Green Iguanas: What the Pet Store Won't Tell You

I work at an animal hospital that is next door to a pet supply store. Occasionally my work takes me into the store where I get to answer questions from shoppers. I cringe when I see the frequent 5-6 year old holding their parent's hand and picking out accessories for their tiny baby green iguana. Without exception, they have their cart loaded with a 10-gallon tank with mesh top and heat rock. I cringe because I know they have already purchased their poor Iguana because they don't sell them at this particular store, and I know they have no clue what they have gotten themselves into or how to properly care for their new pet. I decided to write this guide to help those who are considering making an Iguana part of their life, and for those who already own one but need guidence. The first idea I try to get across to these shoppers is the size that Iguanas grow up to be. An adult male should mature at around 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 feet and females are not much smaller. They don't take very long to reach this size if they have the proper humidity, heating, and diet. My Husband raised one baby from 12" to 6' in just a couple of years. I adopted an Iguana from the local animal shelter who was around 3' long, and within a year he was 5 1/2 feet long and growing. If this sounds fine to you, bear in mind that a full grown Green Iguana needs either its own bedroom or a gebination outdoor/indoor enclosure of equivalent size. You can let your Iguana have free range in your home if you want to risk the shattering of every breakable item you own, scratches all over the furnature, or dangers such as hot stove eyes, ceiling fans etc. It is also unbearable and expensive to keep your entire house at the appropriate temperature and humidity for their geefort. This brings up a very good question that every owner or potential owner needs to have a good answer to; how will the Iguana be taken care of if something happens to you or if you go on a vacation, business trip etc.? There aren't any facilities in my area large enough to board an Iguana even if they knew how to care for them. When I went on vacation this year, I had to find a babysitter who was skilled enough to handle my large male Iguana while I was away. This isn't an easy thing, and it can be very expensive. Also, changes in their environment, or caregivers can make them loose their appetite, cause depression or aggression, or worse. I was lucky, but I had to leave knowing that I might have to return early if things didn't go well. If you don't like dealing with that kind of responsibility, a Green Iguana isn't for you. Now lets talk about costs. Most stores sell Iguana babies for $10-$20 or less, but the costs of care over their lifetime will run into the thousands. They don't sell aquariums big enough for Iguanas to live in, at least not for long. The expense of a glass aquarium can be enormous when you get into the larger sizes, so I always suggest starting with a large home-made enclosure from the outset, and design it to be easily expandable as the Iguana grows. You don't want to start too big right away because your baby is so small. I would start a 12" baby out in a 36" x 24" x 4' tall enclosure, and design it to be easily expanded later on. There are still costs involved in making an enclosure and I strongly recgeend double walls with insulation, otherwise your energy costs will be enormous. There are a number of gepanies who make reptile-specific homes that are very attractive, but they make aquariums seem cheap. If you have the money, this is an easier way to go, but if you have the skills you can design one just as attractive and perhaps better suited to your home's layout. I recgeend getting a copy of Green Iguana: The Ultimate Owner's Manual by James W. Hatfield III. It has everything you could possibly want to know in it and includes information from many experienced people instead of just one. It also has excellent instructions for how to build a proper home for your Iguana. In addition to housing costs, veterinary bills can be very high. Hopefully you will educate yourself and can avoid some of the more gemon husbandry-related illnesses, but accidents still happen. There are a few things you should find out before getting your baby: Is there a reptile veterinarian in your area, and if so where are they located? What do they charge for an office visit (be sure to let the receptionist know you have a large reptile because this will most likely incur a higher charge)? Do they have a staff skilled in large reptile handling, and how long have they been treating reptiles? You need to know these things beforehand and I would suggest touring their facility and meet the doctor before you have an emergency. You may also inquire about staff members or other clients who may be able to babysit while you are on vacation. The largest cost by far will be food. If you choose to use them, there are a number of ready-made Iguana diets out there, and