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Iguana
Jan 3, 2011 18:23:56 GMT -5
Post by 1 on Jan 3, 2011 18:23:56 GMT -5
My step sister says she is going to get me a iguana, know anything about how to take care of them? I have no clue.
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Iguana
Jan 3, 2011 19:09:04 GMT -5
Post by mustelidmusk on Jan 3, 2011 19:09:04 GMT -5
There is a LOT to learn about keeping reptiles. They have very specific needs just like ferrets. That is all I know about iguanas since I have never had one.
-jennifer
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Iguana
Jan 3, 2011 19:14:43 GMT -5
Post by bluemoose on Jan 3, 2011 19:14:43 GMT -5
All I know about Green Iguanas is that they are a lot of work and need a huge cage. They get very large so they need a lot of space. I think Katt has one so maybe she'll pop in but you might want to do some research into iguanas to make sure you really want that pet before you get one.
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Iguana
Jan 3, 2011 20:45:01 GMT -5
Post by 1 on Jan 3, 2011 20:45:01 GMT -5
I have had lizards before, but never that kind. compared to me other humans are cold blooded, mine is like, 30 times warmer, and they think the basement is freezing. I mean come on, i Sweet when water freezes, literally!!!!! Thats my biggest concern their for is keeping them warm. HOW?? ? ??
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Iguana
Jan 3, 2011 21:12:03 GMT -5
Post by otterwoman on Jan 3, 2011 21:12:03 GMT -5
You really do need to do research. they get really big, and both males and females have different issues when they are sexually mature. Their tails can whip you and they really need space the size of a room. I wanted one for a while until I realized I didn't have the space resources for one. If you go to a reptile expo they often have the iguana rescue table- so many end up being given away.
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Iguana
Jan 3, 2011 21:25:37 GMT -5
Post by goingpostal on Jan 3, 2011 21:25:37 GMT -5
Not an impulse buy kind of pet, you pretty much have to set aside a small room for a cage, they grow very fast, lighting is expensive, they eat a lot of veggies, poop a ton, not all of them are friendly, mine is not really, he's ok once you get him out of his cage but very territorial in there and very grumpy during breeding season. If you really are interested I would do a ton of research and build a cage now, then adopt one, there are tons in need of homes. You can't really buy a cage large enough and a nice one will cost several hundred to build. They can inflict a lot of damage when they want to, with their tails, nails and teeth, I have seen some very nasty scars from igs. Mine's a PITA and in hindsight I would not have bought him but oh well. Now I'll probably end up with another when he dies just to get my money's worth out of the dang cage.
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Iguana
Jan 3, 2011 23:03:52 GMT -5
Post by 1 on Jan 3, 2011 23:03:52 GMT -5
Their gose my plan to let it run around and snuggle me at night for warmth :DDarn!
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 5:38:15 GMT -5
Post by katt on Jan 4, 2011 5:38:15 GMT -5
You do NOT want an iguana. Take it from someone who owns one. You need a MINIMUM cage size of 6 feet tall, 6 feet long, and 4 feet deep. You need very expensive UVB lighting that has to be replaced regularly or the iguana will die. They need a highly specialized diet that is very expensive and guess what? They eat - a LOT! Tito eats the equivalent of an entire bushel of greens, plus fruits and veggies in one day - and she is still a "juvenile" at only 2 years old, so she is still growing and will eat even more. Also, they can live up to nearly 30 years in captivity given the proper care. That is a LONG time to handle such a huge responsibility! Vet bills can be horrendous and they are very prone to things that require vet care such as blockages, and in females becoming egg bound. Also, they are NOT in ANY way "Tame" animals. It takes years of patience and time to socialize an iguana. It can be done, but even then they are wild animals and can be dangerous and unpredictable. To give you an idea check out this thread. This woman spent hours upon hours every single day working with her iguana and spending time with him and socializing him. He was a very well socialized iguana and look at what happened despite that: www.herpcenter.com/green-iguanas/29436-iguana-bite-wounds-graphic.htmlPlease, PLEASE I BEG you do NOT get an iguana! They