Have important question on red ig's

[hercules01]

Hi everyone me and my girlfriend just got a male red iguana yesterday. I have had a green iguana before. I just want to know if it is common for the red iguana to turn really dark when they are getting UVB or if the cage is too cold... Right now his basking spot is at 100 and the rest of the cage is reading 83. I don't really know much about the red iguana skin color changes and what they mean yet.
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[ace]

Red Iguana's and Green iguana's skin are not diffrent from one another. Darkening of the skin is caused by stress is most cases, it's very likely that he is not used to his new place so thus he is stressed. I would leave him alone for a week or so as far as handleing goes so that his stress level will go down.

There are some other things I would like to ask you about:

I think that you might want to cover up one or two of those sides with some kind of plastic shower curtain liner, because iguana's need a lot of humidity and its hard when a cage is all metal like that.

I was wondering is the basking light the one that is shaped round if so is it Mega ray? I maybe wrong here but I think if it is then your basking spot is too close to the light. I don't have a mega ray but I get a self ballasted bulb from another company and I know the recommendation for it is like 12 in away at least and the ones that offer heat as well I think recommend a little further. This is too prevent blindness mostly I believe. However if the florescent tubes are UVB then i would consider investing in a mega ray or a product similar because the florescent's aren't much good. Now if you go with florescent just make sure the 2 bulbs are 10.0 or higher.

Also you might take the basking spot temp down a notch I have really never gotten mine above 95 degrees.

How big is the cage?

How big is he?

Also I am not sure that he will bask under the UVB if it's not the hottest spot in the cage....

Hope I helped......

[Jen]

That cage is no good. Its not big enough, it wont hold heat or humidity. Thouse are designed for warm blooded animals.
Please read over the caresheet. The link is provided below.
Please tell us about the diet you are feeding your Iguana.
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