CHARACTERISTICS: Green iguanas are usually friendly, but, can become aggressive if neglected or abused. Adult male iguanas are known to be aggressive when breeding season rolls around. To ward off attackers, or when they're just plain grouchy, they will bite or use their strong tails as whips that can do some serious bruising. It has been said that green iguanas' tails have been known to break legs. The green iguanas are highly arboreal, and you would do them a favor by providing a tall cage where they can climb. Green iguanas in the wild are often seen in the trees at heights of 10' to 30'. Iguanas are highly territorial, and often disapprove of others trespassing on their territory.
DESCRIPTION & LIFE SPAN: Green iguanas are large and arboreal lizards. Males can quickly grow up to lengths of 6', and females reaching sizes of 5', half of that length is tail. Green iguanas have spikes that run along their spine from the head to the tip of the tail, gradually reducing in size. Green iguanas also have impressive dewlaps on their neck and chin area which are used in mating and threat displays. Not to mention the dewlaps are more prominent in males.
DIFFICULTY: Under optimal conditions, your iguana should live to see the ripe-old age of 20 years. Unfortunately, most do not live this long for several reasons. One, pet stores give inadequate information on their care, since they usually don't know much themselves. As a result, the iguanas start dying off because they are given inadequate/too much heat, not enough space which causes stress, and lack of UV lighting, which these diurnal lizards need to prevent Metabolic Bone Disease. Also, a common misconception is that iguanas are fine on dog food! Two, most iguanas in pet stores are wild-caught or "farmed", in which case they are loaded with parasites and die off since most people are unaware of reptile vets. Since they are often bought and sold in pet stores by people who don't realize that the 10" iguana will grow to 4 feet within 2 years. Also, males' hormones start raging at that age. So, the cute 10" iguana becomes a giant, horny, unmanageable lizard (this is usually the case more often than not) who thinks you're going to fight him for the women. In this case, many iguanas end up being released in the wild, or are put to sleep. A smaller percentage go into adoption agencies, to get an idea of just how many people give away iguanas, look at some adoption agency websites and see how many are waiting for homes, and more often than not, their health is/was below par.
PATTERN & COLOR MORPHS: As their name states, green iguanas are in fact, green. There are albino specimens popping up more and more in American herpetoculture. The wild caught green iguanas in pet stores run for as low as $5-$15, and captive-bred specimens are surely more expensive, even though I have never seen one for sale since I only have seen them up for adoption or in pet stores. Albino specimens, however, can fetch prices of $10-$15,000.
RANGE & STATUS IN THE WILD: The green iguana ranges in the trees from southern Mexico through Central America and northern South America in temperate, humid forests. Their habitat is declining due to being killed for meat, and the heavy collection for the pet trade demand. Nonetheless, they are appearing in other temperate climates due to people who release them in environments warm enough for them to thrive in. These environments include southern Florida (in which there is a rather large and established population), Texas, Hawaii, and the Lesser Antilles islands.
Some do opt for a free-roaming iguana. This isn’t like keeping a dog, you have to think about this and prepare ahead of time before bringing your iguana home. The main factors for their large enclosure requirement is their large size, activity level (particularly when young), and territoriality. You cannot keep males together, or even within view of each other, because they will threaten and fight each other, often resulting in injuries, or even death. Males and females usually can tolerate each other’s company, but not without supervision. This is largely because males may harass females, or sometimes they just aren’t compatible. Don’t be surprised if opposite sexes do fight, this may be because of harassment, incompatibility, or annoyance from such close quarters.
You may see cute, adorable pictures of iguanas bundled up together sleeping, basking, or eating together. Quite the opposite is true, though. Iguanas are not social animals; they don’t depend on interaction and affection like most mammals do. They actually prefer solidarity and little stresses build into big ones from being at such close quarters to others. In the wild, they prefer keeping tens or even hundreds of square feet between themselves and other iguanas, something they cannot do in captivity w/out the assistance of their human caretakers.
If you’re one of the lucky few who live in a home with a backyard in warm climates most of the year or year-round, then you can build outdoor enclosures for them to live in. An obvious benefit to this is, the sky’s your limit when building your cage, not to mention your yard. You can build the cage with a PVC piping or wood (NOT cedar or pine) frame and plastic-coated wire mesh for the sides. Here’s a great page on how to build a collapsible PVC piping cage for portability. Knock-Down PVC cage Even for those of you in colder climates, this is an option for a spring/summer enclosure if your area reaches an average daytime temperature higher than 85°F.