are NOT starter reptiles and can be VERY VERY dangerous. They get up to 5+ feet and 25+ pounds. Their tail whips can cause serious damage and their teeth are worse. They are very rewarding to own and I would not trade Tito, but if I could go back and make the decision again, I would not have bought her. Start with something easier like a bearded dragon or a leopard gecko first. Reptiles have VERY high care needs - especially iguanas. Do you have several hundred dollars a month to spend on your iguana, plus about $500-$1000 for a cage (not counting lighting, heating, and shelves, branches etc!), and then a few thousand $$ in case of emergency vet bills? Male iguanas can be Very aggressive and dangerous during breeding season, females are prone to becoming egg bound which requires expensive surgery. They need special calcium supplements as well which adds up. If you seriously think you want an iguana, get this book and read it cover to cover twice. THEN think about whether you truly want and can afford and handle one. www.iguana.com/I am not joking on this. Hundreds and Thousands of captive iguanas die each year due to improper care! Even more are unwanted because the owners didn't do their research first before getting one and didn't realize what goes into owning an iguana! Here is a great resource on igs: www.herpcenter.com/green-iguanas/Abbreviated Care Sheet: www.herpcenter.com/green-iguana-caresheet.htmlPLEASE PLEASE DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE GETTING A PET!!!! ESPECIALLY ONE THAT GROWS TO 5 FEET, AND HAS EXTRAORDINARILY DIFFICULT AND ADVANCED CARE NEEDS AND CAN BE VERY UNPREDICTABLE AND DANGEROUS!!!!!!!!!If your step sister seriously buys you an iguana without BOTH of you - but especially you - doing VERY in depth research and analyzing your budget, space, time, etc, then (no offense) you are both making one of the stupidest choices you could possibly make. You might as well buy an alligator and let it live in your bathtub. They are BIG, DANGEROUS, and are Extremely difficult to care for. I made the mistake of getting Tito before doing research and I regret it. Do I love her? Absolutely! Is she worth the hard work and money? Sometimes. If I were offered the choice again would I buy her? NO! I love Tito to death, but she is an expensive pain in the rear. And lucky for me she is a female so I don't even have to worry about serious breeding season aggression. I seriously beg you and your sister to reconsider. There are hundresds of other reptiles out there that are far more appropriate for you. Do your research, and find a better Beginners reptile and start there. PLEASE!
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 5:41:40 GMT -5
Post by Jackie on Jan 4, 2011 5:41:40 GMT -5
I was waiting for you to respond, Katt. I had a feeling this wasn't the best starter pet. I didn't know about half the things you talked about (and I had iguanas as a kid).
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 5:43:09 GMT -5
Post by katt on Jan 4, 2011 5:43:09 GMT -5
Not an impulse buy kind of pet, you pretty much have to set aside a small room for a cage, they grow very fast, lighting is expensive, they eat a lot of veggies, poop a ton, not all of them are friendly, mine is not really, he's ok once you get him out of his cage but very territorial in there and very grumpy during breeding season. If you really are interested I would do a ton of research and build a cage now, then adopt one, there are tons in need of homes. You can't really buy a cage large enough and a nice one will cost several hundred to build. They can inflict a lot of damage when they want to, with their tails, nails and teeth, I have seen some very nasty scars from igs. Mine's a PITA and in hindsight I would not have bought him but oh well. Now I'll probably end up with another when he dies just to get my money's worth out of the dang cage. AGREED! And yes - their poop is quite incredible and the SMELL....it is one of the most disgusting smelling things in the world. Their gose my plan to let it run around and snuggle me at night for warmth :DDarn!First of all, they will not keep you warm. Also, free roaming is a bad idea typically as they then do not get proper temp, Humidity, and UVB. Also, They are NOT snuggly animals. It is very very rare for them to be "affectionate" and that takes hours a day, every day, for a loog time to socialize them that well and as I mentioned before they are never truly "tame." They tolerate people more than they enjoy people. The only reason Tito puts up with me is because she knows I feed her!
