Iguana Care

Iguanas can be extremely popular and a rewarding type of pet to raise and look after. They are our of their natural habitat when in a domestic residence or away from a tropical climate. This being said Iguana care can be easy and fun when the basics are understood. To build a proper shelter and make the iguana at home is important aswell as providing ample food and tending to the creatures basic needs.

Iguanas are plant eaters and should be treated as such. Certain claims have been put forth that it is permissible to feed your iguana insects due to this being witnessed in the iguanas original environment. This has no real basis and is thought to be a situation in where the iguana is after the vegetation that the insect is actually resting on.

With different hardships may come a change of diet out of necessity because the iguana may have little else to eat or consume, issues may arise that cause plant matter to die out so the iguana will need this insect protein to survive.

The construction and design of the iguana is such that their bodies are optimised for digesting and utilizing plant matter. They will not be able to process animal protein in a efficient way. This will lead to problems in which unprocessed protein crystals are stuck in the iguana tissue causing gout or kidney failure.

Recommended iguana care requires you to keep your creature on strict herbivore intake. It should be noted here that iguanas that keep to a plant matter regime are found to grow bigger and live longer compared to those those feed with animal proteins i.e insects and such.

 

The environment that an iguana requires is centred around the element that this lizard is cold blooded and needs to regulate it's blood temperature to ensure survival. This is important and knowledge of what a correct iguana habitat entails is essential to keep your iguana alive.

As stated the iguana has cold blood so these creature must bask in high temperatures and move between cold and hot spots to balance this scale. A recommended temperature is 90-95 degrees Fahrenheit. Many people turn to electronic hot rocks to satisfy the need of these lizards.

Iguanas need spacious environments to wander around in, this is because iguanas can grow up to six feet in size. Foresight is required and a suitable habitat must be prepared to ensure healthy growth and a healthy body.

Iguanas care also necessitates that this lizard needs UVA and UVB lighting. These are readily available but a point to note is that natural sunlight is still the best source of these rays.

It is safe to say that these are some brief basics and that iguana care is an art form and should be treated as such.