Iguana Kingdom

[zoz]

Hey I had to join this site because I received an Iguana last October from a 10 yr old nephew who had it for 2 yrs, and never treated it properly because for goodness sakes he was only ten and the parents didn't help out. so one day when i went to their house and found the three year old rubbing lotion on it , and being the animal lover I am I had to take the Ig home with me THAT DAY! so now I have bought books and read about everything on line I can find, but this is the first message board I've come across.... Here is my dilemma- Iggy just reached 30 inch's long and is still living in a 75 gallon glass tank, I feel its time to move him to a large space where he can climb and stretch out. One of the few things in my price range is the Iguana Kingdom-- www.drsfostersmith.com/images/Categoryimages/normal/p_940739_FS30149P_013.jpg

has any one had one? is it just a piece of crap? the other thing is I live in Utah where the Winters are freezing cold and the summers are blazing hot-- and I worry that having it so open might be bad for him-- I also put him in the bath tub once a day in the morning so he can poop-- how ever its getting very annoying cleaning it out every time he goes- is it even necessary to do that or am I over doing it? Please any info would be awesome! -Zoe

[iggy1021]

hello thank you for resucing the ig
i would not recomend that iguana kingdom cage for one its far to open and you will have problems with keeping the temprature and humidity right and the other reason is that your iggy will out grow that cage thus meaning you would have to buy another cage again since there are very few cages that you can buy at the right size i would recomend that you custom build a cage or have someone do it for you min size to be looking at is 6 foot high x 6 foot wide x 3 foot deep and please bare in mind the heating and lighting requirements when designing your cage as all your heating and lighting is done from above

you dont need to give your ig a bath everyday to get it to pop you should provide a water dish large enough for you ig to be able to climb into as most igs will pop in there water dish

please tell us a bit more info on what temps you have diet lighting heating etc so as to help you more if needed good luck with your new friend and congrats on becomeing an iguana slave

[Merlin]

Hi again!
That cage is worthless. Its a bird cage! Not nearly large enough for an iguana and the openess will make it impossible to control the heat and humidity that the iguana needs to survive.
Unfortunately there are no commercially available AFFORDABLE cages for an adult iguana so most of us have resorted to building our own. It's really not that difficult if you don't want to get too fancy. Just a big wooden box with a glass front door.
Pick up a copy of "Green Iguana, the Ultimate Owners Manual" by James Hatfield. Best book out there on iguanas. And don't let the size (620 pages) intimidate you. Its a very easy and entertaining read.
While we are at it describe in detail how you are keeping it, substrate, temperature, humidity, lighting etc, as well as what you are feeding it.
Iguanas are a complicated species to keep but not too bad once you get a handle on things.
We will get you up to snuff in no time!

[feever]

Agreed! That cage is crap and all cages like them are crap!Iguanas are not dog or birds, so let not keep them in kennels or bird cages. Build one yourself it's cheeper and will look the way you want it to look. I'll be posting pic's of the one I just made . Very easy todo and also can be alot of fun.

Anyway if you get that you'll be wasting your money as your going to need to get a bigger one soon after. Even when Iguanas are small build the biggest cage you can, it saves time and money down the road as you then don't need to buy 1 or 2 or 3 diff cages.

[zoz]

Hey, I haven't been on here for a while, My Ig is always pooping in his food! it's the most ridiculous thing, He has several water dish's through out his large luxurious 'mini' house where I take close car of temps and humidity levels. Why is he pooping in his food? He does it more then once a day, and I am constantly cleaning it and replacing it with new food, anyone have any ideas what up with the Ig?

[whipple]

Have you tried getting him to poop in the tub? And is he getting a good diet? Cuz as I understand, igs should be pooping once a day or so. Not multiple times.

[dee]

I don't beleive we have an age here do we.. If so I missed it.
When young they will poop when ever they get the urge and where ever they are when they get the urge. Many will lay on the food dish to lay claim to it. But as I said when young they will go anywhere and all the time. All you can do is offer the the water dish making sure it is big enough to submerge part of the body and maybe he will come across it and start to use it. One way to show them that the water is the place to go is by offering a bath once a day every day as Whipple suggested... It seems once they go in the tub the habit is on its way to developing!!