PLEASE NOTE
The information on the BambooZoo site is as much as 10 years old and in the hobby much has been learned. Though, I believe there is merit in keeping the site open. There are many controversial issues presented in these pages. Please view BambooZoo as a starting point in your research.
These beings are as complicated as we are and deserve more than a basic 5 paragraph care sheet to maintain their health and well being.
My passions have evolved. This is is the site I am growing today. We Heal the World
THE GREEN IGUANA
Green Iguana- Well known for being 1 of the most throw away pets on the market. Most start out as a little 3" lizard with a tail twice as long. Cute little guy that could live in a 30 gallon tank and probably wouldn't eat that much??? Despite the fact that they can and do use their brain, creating some fabulous personalities, they do not make a good beginner pet because they do grow to lengths of around 6 feet long, are high maintenance and expensive to keep if you are going to expect them to live to the 20-25 years that they are capable of, with the enclosures, temps, diet and lighting!
Enclosures. Minimum size for the hatchling should be no smaller than a 55 gallon. That is just for the first year. Keeping in mind that even in this it is hard to maintain the 92-96 degrees for the basking point but also having a 70 degrees cool while trying to maintain 80% humidity.
You will need the UVB and UVA [or a regular household bulb will do] But making sure that the screen on the top is not a closed knit screen. It should be no smaller than 1/4 " to allow the UVB ray's to come through. I use the Mega Ray [100 watt self ballasted]. They are GUARANTEED for at least 6 months but most last up to 18 months. Depending on the wattage most will give UVB up to 35 " away from the bulb. You can use the 7 -10 % UVB reptisun tubes but you would need 2 of them to do any kind of good. The UVB is in the very middle of the tube and as it goes along the lenght it becomes weaker. Most tubes will cost about the same as 1 Mega Ray so you do the math and the reptile needs to be within 12 inches of the tube UVB.
They need things to climb on.
This is the cage she lived her first year in! Now even though they don't eat much their first 6-7 months they still poop everywhere they are which makes spot cleaning a Not for these guy's. Everyday she was put into the tub so I could tear down her Viv and clean it and put in new papers and scrub down the tree limbs that she would climb on and the hammock that she basked and slept on. She hadn't learned the trick of using her water dish yet. So there you have the daily ritual of it for her first year. Now some would say, just build the enclosure that they are going to end up in, but I have found even after transferring her to her adult cage that the bigness of it all scares them. So to me it is best that they are left in something smaller that they can come to learn to dominate on their own for their first year.
This my hatchling {Shorty} exactly one month after getting her. I left her to herself for 2 weeks then started the handling process which is still in process to this day at the age of 13 months. She gets to get out of her cage for bath time everyday between 4:30-5:00. She is in the bath just long enough for me to clean the cage and get things ready for bed time later. The rest of the time is spent with me. She has never been allowed to be put down long enough so she could go run and hide. She is either being held or on my shoulder and this will be the case until she is big enough not to crawl off some where and hide. Now I am inclined to believe that she is going to be one that would prefer to be left alone [never can be too sure with these guy's though], but that is not going to happen as she needs to know the handling for vet purposes.
She came to me with a good dose of mites and a good dose of internal parasites which were both taken care of rather quickly and some old shed that took us a little while to get rid of. For the mites, because I needed to let her into her new home for a couple of weeks settling in, I needed to find a remedy that wouldn't require taking her in and out of her cage for treatments for the mites. Went on many forums and asked the question and it was a snake keeper that suggested this. Get the NIX [for human head lice] and mix 1 TBS of NIX to 60 TBS of water. Spray everything real well in the enclosure, don't need to let it dry out, take a cloth and soak with mixture and rub it all over the Iguana including the face. This will kill the mites that are alive and also kills the eggs that have been layed and the ratio makes it non harmful to the herp. By the way, it was ok'd by my Vet! Never saw another mite either!
As for the Parasites and old shed as soon as the 2 week hold was over, we started the daily baths and gently rubbed each day to get a little more off. Probably took about a week of this to get the real stubborn stuff soaked off. Also after the 2 weeks off, to the Vet we went for the first initial check up. All was well, short of her having a good case of Tapeworms. So we got to do 2 treatments of de-wormer in a 2 week period. I also started her on a regimen of Probiotics to the diet to replace the GOOD BACTERIA that the de-wormer also destroyed so that her tummie was digesting her food the way it was suppose to be. [1 year later still parasite free]
Age 13 months. She happens to be a little pig, eats everything on her plate usually in 2 settings, half before her bath and the rest after she is back in the cage. Now they say variety is their spice of life and that is ever so true to keep them coming back to the bowl. This is what is in my girls dishes as of today. GREENS: Collard, Mustard, Turnip Greens. VEGGIES: Acorn Squash, red, green bell peppers, and Snow peas FRUIT: Mango Now beings the Greens are 50-55 percent of the diet I never change these out unless my store happens to be out of them at the time, but I will say that I never replace them with any type of the lettuce family as there is absolutely no nutritional value to them at all. Beings the diet is very, very important and can be a book all on its own, I would recommend that you visit this website that has very valuable information and print it out because you will refer to it many times. www.Beautifuldragon.com. And look under the diet section keeping in mind that beings they are herbivours you will pay no attention to the information pertaining to insects as they should not ever be offered them. Their digestion system is not set up for this. It gives you all the good and the bad and explains to you the importance of Oxalate's and Goitrogens.
