GIANT Iguana Enclosure

Bighead · 11-25-03, 02:11 PM

I may buy a house in a year or two that has a small barn on the property. I was thinking about turning half of it into a big iguana habitat because of all of the ones I see up for adoption and in poor homes. My main concern is, is it safe to keep large groups together if the enlosure has enough space or does it need to be one male to a group of females, etc. Also, what are some ways I could cut down on costs for feeding that many large animals? I have plenty of time to prepare and educate myself, but was wondering if I need to not dream about it to begin with. Thanks.

marisa · 11-25-03, 02:35 PM

Well honestly some people have kept iguanas in large groups, some have found its impossible.

Your best bet would be adopting indivuduals who are prone to being more placid and getting along, although even this doesn't ensure you won't have "personality clashes"

And there really isn't a way to cut down food costs aside from shopping at farmers markets and such.

Marisa

Rebecca · 11-25-03, 04:07 PM

I don't know squat about igs but I just wanted to say, that's a REALLY good idea and I hope it works out for you.

lizardmom · 11-25-03, 04:15 PM

i know that females iggs can live toghter, and males iggs can if they are raised together.one male igg raised by itself can be more aggressive , as it has never seen another male,
sort of like being raised as an only child -not being able to share and get along, but if raised around others they have learned to get along and tolerate other iggs.
does that make sense.i have adopted 2 iggs i older male, who was abused but is adjusting well. and one baby female from a pet store.
love my iggs , they love attention just like a dog, but only quieter..
no barking-smaller poop too
just my 2cents worth.
lizardmom

Neo · 11-25-03, 04:17 PM

i'm wondering how ur gonna heat the whole thing. cause it sounds pretty big. good luck with it though!

marisa · 11-25-03, 04:31 PM

Only SOME females can live together, and being raised together really doesn't ensure anything. A classic example is my roomates little ig Jub Jub. Jub Jub and another ig of the same size were raised together, but as they matured, one was forcing the other not to eat.

It really has to do with personality of the specific iguana, amount of space, time of year, etc. You can never ever ensure that a bloody fight won't break out, period. And on the flip side I have even heard of males living together peacfully (again has nothing to do with being raised together in this case)

A rescue in the states houses anywhere from 5-25 iguanas in a free roaming house. Any trouble makers are quickly identified and removed. You could try your idea, but have a spare enclosure on hand for anyone who develops a more solitary personality.

Marisa

J-Man · 11-25-03, 04:52 PM

I agree with Marisa. Nothing's set in stone when it comes to this topic. All in all it sounds like a good idea. If I were you I would do one of two things (or both):

1. Have extra cage(s) for the trouble makers

2. Since the enclosure is so big, seperate it into smaller enclosures. Maybe even just have walls of plexiglass inside the enclosure to seperate it. Then you can slowly phase out the plexiglass walls until it's one big enclosure again.

I don't know how this barn is set up so I don't know how easy option 2 would be for you. But I would definitely look into it.

Pixie · 11-25-03, 04:53 PM

From what I've read everywhere when dong my iggy research before taking in one of my own, housing more than one in an enclosure is a pretty hard thing to do. Some iguanas won't even tolerate another in a separate enclosure nearby!

What I've heard others do when introducing a new ig to theirs at home is ask for a one week trial period to see if the personalities will get along together. This still doesn't guarantee that there won't be any problems down the road but it could avoid big personality clashes.

As for saving some food money, you could always try to go yourself a garden of the greens and veggies you will need to feed your iggies. It will take more time but should save you some money in the long run.

I found that preparing my greens and veggies well will make them last much longer. When I get back from the store with my iggies food for the next little bit, I wash all the greens and dry them off as best I can. They are then all chopped up and stored in tupperwares lined with paper towels on the bottom. I also place a paper towel on top between the top and lid. I have found that I'll stretch the freshness of my greens this way for a good 10 days, sometimes more. It also is nice and easy to serve meals having to just grab a bit of everything to make the daily plates.

