Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I am not new to KS, but am new to the this forum! Some info about me, I currently keep a few snakes and a pacman frog. Back when I was younger I had a female iguana that I raised from a baby to an adult, anyways I had her for 8 years and I find myself be drawn back to iguanas. So with that I am here brush up on my iguana care before I go out and purchase or adopt one. So some of my questions are what is the average cage size for an adult iguana? I have heard 6ft tall by 3ft deep and 7ft long? Now I only plan to keep one Ihuana and was thinking of making a cage that would be %ft long by 6ft tall and 2ft deep, would this be ok for one adult, Which leads me to my next question, I plan on making this age before I obtain the iguana and if I so happen to by a baby ig, would it be ok to put him in a such a large cage? for those off you worried about heating and lighting and etc, I am basing my cage from the one on the green iguana society website, minus the size just a little bit. anyother tips or opions are greatly appreciated. Thanks

-Robert

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---------------I Fear two things in life.......My God and My WIFE!

1.0 Leucistic Texas Ratsnake
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Black Pine Snake
0.1 Albino Pacman Frog
0.2 Dogs
2.0 cats
0.1 Wife

Well i have an iggy thats small in a cage thats 6ft by 5 ft by 3 ft and it perfect he like the cage and has no prob w the cage size he dosent hide he knows its his area and romes it freely but i have read that iggys will stress in large cages when small but mine dosent at all hes around 1 1/2 ft maby lol thats a good size to start w but in the cage just make sure theres room to climb up the loe to climb tkenna8901@aol.com i have a pic of my cage just no sure how to put it in here lol sry good luck!

So some of my questions are what is the average cage size for an adult iguana? I have heard 6ft tall by 3ft deep and 7ft long?

That is correct.
The true ideal minimum is a foot extra per measurement.

Now I only plan to keep one Ihuana and was thinking of making a cage that would be 5ft long by 6ft tall and 2ft deep, would this be ok for one adult.

Marginally... unless it is going to be a free-roamer, and uses its enclosure solely for feeding and sleeping.
2 feet of depth is a tad tight for an adult. Think about it.
An iguana is considered full adult at 4 feet, and grows (in the case of males especially) to 5 or even 6... so 2 feet is pretty narrow.

Which leads me to my next question, I plan on making this age before I obtain the iguana and if I so happen to by a baby ig, would it be ok to put him in a such a large cage?

As Jammie said, some younglings are stressed by it, others fare well. It also depends on how the cage is built inside.
Some people just slap in a branch, a rock, and pretend the animal will call it home.

Iglets instinctively stay hidden to avoid predators, so a lot of concealment is to be offered. A couple of hiding areas, plenty of vines (the fake plastic ones are popular) for it to blend into, etc. Hence why it is always always always best to sart as BIG as you can, that way you can really add a lot of things to the enclosure to simulate and stimulate natural environment and behavior, which is the key to captive husbandry.

If you can, try to add a foot to those measurements you provided. Igs love heights, so perhaps you can get away with the 5-foot length, but they need space to move about, so the 2 feet should best be increased to 3 or better yet, 4.
Do also keep in mind it will need to be easy to clean.

Good luck and welcome back to the iguana 'hobby'!

-IJ

Im conserned about the high iggys dont lay on the ground the realy ned to be ably to climb i would real build it up that way thy can climb to the light and then away but mines around 6ft high 5 ft long and 4 ft wide which would be a great size could be bigger but i realy would do smaller its an audult and u dont wan them to get hurt cuz its too small plus they need room to eat away from the light and hes or she will constanly try to climb up expectly if they cant i have my iggy in a tank rofht now and he will not stop trying to hang from the top cuz its driving him crazy cuz he cant go up it make a lot of noice and its stress him ou so its just a thougjt to give him room to go up that way he ad move his body just right they also usly elavet there body to go poo. mine lays on a branch w his head up and body downmg[/img]http://forums.kingsnake.com/images/new.gif[/img][/img]

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Glad you're brushing up on your ig care before getting another one...

The cage size you're planning should be at least 3'D. The height and length are great, but it's a little difficult for a 6' ig to turn around in a 2' area. My enclosure is this deep and my 4' boy has to really bend to get around. He won't get any bigger though. He's maxed out on length. A larger ig would really have problems.

Here is a picture of Digit's cage we built. It is 5' long,
2.5' deep and 6' tall. We upgraded him when he was a year old.
He loves his cage. We recently upgraded again (3years old now)
to 1/2 of a bedroom which is 10'long X 6' wide X 8'tall.
You can see him in the upper right hand corner under his light.

Linda

That is a beautiful cage! geeze I didn't realize how many typos I made tell I read my message today. I like your cage ideal, care to share any details on it? Yeah I think I agree on 2ft being too small, I think I am going to look at building a 6ft tall by 5ft long by 3ft wide cage. I would love to see more pics of cages, to getsome better ideals. Thanks again for all the info. Is anyone from AZ on this board? If so, just curious how you house your ig during summer and etc. Also I am thinking of getting a Red Iguana. Does anyone have any good or bad eperiance with these guys? Lastly is there any way to tell the sex of a ig when it is less then 18 inches? Like the size they sell at Pet stores, etc. Any and all input is appreciated. Thanks
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---------------I Fear two things in life.......My God and My WIFE!

1.0 Leucistic Texas Ratsnake
1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake
1.0 Black Pine Snake
0.1 Albino Pacman Frog
0.2 Dogs
2.0 cats
0.1 Wife