acquired a tiny iguana hatchling

punky · Member Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 62 Location: Austin, TX

well, our only iguana we have had was an adult when we got him... so we're a little on the clueless side as to how the care might be a little different for this lil one.

he's around 4-5 inches without tail, and very skiddish, but very very green. we called all over town and there was only one shop that had any iguanas at all!

so, does anyone have any suggestions at all for us? this is the tiniest lizard we've ever had. he's in a 29 gallon with a 100watt heat lamp, and a slimline fixture for uv. were wondering about diet for him since he is so small.. i read that he might eat crickets? is this true? also how often do i dust the food? i do it about 2x a week for our adult.

thanks much in advance to all that help!

~punky
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1.0.1-tegus 0.0.1-iguana 0.0.1-beardie 0.1-RTB 0.0.1 Kingsnake 0.1-potbellied pig 3.2-cats 2.1-dogs 1.1-ferrets 0.1-Quaker 2.1-Zebra finches 1.1 conures 0.1-rat 0.0.1-emperor scorpion

ElliotJasChief · Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 11:09 pm Post subject:

Don't feed iguanas animal protein, they are purely herbivores. There are a lot of people I've talked to that say crickets are okay for juvenile iguanas, but I don't buy it.

The simple straight forward fact is that an iguana's digestive system is not set up to process animal protein, and feeding iguanas any manner of animal protein will cause kidney faliure and take MANY years off an iguanas life. I know that some people dispute this, but as far as I'm concerned, I've seen enough evidence to believe it to be IGUANA LAW.

I highly recommend Green Iguana: The Ultimate Owner's Manual by James W., III Hatfield as a resource. There is plenty of information out on the net... but be careful. I've run into a lot of people that talk about green iguanas as if they gave birth to the species themselves but are handing out blatantly WRONG information.

IMO the staple of an iggies diet should be collard greens ripped into bite-sized chunks. Beyond that, their nutritional needs are way too complex to get into here.

Anyway, there's a whole lot to know about iguanas, so I highly recommend getting the book I mentioned. Its by far the best and most complete thing I've read about iguana care and honestly I think I've read just about everything that's out there

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Elliot

1.2.0 blues
1.0.0 red
0.2.0 family

...and way too many fish

EA7770 · Valued Member Joined: May 01, 2005 Posts: 91 Location: USA

Melissa Kaplin's Iguana care web site is one of the best resources you could find on green iguana care. Pretty much everything you'll ever need to know. The URL is http://www.anapsid.org/iguana/
Good luck!

punky · Member Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 62 Location: Austin, TX

well, as i said, we have an adult iguana, so i know how to care for them. he's a male and is 15 yrs old, he was a rescue and we've had him over 2 years, so i know how to care for an adult, i was mainly wanting to know differences btwn babies and adults.

we buy our adult a bag of 'mixed' greens, which has collard, mustard, and turnip greens. i'd expect this would be okay for the baby? we also give our adult carrots, green beans, and strawberries a couple times a week... nothing else though

thanks for the link EA7770

i think i'll see if i can locate the book too elliot

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1.0.1-tegus 0.0.1-iguana 0.0.1-beardie 0.1-RTB 0.0.1 Kingsnake 0.1-potbellied pig 3.2-cats 2.1-dogs 1.1-ferrets 0.1-Quaker 2.1-Zebra finches 1.1 conures 0.1-rat 0.0.1-emperor scorpion

punky · Member Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 62 Location: Austin, TX

small update:

the baby is doing wonderfully and is on a greens-only diet (thanks to the advice of Elliot

) and is eating like a pig

i measured him and he's exactly 4.75inches without the tail... i think his tail is longer than he is!
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1.0.1-tegus 0.0.1-iguana 0.0.1-beardie 0.1-RTB 0.0.1 Kingsnake 0.1-potbellied pig 3.2-cats 2.1-dogs 1.1-ferrets 0.1-Quaker 2.1-Zebra finches 1.1 conures 0.1-rat 0.0.1-emperor scorpion

ElliotJasChief · Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 5:28 pm Post subject:

great to hear....yeah his tail probably is longer than him, iguana tails can be 3-4X longer then their SVL. One of my old iggies was around five feet long and her SVL was only 15".
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Elliot

1.2.0 blues
1.0.0 red
0.2.0 family

...and way too many fish