Iguanas As Pets

In this section I intend to outline some information on iguana, more specifically, iguanas as pets, to help you make up your mind as to whether an iguana is the right pet for you.

You see, contrary to popular belief, iguanas don't make great pets for everyone.

Sure, they're stunning to look at, show distinct personalities, each greens which is generally easier than livefood to give, and are very popular, but there are also a number of downsides which I and others have found over the years.

Firstly, iguanas grow big. By this I mean 5 or 6 feet long for adults, with a long, powerful tail lined with razor-sharp spines, sharp teeth and long claws.

They also grow fast and if given the correct nutrition, will reach this size in 3-5 years from hatching.

This means that for those keeping iguanas as pets, not only do you need to think about rapidly increasing iguana cages, but also spending time each and every day with your pet iguana, trying to keep him tame to enable you to safely handle him when he grows.

Even tame iguanas can sometimes accidentally cause naty cuts to humans with their claws, and many keepers have problems with sexually mature male iguanas in the breeding season, which can quite often become overly aggressive.

In short, it is safe to say that this information on iguana goes, iguanas should viewed as adults pets, and only adult pets.

Over a foot or so in length it is foolhardy to allow a child to handle such an animal, even with adult supervision, and I dread to think what could happen if a child wandered into the cage of an adult male iguana in the breeding season.

It's not worth the risk for your child, and it's not worth damaging the reputation of the iguana for.

Not only do iguanas require large cages as adults (a bare minimum should be 6 feet long by 4 feet deep by 6 feet high), but one also needs to think about where this will be located. Will the iguana have it's house in an outbuilding, almost like a chicken coop, with a heater for the winter and access to an outdoor pet for climbing and natural sunlight? Or will you modify a spare room into an iguana pen?

Or is your house large enough to be able to fit such a cage into your living room?

The large cage, and the rapid increase of cage size necessary from hatchling through to adult also means there can be a great expense involved.

For a hatchling, this can be as little as $100-200 to set up the tank, but this rises steedly over the next few years until you may end up spending literally $1000 or more to build the final, full-sized pen.

Iguanas are also long-lived lizards, which can be seen as good or bad, depending on your opinion.

On the upside, there is a real chance to get to know your lizard and build a "relationship" with it and many have felt as sad when losing an iguana as they have done when losing a dog.

On the other hand, 10-15 years is a lot of responsibility.

What are you going to be doing in 10 years time? Where will you be?

There are more than enough deserted iguanas abandoned each year in the coutryside, or given to animal adoption charities because their old owners hadn't though properly about the size, cost or potential aggressiveness of their pet when buying him.

Please, don't take the decision of keeping iguanas as pets as a light one. It can be a life-changing decision for both of you.

When you really are certain that you want an iguana as a pet, the next step is to work out where you can get one from.

Iguanas As Pets A basic introduction to keeping iguanas as pets with lots of information on iguanas in captivity and what sort of pets they make. You'll also find advice on such topics such information on iguana suppliers and breeders and how to select a healthy individual. To finish this section off I'll tell you about iguanas for sale (including places that sell iguanas in the uk and my personal favourite iguana classifieds) and what you should know if you want to adopt a green iguana.