Beach sand for iguanas

Question
I have had alot of experience with iguannas but very large ones and we always put natural beach sand in the bottom of their cages. I recently got a six month old green iguana and was wondering if I could also use sand in his cage also

Answer
Hi Fallon

Safety is always my first criteria when choosing a substrate. Whether an animal is likely to ingest it, breath it in or suffer physical injury from it (getting it in the eyes or vent, etc) all should be considered. These are usually less of an issue with highly arboreal reptiles like iguanas. I am assuming that you would be feeding from a dish so that accidental ingestion of the sand is unlikely. Sand can be somewhat dusty but as long as your enclosure is large and vertical enough that your baby has room to remain mostly arboreal rather then down on the sand then inhaling the dust or suffering physical irritation from it shouldn't really be an issue either. The presence of sand can also be a bit drying to an enclosure so you may have to keep an extra eye on the humidity when using it.

You might have to observe the habits of your baby to make the final judgement whether the sand is safe for him or not. In my case, my 15 year old male sleeps on the bottom of his enclosure and I wouldn't want him exposed to sand to that extent while my sub-adult male rarely comes down to the bottom of his enclosure.