Iguanas - an ideal pet? (Lizards)

Member Name: Islander

Product:	Lizards
Date:	16/11/00 (248 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to feed, easily tamed, quiet

Disadvantages: grow quickly, need large cage/vivarium, have sharp claws

Apart from keeping snakes, I have also kept Iguanas, they are about the easiest of the large lizards to keep as the adults are primarily vegetarian, and so can be fed on fruit and salad from the supermarket, a young one can be fed on dog/cat meat, chicken and small insects like locusts. The ones I had loved cheese for some reason. They are quiet and if kept clean do not smell (remove uneaten food and give them clean water daily).

Before buying an Iguana think about housing it, they may look small and cute in the pet shop, but within a couple of years they can reach six feet long (including 4½ of tail). The best type of cage for an Iguana allows it to get up high, as in the wild they tend to spend a lot of time in trees and when danger threatens they can jump off and either run or swim away. If you let them out for exercise, enjoy trying to get them off the tops of your curtains as they are very good climbers and also have a habit of jumping.

Handling a full-grown Iguana can be difficult, because unless it is tame it will give a nasty bite, it uses its tail as a whip – and that can draw blood (I know!), and they have very sharp claws (think cats claws that can’t be retracted), and if they think they are going to fall they will grip hard even on bare skin (and it does hurt, trust me). Don’t pull their tail because as with smaller lizards they will shed it, to try and escape and it never grows back the same.

They are a lovely animal to keep, they can be hand fed when young and tamed, they can be let out of their cage for long periods and to a certain extent house trained – just don’t let them near your plants – if’s its green they will try and eat it (they are the goat of the reptile world). They get to know their owner and can also learn feeding times, I usually fed mine in the morning and evening. Make sure they are kept warm and also have an Ultra-violet light to replace sunlight or they wil
l suffer from calcium deficiency (just allowing them to bask by a window is not enough as the class filters out the useful rays). It is best to get expert advice before having one.

Well worth keeping, they can be fascinating to watch and are certainly more interesting than a normal pet, but like any pet they should not be ill treated or left with children as if antagonised they can turn nasty.

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