View Full Version : Just got my iguana
If you guys had any info on them it would be nice if you could share it with me some tips and what types of food are the best i know some but it would be nice to know from the people who really take care of them!
Thanks Oliver
OK nobody is answering but....What about the night time should i use a UTH?
sungazer
05-22-05, 03:09 AM
i dont have one but i have read from lots of places that you should not feed them cricket or meat very offten but veggies(romain,kale,ect) with vitamins dusted on it, also the males tend to get mean during breeding season but like all reptiles there are the onces that are just sweet hearts.. mist 2x day for humity. and for night time use a red bulb they can see the red but are able to get some heat at night .. hope that helps and if i missed something i am sorry... thanks
Thanks but should i use a UTH?
Whether you use a UTH or not can really depend on the age and size of your iguana. There is more than one right way to do things. The younger he is, the warmer he should be kept. There are a couple questions you could answer to better enable me to answer your questions. The care of an iguana is very complicated and I don't want to repeat things that you already know. So if you can do your best to answer, I can help you out with info you might not know.
1) Sex, age, size of your iguana
2) What type of setup do you have him in now?
3) Cage measurements, lights, temp, humidity, etc.
4) What have you been feeding him so far
5) Temperment, personality
6) Previous handler?
Um I think that's it.
Sex:Male
Age:4 months
Size:With out tail,1 foot
Setup:Glass viv.
Cage Measurements:4"L+1.5"W+2.5"H
Food:Lettuce,all most anything healthy.
Temperment, Personality:Timid, shy, mosty "tail wips" you.
Previous handler:Pet shop ppl who know there stuff!
Oliver Hope this helps you help me...:)
Oooooo temps and humidity:91 .....humidity 58%
Lights:UVB+Heat Lamp+UTH for at night.
Oliver
Well your setup seems okay and the temps check out.
Make sure you give your iguana a nice long bath (30-60 min.) at least once daily in addition to misting. If you want him to stop tail whipping, you have to handle him a lot in order to tame him.
DO NOT FEED YOUR IGUANA
lettuce
cucumber
olive
tomato
zucchini
onion
starfruit
Lets start with the food. If you are feeding your iguana plain iceberg lettuce....there is NO nutritional value. Things that are healthy for us are not necessarily healthy for iguanas. If you are feeding romaine lettuce that is a little better, but we can do MUCH better than that.
45% of your iguanas diet should come from vegetables such as the following: raw green beans, snap peas, snow peas, squash, parsnip, turnips, and sweet potatoes.
45% of your iguanas diet should come from leafy greens such as the following: collard greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, and escarole. (once in a while you can substitute kale, bok choy, chard, broccoli leaces and endive.
Sometimes as a treat you can feed banana, mango, papaya, plum, strawberry. peach nectarine, melon, grapes.
In order to feed your iguana you have to keep the right balance between calcium and phosphorous....it's not simply throwing down some lettuce and veggies. If you feed him the wrong food it will actually block him from absorbing the calcium he needs from other foods. This will cause MBD Metabolic Bone Disease which will make your iguana suffer needlessly in pain and deformity of the bones.
You should also dust your igs food with calcium every day until he turns 1. After that it can be anywhere from 4-6 times per week. You should also be dusting with a multivitamin 4 times a week.
We'll start with thata good book to buy is Iguanas for Dummies by Melissa Kaplan. You should also check out this site
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/icfs/index.html
you can click on the PDF format.
Hope this helps....let me know if you have any questions
LOL ok i have that book..........And i have some Iguana food tropical magic or something like that and the snow pee's, he seems to only like lettuce and so im going to have to bath him allmost everyday, will that stress him out? 30-40 mins isnt that a long time to have them out?The store food has lots of the stuff that you said.
Thanks Oliver
Unfortunately, one of the problems with feeding your iguana lettuce is that he may become addicted and refuse to eat other food. It's like feeding him candy.....would you want to eat salad instead? If you are offering food he should be eating and he is refusing it don't worry. It is NORMAL for iguanas to throw a hissie fit and refuse to eat for days at a time. If any part of their routine is changed they will sulk for days. That's why the sooner you establish your routine, the better.
He should be eating FRESH greens and veggies....not pre-packaged store mix. The reason for this is that after being opened for a certain time, all the good stuff in the mix goes away. It's also like the difference between you eating something fried vs baked. One is ok, but the other is obviously better.
Because he is not tamed yet, bathing him on a routine will help.
It might cause stress at first, but as you get used to each other, it will help him understand that you are not a threat, you only want to help him be comfortable. Remember iguanas are rainforest reptiles. They are used to living in conditions with LOTS of humidity and water. He needs misting and bathing as much as possible.
