Here's a picture of the green Iguana.
General:
The scientific name for the green iguana is Iguana Iguana.
The green iguana reconizable by his green color ( No really??),a comb on his head and all over his back and his long tail, which he uses to defend him self.He does this by swinging his tail enemy. The Iguana grows approximately for three years in the length and the next two years he will get fatter so after approximately five years the Iguana is fully grown.Some iguana can reach a length of two meters ( 80" )and some male Iguana's can weigh over five kilo's. The average lifespan is estimated at about fifteenth years. In the wild they eat leafs and fruits and in general they live up in the trees. Their orginal habitat is south- and central-America.
Reproduction:
At the age of 2-3 the iguana's are capable to reproduce. At the beginning of the dry season the Iguana's are ready to mate. By bobbing their head the male iguana's wil try to attract and impress a female. After fertilization the female will dig a hole in moist soil en lay theire 14 and sometimes up to 75 eggs. The eggs will hatch after 60 to 90 days and from that time on the little ones are on theire own.
Sex:
Ofcourse ,the first thing you will want to know is, " is my Iguana a male or a female ".
Well you can't tell in first 2 years of theire live. It's only when they reache the age of 3 that theire specific signs appear.
Besides the dominant behaviour you can distinguis the male by theire much impressive combs on head and back, and also there is a slight difference on the insides of theire legs.
(See pic below)
 male |
 female |
Keeping Iguana's:
Are these animals easy to maintain ?????
Yes ,but................
DO you know in what it means to hold Iguana's ???
AND do you have enough time to spend WITH your Iguana ???
AND do you have the space to keep the Iguana in.???
Is there a negatif answer on any of these question DON'T buy an Iguana.
When people buy a little Iguana they find it a cute little animal with it's lenght of 15 cm ( 6" ).
But they don't realize that this cute little 15 cm ( 6" ) animal can grow to a immense size of up to 2 meters ( 80" ).
So it's very important to get information ( websites, reptilestore's or maybe library) before you buy your iguana......Still wanna buy an iguana, you should also first build or buy a terrarium.
Housing:
So they do need a pretty big terrarium, a cage of 200cm x 150cm x 100cm ( 80" x 60" x 40" ) is a suitable size for a grown Iguana. In the beginning when your Iguana is little its better to have a smaller cage, because its easier to let the Iguana get used to the owner this way. Be sure to take your Iguana out of his cage on a regular base, hold him against your chest and talk to your Iguana. He will learn that you mean him no harm and he will get used to your voice. The cage must have a average temperature of about 80 degrees (fahrenheit) with a basking spot that can reach a temperature of about 100 degrees. You can place a branch or rock under the basking spot for your Iguana to lay on. For use as substrate ( ground material ) I use wood chips. I have some climbing branches im my cage and I have cork placed at the backside of my terrarium. Also some big rocks and slate rocks on the ground. You also can place some artificial-plants in your cage to brighten up your cage. Its no use to use real plants, because they most probably will be eaten. Place a bowl of water in your cage which you should refresh occasionally because the Iguana often choose to defecate or bathe in their water bowls. You'll understand that with the heat in your cage and the filthy water bacteria are grown easely, so clean your water bowl every day and when you see its soiled.
Be sure to clean your cage occasionally, just empty you cage and scrub it clean. put every item back on its original place. This is important because your Iguana can get stressed to get in new environments.
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Nutrition:
we must offer our iguana a great selection of vegetables and fruits
in order to ensure that they obtain all of the nutrients essential to their survival.
Your Iguana needs fresh vegetables every day. Not all vegetables are good for your Iguana though.
Don't feed him lettuce,potatoes,carrot,lemon or spinach it contains tannin which damage your Iguana's liver andcould even kill your Iguana and we don't wanne do that, do we?
Here are some of the healthy greens for your Iguana: endive, apples, cabbages, cucumber, peaches, collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, parsley, dandelion greens,
rapini, green beans, figs (raw or dried), green peppers, escarole, raspberries,
leeks, snow peas, blackberries, radish, okra, pears, pricklypear and parsnip
And snacks??Yes your Iguana has its snacks to, they love for instance crickets, grass-hoppers and when a little older little mice or rats. Make sure your Iguana gets enough vitamins and calcium. You can sprinkle some vitamin/calcium powder on his food. There are also liquid vitamins and calcium available which you can put in the drinking water, there's another way which I prefer, so I'm sure my Iguana gets its vitamins and calcium and that is by injecting the vitamins and calcium in your mice or rats.
Dog- and cat-food also contains a lot of calcium, but if you choose to feed this food to your Iguana make sure you only give small amounts and you wash off the fat and sauce from the meat with warm water.