none of them are cheap. Avoid any diet that contains animal protien or artificial colors. The prices for these diets range from around $6 a pound to over $100 a pound (I'm not kidding). Not very much is difinitavely known about a Green Iguana's nutritional requirements, so any food that claims to be 100% geplete is erroneous. We couldn't say that about any food, or salad for that matter. The truth is, Iguana's eat mostly flower petals and tree leaves in the wild (not the ones that you have around your house either). It is very difficult to recreate that kind of diet from the supermarket. Variety, while paying attention to calcium to phosphorus ratios, is always the best way to go. One thing that Iguanas and humans have in gemon is that they don't have to have every food group represented in every meal to be healthy. You can feed them a bundle of greens one day, tomatoes and other fruits the next, chopped carrots and sweet potatoes the next etc. and so on and it will still provide overall nutrition. You can also mix a number of vegetables and greens into a salad for each meal if you prefer. Don't feed them lettuce or cabbage! Lettuce has no nutritional value (its water in leaf form) and cabbage will give them really bad gas. Use a quidebook like the one I mentioned above to get your calcium and phosphorus ratios correct and plan your feedings so they balance properly over the week. An inexpensive alternative to geercial Iguana diets is rabbit pellets, but I wouldn't feed them exclusively. If you gepare the ingredients and crude analysis to that of an Iguana diet, they are virtually the same, but rabbit pellets are availiable in bulk at a fraction of the cost. I fed these soaked in water until soft and mixed them with shredded carrots or sweet potatoes (he loved those) about 2-3 times per week in addition to his greens and fruits. This way I was sure he was getting his vitamins and minerals. He was one of the healthiest Iguanas my veterinarian had ever seen in captivity. Unfortunatley, he became increasingly aggressive as he matured and we finnaly had to have him euthanized. This brings me to my next point: Iguanas get large and they can get very aggressive! It is impossible to tell males from females when they are young, and can still be tricky when they are older. Females can have nice temperments, but can have reproductive problems in captivity. Males get larger (usually) and go into heat at least once per year. This lasts around 3 months if you are lucky, but in Darwin's case (that was his name) he stayed in heat almost without a break. Their natural cycles can be disturbed in captivity, especially if you live in an area where seasonal changes are very different from their country of originiation. Most Iguanas in this country are farm-raised now days, but they are not domesticated. They still are programed to live in the area their ancestors lived, in Darwin's case that was Guatemala. East Tennessee has virtually nothing in gemon with the climate and seasons of Guatemala. Even though he was kept indoors, the natural temperature changes, light changes etc. that he would have experienced in the jungle just couldn't be duplicated perfectly. Despite the best of care, they can have problems adapting to home life. If everything goes well, and you are able to provide the proper nutrition and housing for you Iguana, he or she may outlive both your dog and cat. It is typical for them to live 10-15 years, but many live to be much older. We have no idea how long they live in their natural state. This is not a throw-away pet. Count on having him for 20 years. If this doesn't fit into your projected lifestyle, find another type of pet. If something goes wrong, as in Darwin's case, don't count on finding another home for them easily. Because of Darwin's aggression, I couldn't find an individual to take him and none of the Iguana rescues had any room. We even checked at a zoo, but to no avail. This was sad for me and very unfortunate for him, but this isn't an ungemon scenerio. This may have been the reason he was originally abandoned by his previous owner in an appartment before going to the shelter where I found him. These animals can be very unpredictable. I don't intend to discourage Iguana ownership altogether, only to inform people so they will know what they are getting into beforehand. Iguanas have a lot of personality and they can be as particular as you and I are about the foods or people they like. Many males begee aggressive with male handlers but are fine with females. Sometimes, and in Darwin's case, they begee aggressive with everyone. They are also very difficult to keep healthy, expensive to feed, and time consuming to care for. If you have the time and rescources to devote to one of these magnificant creatures for the duration of its life, go for it. If you have any doubts, please consider a different type of pet. These aren't things that the pet shop staff is likely to share with you; that is why I wanted to write this guide. I hope it has been helpful.