Pixie

eyespy · 11-25-03, 05:11 PM

I've seen a lot of igs require surgery from wounds received when they are forced to share quarters with other igs. Even 2 females can become extremely territorial and aggressive when ovulating or gravid. The risk of females becoming eggbound also goes up when they don't have a private area for laying.

If you choose to do this, make sure you have temporary cages on hand for each animal just in case of emergency.

sapphire_moon · 11-25-03, 05:18 PM

The big area can be turned into many suitably smaller enclosures! use a ladder to get to the top one! lol.....Great idea! I hope it works for you! Keep us posted.

Bighead · 11-26-03, 02:40 AM

I am assuming I will have some individual enclosures that will come with the igs I adopt. I don't have dimensions yet but I am guessing the iguana enclosure will be approximately 100ft. long and 15 ft. wide. I would heat it just as one would with any other barn that needs to stay warm and add lots of extra basking and uv lights. I would really rather not do seperate enclosures in that space except for ones that may be too aggressive for the group, which would be housed in the largest cages that were donated to me. There is an enclosure at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle that has an extremely large rhino iguana and a couple tortoises in it. I would love to do something like that too but on a larger scale. Just some more things I thought I'd add. Please remember that I'm not to go out and start this up next week or something. I do not intend to begin this project unless I know I will be able to provide enough care for this type of facility and this many animals. Thanks.

P.S. The other half of the barn will be racks and whatnot to breed the rest of the herps as well as feeder mice, rats, crickets, etc. I will keep you all updated on this dream.

NewLineReptile · 11-26-03, 02:50 AM

Just remember that barns with heat are not made for herps so you would have to have some other heat source. You would also have to have a pretty good barn as i don't no of many that don't have bad drafts and holes for other wild animals to get in. And not all barns could take the wattage that you would need for your UV and heat lights. There would be alot of money needed to do something like that to a old barn. You might be better off building a small solid barn for something like that Something that would with stand what you want to do.

Good luck
Brandon

eyespy · 11-26-03, 08:52 AM

The problem there is that igs have shifting hormone levels throughout the year and ones that were always social and friendly can suddenly become aggressive when in breeding condition. Many people that have group enclosures do fine for months or even years and then suddenly have igs trying to kill each other.

sapphire_moon · 12-02-03, 11:44 PM

And don't forget that if you have the males and females living together you are probably going to end up with a lot of unwanted babies. Why don't you make individual cages the size of horse stalls or a tad smaller say 6ft long 3ft wide, and maybe 7ft tall or something (just an example).

Plus you usually aren't going to have someone just donate a wonderful iggy enclosure either. It is going to take more of your money than you seem to think.
Also you said that you would use the cages that came with the iggy's. Well if they came with the iggy then chances are that the cage is to small for an iggy of a certain size. Also when you house them all together then the bigger ones may not let the smaller one's eat, may even kill the smaller ones in breeding season. It's going to take alot more money, and effort than you think....
This isn't a personal attack I just didn't see anyone mention the above things.

Snakey Acres · 12-03-03, 12:14 AM

My wife and I do the rescue /adoption work for the Edmonton reptile and amphibian society so Im fairly familiar with the Iguana problem.Housing Iguanas together is asking for trouble Iguanas are territorial by nature and will eventually fight and injure each other.
As for the donated cages they are rairly any use after doing this for 4 years we have gotten about 5 useful cages.The vast majority come with no cage.
What we do is try to have the owner keep the animal while we try to find it a home.We have about 20 on our list right now!!If the owner can't hold it we take them in our home.
We grow our owm greens in the summer but spend aproximatly $35 per Iggy per month in the winter, you can't cheap out on the food, the welfair of the animal comes first,no point rescuing 'em if you can't afford to take care of them.I cant imagine what heating a barn and running all the lights would cost.