She was given a Calcium supplement [minus D3] and a vitamin supplement everyday for her first year. Just a dusting. But now that she is over a year old she gets them once a week and will until she reaches 18 months then [out of season] she will only get them once a month. Keeping these days does suggest that perhaps adding calcium with D3 on occasion may be a good precautionary measure as we can not be absolute on the amount coming from their diet and light source and I tend to agree. So if I was to start out with a young one again I would have offered it once a week for the first year and a couple of times a month after that. She also gets a sprinkling of probiotics once a month for preventative measures. Very seldom, do I have to clean her second shelf from her pee and poo because she now uses the bath for that purpose. So now I get to spot clean and then do a good clean once a week. This is her Adult cage.
This cage is 7'x5'x5'. Has a UVB 100 watt Mega Ray and a regular household 100 watt, CHE and a 75 watt Nite Glo [blue bulb]. The only reason for the nite glo is that I can look into the cage if need be during the sleep cycle without disturbing them. Otherwise they should have complete darkness. Also need to watch to make sure the temps don't go below the suggested 70 degrees. Where the CHE comes into play if need be.
Cage has 2 digital humidity/thermostats. 1 for the basking area, 1 for the middle to tell me ambient temperature of cage and the humidity levels. 2 shelves, top one 18" away form UVB and second one 26" away from UVB. 26" made possible by using the Mega Ray bulb. Notice that the large tree limbs have NO bark on them, but the smaller ones on the ladder do. This type of bark is what we call tight bark, would have to peel it off . The large are wrapped with rope for grasping purposes. Due to the flicking of their tongues even small pieces of bark can cause impaction. Humidifier [ Vick's 1.5 gallon warm vapor] is under the fake rock that you see on bottom preventing her from getting right on top of the heat. Now she doesn't care at this point in time but the adult we have Lay's right on top of her rock. Linoleum base with all cracks sealed with aquarium sealer, Plexiglas front with walk in side door. 2 4" vents on the bottom right panel for ventilation.
She has been a delight to have. She hasn't ever been sick although she does have a couple of broken toes that was there from before Me.
Now lets meet the Big Girl! This is Iggy. This little gal we got from family members that couldn't keep her anymore. She is the one that has taught me alot about temperaments and personalities. When we got her she was in an open "Iguana Kingdom" [how those ever got popular I will never know] with 1, 60 watt light bulb that was inside the cage that she literally hung on that by the way was never turned off. Diet of Romaine lettuce, grapes and an occasional banana [OUCH].. She was 5 1/2 years old. How she missed having MBD I will never know that either, but we do not expect her to live a full life.
She is 8 now, but still not the size that she should be. Even though she has beefed up quite a bit that is about as far as she will go I think. She can tend to be quite nasty and tolerates no one but me in that cage. If you try to approach her she does try to bite and an Iguanas bite is not something that you want. Her previous owners owned a bait shop and they think the gal that watched if for them sometimes tormented her with a ruler, thus the change in disposition. And you just let her be when she is in season which for her is around March - April.
Even with this disposition she has a personality that kills me. One can talk to her and she will look at you and then just out of the blue she yawns, Like your boring me!! She just loves to slide down her long branch and then look at you like did you see that. Eyes wide open! She loves her water pan and will submerge her head and blow bubbles while she bathes then uses it to potty in. She is an awesome girl in my book. This is her cage now.
UPDATE* It took me 3 years but she is quite handable now.
The essentials are the same in this cage as they are in Shorty's.
Just a few things to watch for with these guy's. But keep in mind that if kept the way they should be most you won't even have to worry about!
SKIN DISORDERS: Black spots other than the normal black markings. This can be a fungal infection or a bacterial infection. If not treated fast enough they can penetrate through the skin into the bloodstream and have fatal consequences.
CONSTIPATION: They should poop and pee daily and if they don't you need to check the cage temps to see if they are too low. If their waste backs up in their system, illness and organ failure can occur. If temps are right then it could be from impaction from foreign objects. Do not give them a human laxative as some can be fatal. They need to see a Vet for treatment.
HYPERCALCEMIA: To much calcium in the blood can cause Cardiac, Gut, Kidney and other serious problems.
HYPERVITAMINOSIS: Excessive Vitamin levels in the blood system. Same as above, can cause serious problems.
SHEDDING PROBLEMS: Best way to avoid this is to bath on a regular basis and make sure to provide adequate humidity in the enclosure.
RESPITORY INFECTION: Generally caused by prolonged periods of inadequate heat in the the enviroment. Not by catching a human cold or flu. KIDNEY FAILURE: 1 of the 2 top killers in captive Iguana's. Many symptoms to watch for , but know this that they can be so subtle that you may not notice until it is to late..
MBD: Metabolic Bone Disease. The 2nd of the 2 top killers. This can be turned around if caught early enough.
I had read a statement from one of the links on this website that read: Consider prevention of [MBD] this disease your DUTY. Diet,Uvb,Temperatures and You to ensure they receive it. Now this caught my eye [great saying] but I feel that it could pertain to all the disorders and diseases that they deal with. You keep your DUTY in perspective and problems should be minimal.
One last thing to keep in mind, if still thinking that this is what you would like to own. They make vacation time almost impossible. It is really hard to find someone that will come into your house twice a day to attend to them as they should be. And when you do it could be costly!!
DEE
www.reptilesforums.net
If Green Iguanas are on your wish list but may be too challenging and space consuming, check out some of the Cycluras and Ctensauras, as small as under a foot in size, with an Iguana personality.
IGUANA RESOURCES
http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/index.html
http://www.triciaswaterdragon.com/napoleon.htm
Click here: Jen Swofford's Iguana Pages
http://www.herpbreeder.com/pdf/pdfs/2003%20Townsend%20et%20al-Iguana.pdf.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_iguana
http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm
http://www.greenigsociety.org/feedingigs.htm
http://www.caringtogether.com/exotics/iguanas3.html
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steve.woodward/index.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/index.htm
http://www.todaysplanet.com/pg/beta/lizardlover/page3.htm
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrBinty1440 Excellent UTube Resource
