Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I posted this up in the Iguana forum, but they all said to come here because a lot of people who have Desert Iguanas post here. I had been doing a lot of research on these guys before I got them and I only recently recieved them. Its a 1.2 trio and I think they are great. I was hoping that some people could give me some tips on their care like what foods they seem to prefer in particular and any housing tips. Any advice will always be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Phil

Also I was wondering if any of you have any advice for helping ease the stress of acclimating to captivity of wild caught Desert Iguanas and Chucks? And any info on breeding DI's will be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys.

Phil

Your set up looks good, like I said in the email when we spoke they like a large area to run in. They like to borrow down to. Especially when they begin to brumate , later in the season.
A few of us here keep desert iggies. DVL (David has a pen outside for them, he may chime in here when he gets the time.

As I told you my guy Hershey roams free so he does not borrow but finds narrow places to crawl into or under rocks, and has done fine for a few years.

As far as foods, I told you they love banana as a treat My guy gets different types of veggies and flowers:

collard greens
kale
turnip greens
shredded carrot (they love)
shredded squash ( green and yellow)
shredded raw potato
shredded radishes
snap peas
boy choy
dandelion greens and the flower
rose pedals
hybiscus
pansies
some weeds stuff that grows inbetween the side walks
clover

Just try different veggies see what your guy likes. Make sure anything from outside is pesticide Free(non-toxic)

Your trio looks very NICE and healthy, wish you all the best with them.

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PHEve / Eve

Contact PHEve

Thanks for the reply and the email. I haven't had time to reply and my internet was being wierd but the info is appreciated. They do have a large cage, it is a plastic 100 gallon stock tank. I built a lid to hold the lights and they are very hot and dry. They have about 5 inches of sand to burrow in. I laid in two flat bricks under the sand and let their basking rock sit on top of that so that way they can dig under the rock without it collapsing on them.
You were absolutely right! They love banana!lol. I gave each of them a piece yesterday. I have just about all those veggies on that list already, I used to have green iguanas so I chose alot of those veggies. The prefer the dandelion and collard, along with the bright hard veggies. One of the females will hand feed already.

It was intersting to see yesterday morning that after they came out of their burrow and warmed up, the male started to display breeding behavior and attempted copulation with both of the girls. In fact the one female that is showing that red and pink sides he succesfully mated with, however the other refused him.lol. I didn't expect that right away but its a good thing I guess. I have observed all of them eating and each one has a healthy looking poo so I am sure they won't have any health issues.

Thanks again for the information.

Phil