree climbing) lizards.

Complete Housing details and ideas for iguana cages and vivariums can be found on the Iguana care basics 101 page listed above.

Temperature Range

The cage should be set up so that it has a good temperature gradient. One side of the cage should be on the cooler side of the day time temps, and the other side should reach the higher end of the iguana's preferred day time temperature range. The day time temperature range should be between 80 F ( 26.6 C) and 88 F (31.1 C), with a basking spot of 95 F (34.9 C). Night time temperature should be between 75 F (23.8 C) and 80 F (26.6 C) , young iguana's should be kept closer to the 80 F (26.6 C) range at night. You should also have a few thermometers placed throughout the cage to ensure that the temperatures are correct.

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Heating and Basking Lights

To achieve the proper day and night time temperature ranges a variety of products can be used. Basking lights can be the type sold in pet stores, but normal incandescent lights, or even the tract lighting reflector bulbs (most like the ones sold in pet stores but cheaper in hardware stores!) can be used to create basking spots and to achieve the proper temperature ranges.

No Hot Rocks!

Hot rocks. sizzle stones, or heat caves should NOT be used as these products can develop hot spots and burn your iguana, crack, smoke, short out, and endanger your iguana and possibly yourself. Iguana's are diurnal creatures, meaning they are awake and alert during the day and sleep at night when it's dark. They sense light and heat sources from above, not below, so using something like a hot rock to provide heat for your iguana could cause your iguana to become badly burnt since it may not realize fast enough that it is hurting itself. Covering hot rocks with substrate or cloth material only increases the fire hazard danger and will make it harder for you to check the rock on a regular basis to make sure that it is not developing hot spots or that it has not cracked. Please don't do this! My best suggestion as far as hot rocks go- If you already have one that is - is that you cut off the cord and use it as a cage decoration.

Humidity

The green Iguana (Iguana iguana) comes from a very warm and humid climate - the rain forests of South America. The humidity level in your iguana's cage should reach approximately 80%. You should have a humidity gage in the cage.

UVB lighting

Ok, so you have the cage light and heated, but you also need to provide your iguana with a special kind of light called UVB lighting. The incandescent bulbs (round bulbs or special basking lights that you are using) only produce UVA lighting. This is great for heat and light during the day, but your iguana really needs the UVB lighting to help it use the calcium in its diet properly.

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Sunlight

Of course the best source of UVB lighting comes from the sun! I've already said that glass filters out a lot of UVB rays, so please do not think that placing your iguana in front of a window or having it's enclosure near a glass unopened window will provide any or enough UVB lighting for it.

Cage Furnishings

Ok, now your ig has a good sized cage, it's warm enough and has the proper lighting. What else do you need in the cage? Let's see. You will need to set up some climbing areas. You can do this by getting some branches that are approximately the width of your iguana's body and propping them securely in the cage so that the iguana can climb to different levels within the cage ...

Substrate

Substrate is the caging material that you may chose to place on the bottom of the cage. A good substrate is something that the iguana can not or will not ingest (causing potential impaction problems) and something that is easy for you to maintain so as to keep the iguanas cage clean.

Diet

Now, what are you feeding your iguana? Hopefully the pet store or person you got your iguana from told you to feed your iguana ONLY a vegetable and fruit diet, and told you NOT to feed your iguana any food items that contain animal proteins (i.e. no insects, no cheese, no pizza, no dog food, no monkey biscuits, and no commercial iguana dry foods as they often contain animal proteins as well!).

More on Iguana Diet ...

Basic Behaviour

Your iguana should be green, active and alert. It should move around the cage on occasion, climbing a branch, climbing down from the branches or shelves to investigate it's food bowl or water area etc. It may not be constantly in motion, it is natural for iguana's to sit for a few hours and bask, but your iguana should be moving around in the cage several times a day and should be quite alert when you walk into the room to check on him. He should show interest in the food that you offer him, if not when you first put it in the cage at least within a short while later.

Learn more about the typical behavior of a healthy iguana and how to spot the signs of illness by reading

More on Basic Iguana Behavior ...

Iguana aggression

Hopefully you do know that iguana's can be quite territorial and can become aggressive at times. It is usually during their breeding season, which may last up to three months at a time and come once or twice a year, that iguana's are most aggressive. Breeding season can come at various times of the year too depending upon where you live or where the iguana is originally from.

More on Iguana aggression ...

Taming and handling

Key behaviors that you should note that could signal that your iguana does not want to be handled or bothered or that he might be getting ready to bite you are: white head, dewlap extended, quick vibrating bobs and head shakes, your iguana is standing up and his body is puffed out and he's presenting the side of his body to you, tail flicking and or making quick little whips, and or the mouth is open.

More on Iguana taming and handling ...

Finding a reptile vet

If your iguana is sick- PLEASE TAKE IT TO A REPTILE VET, no answer from me or anyone else that you might email, is going to cure it. It is too hard to tell what might be wrong with an animal when someone writes. Most often what the person writing to me describes sounds serious and sounds like it needs medication to cure it. Save time- If your animal is sick, don't wait for a reply- because anyone answering your letter is probably only going to tell you to take your iguana to a vet.

More on Finding a reptile vet ...

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Amphibian Care

Many people that own iguanas and other lizards also own amphibians so here's some amphibian care information for you too!
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dragonden

     I am the owner and author of Tricia's Chinese water dragon, reptile and amphibian care page, as well as  Napoleon the ... more »

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