Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I have a Cten. palearis, who this spring entered his full adult state. He resides in a floor-standing habitat that is 30" deep, 36" wide, and 60" tall. The whole front is one clear acrylic framed door. Last week I found a wonderful oak branch/log to put in with him, that reaches up to the very top corner of the cage. Now he spends all his time cramming himself as close to his ceiling as he can get. I mean he *really* jams himself against the ceiling. I've obviously been at fault all along for not giving him an arboreal setup.

But my concern is, how much habitat do you guys think he needs? He's 9" SVL ,18" STL. I'm going to build a shelf all around the top six inches of his wooden enclosure. I'll use branches. He'll no doubt like that, but do you think I should make his habitat taller? I've never had such a desperately arboreal lizard! Hey, it just occurred to me that maybe I could give him the same sense of security if I raised his cage to the ceiling of his room. He could look down over all the herp room from that position. Hmmm...

His basking zone is on the floor of his cage. I guess I have to set it up at the top of his cage, or he'll hang out up there in superheated higher regions, since the basking-spot heat risee and creates an uncontrolled high temperature zone. Same relocation with the UVB I guess.

Anyway, I'm just wondering if someone has any insight for my little C. palearis that could make his life better.

Roger

yes you are right to be concerned about a habitat worry.....why do you keep an iguana in such a small closet prison......there is no substitue for outdoor sun almost every day of year and they they need running room....they are not meant to live inside a house inside a cage so one can adore them due to their rare species and you will stunt his growth with such a small cage.....suggestion is to give him run of the entire room or the entire house....let him learn where to defecate in the same place each day....and teach him where the refrigerator is...they are intelligent animals and know where food is kept if you let them run the house...be sure and put him in warm water in bath tub each day in early morning and he will defacate in the bathtub to be washed down the drain....rest of day is basking on window sill in front room......or front and back room .........place green plastic coverd 1/2" mesh wire on outside of slideing window or slideing door and he will sit on window sill or on floor and bask and not be able to claw a hole in the normal screen that a screen door has

Best of Luck

WOW Kevin,

THE SIZE A IGUANA WILL GROW IS NOT DEPENDENT ON THE INCLOSURE. YES THERE WILL BE OTHER HEALTH ISSUES BUT SIZE IS NOT ONE!!!

Yes i know housing does not affect size LOL. Somebody who says all lizards must have hours of sunlight a day is a utopianist.
If I let this guy have the run of the house I'd never see him again. He's a small lizard. But you do give me the idea of contemplating how I could possibly give him the run of the herp room. King Bubba Kahuna already occupies that niche. He might allow an invasion of the fringes of his empire.

BTW the cage i described is suitably sized for him. Unfortunately I've kept him in the herp room and as a result he is shy. I think I'll put him in the living room wwith me for the next twelve months so I can carefully tame him to handling.

Roger

Are you sure you know the kind of lizard I'm talking about? It's not the huge green iguana at all. In fact it's quite small. If you read my post about the real dimensions of the habitat, you can be assured that my C. palearis has quite roomy accomodations. I admit I got a little pissed at your semi-coherent rant yeaterday, but now I realize that you might just need more information.

I'm going to work on raising his habitat to the ceiling, and providing several more large branches for him. That ought to make him feel more secure. But it does interfere with my plans to tame him to my hand.

Roger

It will only give you a headache.
Palearis. I kept mine, when indoors, in a 48x30x18 neodesha. I am now going to keep them in a 36x30x22 1x1 black PVC coated wire cage with slide out bottom for easy cleaning and multiple basking levels made of 2x6 lumber. When outdoors, they are kept in a 48x30x30 1x1 black PVC coated wire cage. They seem to do fine with this size because they breed and produce good eggs. I have actually had them breed in a 24x30x17.

It's actually 4' wide, ;' deep, and 5' tall. It's just been a while since I've gone in there to verify it's actual size.

Roger

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