Most reptiles, particularly smaller species and young animals prefer to spend a lot of time hiding. I have never seen iguanas w/ hide boxes, but I would recommend you provide at least 2 hide boxes at different parts of the cage for young iguanas. One hide box in the warm part of the enclosure, and one in the cool part of the enclosure. Your iguana may never hide, but it’s always a good idea to provide them with a sense of security if they need it.
As for a source of water, you will need to provide a water bowl for your iguana to drink from. The bowl should also be heavy and sturdy enough to prevent him from knocking it over. A cat litter pan is best for water bowl because it will be big enough to allow the iguana to soak in it as he/she pleases. Don’t be surprised if the iguana decides to take a dump in the water, as most reptiles do. The water will need to be changed daily for this reason.
Some veggies should not be fed at all, or at least sparingly. Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, and Bok choi should be fed very sparingly, if at all. They lead to thyroid deficiency that slows metabolism and can lead to joint/muscle problems. Spinach, rhubarb, beets, chards are all high in oxalic acids which bind calcium, which is in high demand by iguanas. The oxalic acids prevent calcium from being used by the iguana. Carrots, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, bananas, grapes and tomatoes are all high in phosphorous and should be fed sparingly. Iguanas also cannot be fed animals like rodents or insects. This is because animal protein is too overwhelming to an iguana’s body, which is designed to use up the proteins and other nutrients in plants. Animal proteins create purines, which cause kidney failure in iguanas
Recommended veggies are: collard greens, mustard greens, Swiss chard, dandelion, parsnips, escarole (endive), winter squash, sweet potatoes, summer squash, green beans, alfalfa, and different fruits. For pictures of veggies, go to Illustrated reference to vegetables.
Included below are links to a couple good pages about preparing veggies, making salads, and serving them. The key to making salads is to provide a variety of veggies, and mix up the variety at servings so they don’t get bored and stop eating.
Iguanas are naturally from southern Mexico throughout Central America and northern South America in warm, humid rainforests. It’s best to imitate that environment as closely as possible for your iguana. They need the heat to help digest their food. We’ve already covered the size requirement for adult green iguanas, now we’ll cover environmental requirements. The daytime basking spot for green iguanas should be around 95-100°F. This should be at one end of the cage so that your iguana can move further away from the heat source to cool off. The cool end of the cage should be around 80-85°F in the daytime. At night, the temperature can safely drop to 70-75°F. The best way to provide the basking spot is with a heat lamp, or a regular incandescent household bulb will do. At night, you can use the black incandescent bulbs for heat and your visibility. Don’t use any bright lights in the cage at night because this will throw off your iguana, and they won’t know when to sleep. In turn, this will cause stress from not being able to sleep under bright light. You should have a lateral branch or a shelf that is at least as wide as their body and sturdy enough to support their weight. Make sure there is a screen barrier so that the iguanas cannot touch the bulbs and burn themselves. As for humidity, iguanas come from humid rainforests, so humidity should be kept around 60-70%
Iguanas are diurnal animals, and require UV to process a vitamin called D3, which helps them digest their food and utilize it properly towards their growth. You can use a bulb called Active UV Heat. These provide heat and UV at the same time. I’ve used it with my bearded dragon with good results. The bulbs are rather pricey though, about $40-$50 each. However, they claim that their bulbs will save more in the long run. Hence the guarantee that the bulb will continue to provide UV for one full year, and if the bulb blows out in less than a year, you get it replaced for free.
Zoo Med produces two older, better-known fluorescent bulbs called ReptiSun 5.0 and Iguana Light 5.0. These are actually the exact same type of bulb w/ different names. I’ve used these as well with good results. These are cheaper, around $15-$40 a bulb, depending on the size, but they must be replaced every 6 months. The bulbs will still emit light, but they stop producing UV after 6 months. Flourescent bulbs do not provide heat, so don't assume that is all that's needed for heat.
When placing the UV bulbs above the cage, make sure there isn't any glass or plastic between the bulb and the iguana. Light will travel through, but the iguana will not be able to reap the benefits of UV if something blocks the UV from reaching the iguana. These three bulbs I mentioned are great sources for UV, but, I recommend taking your iguana out to bask in the sun's heat and UV whenever possible, weather permitting. No manufactured bulb can ever beat the sun. Thus, the benefit of outdoor enclosures.