Should You Get a Green Iguana?

Most wild green iguanas are found naturally in southern Mexico, Central America, and most of South America. When wild iguanas are used to being around and fed by people, the iguanas can enjoy and benefit from their human visitors. Since owners of iguanas take iguanas out of their natural habit, populations of iguanas can be found in parts of California, Florida, and Hawaii. Sometimes this is because they escaped captivity or were released on purpose by their owners.

This is bad for the ecosystem. They have to compete with the native species for resources. Iguanas also prey on the species that are not adapted to deal with these predators. Feral iguanas cause damage and frustration in areas where they are not meant to be in. If you decide to be the owner of an iguana, you have to be willing to be responsible for it and make every effort to prevent them from getting out into the wild where they are not native.

Native people refer to green iguanas as the 'chicken of the trees'. They harvest them for their meat, eggs, and skin. Wild females are captured so their eggs can be collected. These eggs serve as food and some are sent to iguana farms to produce babies for the pet trade. This large-scale harvesting for pet trade is a threat to the iguana population.

Green iguanas are active during the day and sleep at night. Iguanas wake up in the morning and stay awake all day. They go to bed in the evening and sleep the whole night. It's important to give your iguana a routine sleep schedule and a nice, dark place away from other activity going on around the house. An iguana's life expectancy is about 10 to 15 years.

Iguanas are herbivores. In the wild, they eat mostly leaves and flowers. A big mistake made when feeding iguanas is giving them a diet too rich in protein and carbohydrates. Remember that in the wild, iguanas don't eat animal protein so they shouldn't eat it in captivity either. Your iguana should be fed at least four or five varieties of leafy vegetables and fruit. Some great food choices are string beans, collard greens, re-hydrated alfalfa cubes or powdered alfalfa, carrots and carrot tops, peas and pea pods, green beans, mustard greens, sweet potato, cabbage, apples, papaya, broccoli, dandelion flowers and leaves, spinach, squash, blueberries, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, cherries, clover, mango, plantains, hibiscus flowers, and strawberries. Making alfalfa a part of every meal is a good idea. Dice and mix a variety of ingredients for each meal. You can preserve foods by freezing them until it's necessary to thaw them out and feed them to your iguana.

Even though your iguana's diet is about 80% water, it's not true that they don't need additional water. The best thing is to keep a shallow dish of water available and change the water daily. Place a large rock in the center of the dish to keep it from being tipped over. This dish of water also helps to increase the humidity level in the cage. When the humidity is low, keep two dishes in the cage.

When building or buying a cage, be generous with the size. It should be quite large. For a young 7 inch long iguana, the cage should be at least 3 feet long, 1 ½ feet wide, and 1 ½ feet high. For the cage top, 18 gauge turkey wire works the best. Think smooth surfaces for the whole cage. This will prevent scrapes and abrasions to your iguana's nose. The wooden portions of the cage can be given four coats of Varthane urethane varnish. After varnishing, draw a bead of clear silicone calk along all inside corners. Wait at least one week before putting the iguana in the cage to allow varnish and calk to dry and dissipation of fumes.

Inside the cage, adding things like silk plants and flowers, gravel, stones, and bark only accumulate bacteria and debris that can kill your iguana. Instead, place one 5-7 inch diameter sloping log with the bark removed inside the cage for the iguana to bask on. When you need to clean the cage, use a 1:20 solution of common household bleach and water.

Short napped outdoor carpeting is sufficient for the floor of the cage. Flaming the edges prevents unraveling. Place a few large stones in the bottom for visual effect, or paint a pretty jungle scene on the back board. Limit your iguana's time outside of the cage. Running freely around your home can leave the him too cold and lead to metabolic bone disease and generalized septicemias that are often incurable.

Ultraviolet light is crucial for the iguana to manufacture vitamin D-3. It seems that iguanas may not be able to supplement vitamin D-3 with their diet and instead need to have high concentrations of ultraviolet light. They seem to need to manufacture it themselves in their skin under full spectrum sunlight or certain artificial light sources. Make sure your iguana is placed where it can get lots of natural sunlight. Supplement this with ordinary 40-watt bulbs placed about 8 inches from the top of the cage.

In the wild, iguanas bask in the sunshine where they can regulate the amount of sun and heat they get. They move from sun to shade as needed. This is hard to accomplish when they are put in a cage inside of a house. Establish a temperature gradient inside the cage going from about 78 degrees to 95 degrees by the use of incandescent bulbs (gasp! I know. I for one am moving away from these due to emissions caused by them) Unfortunately, for the iguana, the same full spectrum light has not been achieved with fluorescent lamps. A heavy-duty heating pad also helps to maintain the heat. Put it under one end of the cage. Place a couple of bulbs on the same end. This way, the iguana can choose the cool side or the warm side at its leisure. Place a couple of aquarium thermometers inside the cage, not on the sides of the cage, to measure cage temperatures.

Most of the time, when iguanas get sick, it's because of problems with temperature, diet, and cage size. Once they're sick, it's hard to make them well. Because they have vicious toe nails, these need to be trimmed from time to time. Since they will likely bleed, if you don't want to do the trimming, take it to an experienced veterinarian. If you decide to give it a go, the bleeding can be stopped by pressing the toe into a soft bar of Ivory soap. Make sure to just take off the small, sharp portion to avoid bleeding altogether.

Because most, if not all, iguanas carry salmonella bacteria in their intestines, very young children, very old people, and those with compromised immune systems, can contract this bacteria and have flu-like symptoms. Prophylactic antibiotics are not usually successful in removing this bacteria. Always wash your hands well after handling your iguana. Don't let them get in contact with your kitchen, food, or utensils. Use a solution of 1:20 common household bleach and water to kill salmonella.

Iguanas, in my opinion, should remain in their natural habitat. Only about 1/3 of green iguanas sold in pet stores survive to maturity. This is because of the stress of being transported, inadequate care, and improper nutrition. Think through your decision to buy an iguana. If they are given a good environment and a good diet, they quickly grow into formidable pets. They get large, active, and aggressive. Of the iguanas that do survive, more than ½ of them are abandoned or given to rescue agencies. My thoughts on having an iguana as a pet is don't.