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 6:44:03 GMT -5
Post by katt on Jan 4, 2011 6:44:03 GMT -5
I was waiting for you to respond, Katt. I had a feeling this wasn't the best starter pet. I didn't know about half the things you talked about (and I had iguanas as a kid). lol The sad part is, that isn't even HALF of what goes into it! The book I linked is the BEST care reference out there. And it is a BIG book and every bit of it relevant! To give an idea of how complicated it is - that is the Third edition of the book and he is constantly publishing updates that you can subscribe to as an addition to the book! They are definitely NOT easy animals. Anyone who thinks so is welcome to come babysit Tito for a few days! And that is cool that you had igs as a kid! It is pretty crazy but even a few years ago, despite them being in the pet trade for a long time, we (the humans) knew very little about proper care for igs. Recently though, there has been a LOT of research done on wild and captive igs of carious species and we have gained incredible amounts of knowledge! With the vast amount of specific, detailed into out there now though, there is no excuse for not doing the research and providing proper conditions for iguanas. They are cool though, despite the ridiculously hard work and $$$$ that goes into them! It is like owning a "miniature" dinosaur! haha With all of the attitude of one too!
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 7:59:38 GMT -5
Post by Jackie on Jan 4, 2011 7:59:38 GMT -5
We basically had a pretty small enclosure (maybe 4 ft by 2 ft?) and just used a couple of UV lamps. They were fed greens and occasionally some fruit. They enjoyed eating eat cat food (with the cats) and playing with our cats. When my little sister was born, we gave them to some iguana expert my parents know because they are kinda unsanitary to have around babies (and my sister had an extremely compromised immune system). He definitely takes care of them wayyy more than we did.
My younger (but older than the other one) sister got bit once by the igs (it was an accident, we were hand feeding them) and it was pretty bad. It bled a lot...
And to add, we had a bad problem with mites on them that required expensive treatment (I don't remember what it was, but I know my parents said it was really expensive).
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 14:57:34 GMT -5
Post by katt on Jan 4, 2011 14:57:34 GMT -5
Now days they make mite-off spray and such but I can see needing a vet if it was really bad. They can be a lot of fun and very rewarding, but they do NOT make good pets! Haha I have also been bitten a few times. If you ever look at their teeth up close, they are triangular and serrated - I often hear them referred to as being very similar to the teeth of a Mako shark. And they have the "jaws of a pitull" as they LATCH on and have very very strong jaws! They can do some serious damage for sure. Once I was hand feeding Tito a peach - her favorite! - and she got a bit overzealous and bit my finger. It was super deep and took a long time to heal! If she had been an adult I have no doubt that she could have easily bitten my finger OFF! Ever since then I'm terrified of being bitten. I don't let her know it obviously, I am confident handling her and take precautions, but it's always there in the back of my head that if she got pissed or scared and decided to hurt me she could easily do some major damage. That is cool yore would play with your cats. Tito was abused (unintentionally but abused nonetheless) when I got her so she is even more stand-offish than most igs. At one point at her previous owners she escaped her tiny cage and guess who found her first?! Their cat! She was TINY at the time and I'm surprised she survived. She is Covered in scars from that and I know she will never be able to play with other animals. I wouldn't trust her or them. Right now she's in a cage that's 4x3 feet and over 6 feet tall. It is designed to come apart since it's too bit to fit through the door and this is in No way my permanent living situation. It cost hundreds to make! But it can be expanded on as well. At some point though I'll just build her a different cage or buy a professional custom one. Making it take-apart-able made the cage somewhat less sturdy...
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 15:20:23 GMT -5
Post by Jackie on Jan 4, 2011 15:20:23 GMT -5
Ours was just one level, and housed 2-3 igs. It definitely wasn't adequate. They kinda acted like lazy cats I think they were species confused. Sorry to hear that about Tito. Glad she found her way to you.
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Iguana
Jan 4, 2011 15:41:46 GMT -5
Post by goingpostal on Jan 4, 2011 15:41:46 GMT -5
AGREED! And yes - their poop is quite incredible and the SMELL....it is one of the most disgusting smelling things in the world. Yep, it's so nasty! and naturally mine waits until I change his water or clean his cage to go potty again. It's like a guarentee, clean cage, get a dirty look, and potty. His first cage was wire on the back and he got quite a kick out of pottying out of the cage, rather than in it. God they are brats. Mine's a male, and during breeding season likes to "flash", and drop sperm plugs all over, really gross.
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