I'd try feeding him some FRESH collard or dandelion greens with FRESH shaved sweet potato to attract him and maybe some sliced up banana to start
YES thank you, do you have to get it into the bath? He's just going to get more mad and pissed, I can just take him out everyday. I mist him ALOT..
Thanks Oliver
He should be getting bathed. You also have to remember that YOU are alpha...not him. He might get pissed, but he can't get out of the bath so just leave him in there until he calms down. He will eventually stop the tantrums.
KK.....ill do that
Thanks Oliver
Good luck Oliver. I hope you and your iguana will be very happy together.
Thank You all who posted you gave me very good info!
One more thing, I think that he's skinny for his body, how do I get him fat. He's not a real big eater so how would i do this?
One One more thing he seems not to be eating as much as i would like him to what can i do about this?
One One more thing he seems not to be eating as much as i would like him to what can i do about this?
camille
06-01-05, 09:28 AM
OMG!!! im not gonna freak. calm down camille :P ok. iguana care 101 first of all READ LIKE HELL. here are some sites that are GREAT and when i mean read i mean read EVERYTHING on there and join the iguana den forum their the best. heres the links there melissa kaplans site http://www.anapsid.org theres the green iguana society site http://www.greenigsociety.org and then theres iguana den http://www.iguanaden.com and two books you should buy wich have good information and are considered the BIBLE of iguana care is Iguanas For Dummies bye Melissa Kaplan and green iguana- The ultimate owner’s Manual bye James W. Hatfield III. and no dont use undertank heaters he needs light from above and it has to be away from him so he doesent burn himself. preferable with screen mesh between them and he also needs a big habitat adleast 6 by 5 by 4 feet (when he gets full grown) if you do things right hell outgrow a 75 gallon tank in a year. for lettuce it has no nutritional value read the feeding info on iguana den because it would take forever for me to explain feeding. hell also need a uvb light suspended 6 to 8 inches from him when basking no more no less. hell need branches for climbing something to hide in. hell need daily baths (some even like the shower) for poty training and also for uvb lights it needs to be reptiglow 8.0 or reptisun 5.0. those are accepted uvb lights that are STRONG enough for iguanas. make shure you read those books and that site. iguanas are usually very hard to take care of. make shure you do the right things. if you have other questions you can ask me :)
camille
06-01-05, 09:30 AM
and by the way i dont want to be mean but from what ive seen you guys havent been giving him much good info. undertank heating sint good for iguanas. its not natural for them. and for feeding giving the iguana too much vitamins isnt good it should be one a week and without uvb lighting he cant digest it. UVB IS A MUST
KK thanks....Ill have to get the book lol
OK I stoped the UTH and just took up the heat at night..And sometimes it get rather hot in the room and i think its over kill to have the heat light on the UVB is ok but the heat lamp....well im going to change that in about one month building him a big cage.
camille
06-02-05, 07:56 AM
ok get a digital thermometer and hygrometer. the temperature of his basking spot should be around 80 to 95 no more, his night temperature should be around 72 and the temperature on his cool side should be around 80. you need to have a temperature gradient wich means a difference of temperature from the hot side to the cool. the bigger the gradient the better. in fact you need a thermometer for the cool and hot side. you can get one thats just a thermometer for around 10 bucks and a thermometer hygrometer in one for around 20 give or take. and the humidity should be around 60. and about the substrate(the stuff on the floor) use newspaper paper towel or an old t-shirt or maybe two strips of carper and switch one to the other when washing. if you use that bark stuff or other stuff like that they can get parasytes. just a couple of things i thought you shold know
camille
06-02-05, 07:59 AM
oh and for the heat if you think its too hot just try to lift the light in the air somehow. i had frigging hangers up in the air and hooks and all sorts of holes in my walls to lift the light :p my mom nearly killed me
camille
06-02-05, 08:36 AM
ok i know im annoying but i reall care about iguanas and i just want the best for you and your ig. you said he was skinny. first he might have parasytes. bring him to a GOOD iguana vet. and have him checked for metallic bone diease(just regular checkup) and have a fecal(poop) exam done to make shure he doesent have internal parasytes. then since now you have uvb(wich by the way doesent give off any heat) hell get bigger and more lively. now for diet. one thing you should know is about oxalic acides and calcium phosphorus count. i dont know much about it but iguana den that i gave you the site for before has lots on info on it. it means you have to take the list of good foods they have and not only give him one thing all the time. you have to switch from one thing to the other alot. its hard to explain but its like(dont take it as if its true its just a comparison) there would be poison in the iguanas food and if he eats always the same thing hell die but if his food is changed there will be another poison in the other food but your iguana will be able to cleanse itslef of the poison of the other food he had and then cleanse itself of the new poison as you switch it to other foods. you dont have to ALWAYS change his food but try to alternate form one thing to another. and now if i were you id give him collard greens. my iguanna used to love it. and DO NOT give him any bugs or cheese or anything like that its not good for him and he could die. you should also give him calcium supplement once a week and no more unless the vet tells you otherwise. i strongly urge you to read the diet section on the iguana den site its the best ive ever found to explain iguana diets and what they should and shouldnt eat and why. anyways im gonna shut up untill i find something else to explain to you :p i know im annoying
camille
06-02-05, 08:37 AM
oh and by the way. just wanted to make shure you have your iguana a day and night cycle wich means he needs 12 hours with lights and heat on and 12 hours with them off. in the night though the heat should drop to less than 70 hence why you need a digital thermometer
WOW your really into it I was at school today so sorry for not responding to your posts i know how it feels.LOl...Well thats a lot of info so i'll take it in and do it!
Oliver
Who said he needed an under tank heater? And you linked Melissa Kaplan's site and book Iguanas for Dummies. You should read up on her recommendations concerning vitamins.
It's nice to get into all of it....but when it takes the first 6 posts to explain there should BE NO LETTUCE and that your iguana NEEDS BATHS........the process is slower. The information cannot all be given at once.
And camille what happened to your iguana....you don't have him anymore?
camille
06-03-05, 07:59 AM
no i dont. i sadly didnt have the money to care for him and i live in a small village. hence we dont have the greens and vegetables he needs and cant travel to the city to buy it weekly so i found someone who could give him what he needed. after i rescued him from my own school i wasnt gonna watch him suffer cause i couldnt affoard to buy him food. anyways those who have him now just love him so im glad i did it. they always stop me on the side of the road to tell me how much calmer and sweeter he is than their other iguana :p. He was a sweet guy though. i miss him *sighes* But ill get another iguana when i finnish college and work :) i think ill be able to affoard it if im a vet tech. it might not be the worlds highest paying job but i think ill be able to affoard to care for an ig. Thats actually why i post alot on iguana stuff. i dont want people doing like my school did and rushing to buy an iguana and then the poor thing having to suffer cause people dont know what their doing.
Well i think the info that she has gave me is great and I dont see others taking time out of there day to talk and help!If you want to give some help please do so.....
Well thank you camille for all the info and I hope you go get your iggy..
Oliver
Oliver If you have a finicky eater, you can try some mango flavored (human) baby food. Iguanas are nutz for food that is orange....squash, mango, carrot, etc. They even love the flower hibiscus. (sp)
camille
06-05-05, 12:25 AM
yeah iggy love to eat colored food though he wasnt finicky since at school at they fed him was split peas and..darn whats it called in english(i go to a french school :p) turnip...no...argh looks like a carrot but white :p. cant find the word. i think im losing my english 0_o. :p bah well you guys will figure it out but yeah thats all theyd feed him...that and a extra calcium tums once a week. so thats why you guys see why i kinda tough when it comes to iguana care. but yeah, oliver. you asked questions about your ig but you havent talked about him. since your a new ig owner you should be loving to show him off. get some pics on here and tell us about his temperament and stuff :). oh and just wanted to make shure. you giving him baths(havent read all the thread :p ) and make shure you wash your bathrub with bleach after. my mom kept bugging the **** out of me everytime i bathed iggy to make shure i did. my iggy would love the shower. if somehow i didnt have time to give him a bath before going to school id take him into the shower with me hes love to have the water spray on him. hed just stop moving, tilt his head to the side and smile his iggy smile :). plus after id let him climb the counter so hed enjoy that :p. guess you can tell i miss my iggykins
Oliver, how is the bath going? And what have you changed about your igs diet? Is he settling down more? Also, what cycle do you have him on for UVB and light? It should be 12 hours on, 12 hours off.
Yea sorry Iv had Finals and Football :)...Ok first off I would like to thank you for helping problly the best help that iv got! The bath is going good he sometimes easy to handle and a really nice guy! Yea I have him on an 12 hr's on and 12 hr's off.And just gone to the store with my mom and dad to get food so im changing it up a bit. The baby food is a good idea!
Oliver
P.S Dont have much time to talk becuse of football but Hopefully I'll run into another problem and you guys can help! :) :) :) :)
Oliver
camille
06-07-05, 08:12 AM
dont forget to save up and have him checked for parsytes f you can
Hey Oliver...are you the same Oliver on Reptilerooms.com
just wondering.
BoidsUnlimited
06-23-05, 10:36 PM
I'm curious how you know its a male at 4 months of age and only a foot long....
Hey yea im Oliver at reptilerooms.com and you?
I know becuse the guy that I got it off of told me that....why
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